After crashing out of the Club World Cup late on Monday night, Manchester City and their squad can finally look forward to some well-earned rest.
Earlier this week, Orlando witnessed the biggest shock of the Club World Cup as the Sky Blues were dumped out by Al-Hilal after extra time, defeated 4-3, with Bernardo Silva, Erling Braut Håland and Phil Foden all on target in vain in Florida.
So, 324 days after their season began in the FA Community Shield against Manchester United at Wembley, Pep Guardiola and his players can finally go on holiday, commencing the new Premier League campaign at Molineux against Wolves in just over six weeks’ time.
So now, as the Sky Blues seek to regain the Premier League and the Champions League in 2026, expect them to continue to be busy in the transfer market.
Manchester City targeting a new midfielder
Already this summer, the Citizens have signed Rayan Aït-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders for a combined £112m, taking their tally of signings to nine in 2025 already, if you include Marcus Bettinelli, as the table below outlines.
Abdukodir Khusanov
Lens
£33.6m
Vitor Reis
Palmeiras
£29.6m
Omar Marmoush
Frankfurt
£59m
Juma Bah
Valladolid
£5.1m
Nico González
Porto
£50m
Rayan Aït-Nouri
Wolves
£31.8m
Rayan Cherki
Lyon
£34m
Marcus Bettinelli
Chelsea
Undisclosed
Tijjani Reijnders
AC Milan
£46.3m
Total spend
£289.4m
All three summer signings impressed during the Club World Cup, with Rayan Cherki bagging his first goal in sky blue during the 6-0 demolition of Al Ain at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but Guardiola is demanding more.
According to reports in Spain, Manchester City are considering a move for Barcelona midfielder Fermín López, claiming that Guardiola believes the Spanish international would ‘fit perfectly into his system’, hence why he has ‘expressed his desire to accelerate negotiations’.
They add that Barça could be tempted to sell Fermín, who is valued at around £43m, if it would allow them to sign and, more pertinently, register Nico Williams, who Pol Ballús of the Athletic believes wants to join the Catalan giants this summer, but this deal faces numerous financial stumbling blocks.
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The 22-year-old signed a new contract at Barcelona in October, containing a €500m release clause (around £431m), but could Barça’s precarious finances force them to sell the la Masia graduate?
How Fermín López would improve Manchester City
Fermín was a regular figure for Hansi Flick’s domestic treble winners last season, making 46 appearances, albeit 27 of those were as a substitute, earning plenty of praise.
Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout labelled his performances “amazing”, while Fintan O’Reilly of Total Football Analysis believes he is at his best ‘drifting into the half space’, noting that he is a ‘high-volume shooter’ who also ranks highly for ‘defensive actions’, showing that he is an all-action, all round midfield player.
Meantime, Declan Haywood of Breaking the Lines believes he ‘epitomises’ the modern-Barça tiki-taka style, noting how Fermín’s ‘versatility’ allows him to thrice in and out of possession, asserting that he is destined to go to the very top. In the words of former boss Xavi Hernandez, he is the “whole package”.
So, let’s assess how the Spaniard compares to Man City’s most recent midfield signing, Reijnders.
Appearances
46
54
Minutes
2,039
4,591
Goals
8
15
Assists
10
5
All statistics below are on a per-90 basis.
Shots
2.2
1.5
Chances created
2.1
1.4
Attempted passes
45
43
Pass completion %
86.15%
89.54%
Duels contested
13.3
6
Ball recoveries
4.8
3.6
Touches
67
56
In the table above, Fermín comes out on top for pretty much every metric included, excluding goals and pass completion, indicating why he could well be an even bigger talent than the Dutchman.
The Spaniard’s statistics are more impressive than Reijnders’ when it comes to shots, chances created and passing, as well as defensive metrics such as duels and ball recoveries.
This all supports the idea that Fermín is an outstanding all-round midfield talent so, if Man City can take advantage of Barcelona’s ongoing financial crisis and snap him up on the cheap, they absolutely should.
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