With FA Cup success still in their hands, alongside a top-five Premier League finish, the season certainly isn’t over as far as Manchester City are concerned.
That said, this unusually quieter period of the campaign for Pep Guardiola’s side can be used to prepare the squad ahead of going again next term, with the club having already begun their squad overhaul after acquiring four new faces in the winter window.
The last of those brought in by Txiki Begiristain and co was Porto playmaker, Nico Gonzalez, with the former Barcelona academy starlet already looking like a “mini Rodri”, in the words of Guardiola.
With the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva all into their 30s – and with the aforementioned Rodri currently sidelined – the midfield ranks are certainly in need of a fresh lick of paint, even after Gonzalez’s arrival.
As such, it would appear that the £50m capture of the 23-year-old will be followed by further midfield recruits over the summer, with Crystal Palace sensation, Adam Wharton, seemingly the standout target.
Latest on Man City's pursuit of Adam Wharton
After an injury-hit start to 2024/25, the former Blackburn Rovers ace – who signed for Palace on a £22m deal last January – has begun to hit his stride in recent months, playing a central role in a stunning run of form for Oliver Glasner’s side.
Previously a peripheral part of England’s surge to the Euro 2024 final, having failed to make a single appearance in Germany, the 21-year-old has shown his class again of late, only recently teeing up Eddie Nketiah with a delicious threaded pass in the win over Ipswich Town.
Ranking in the top 2% of Premier League midfielders for progressive passes per 90, as per FBref, the forward-thinking youngster looks readymade for a Guardiola side, hence why the club are believed to be tracking his progress closely.
Indeed, reports this week in Spain claimed that City have actually already secured the signing of the Englishman ahead of this summer, beating LaLiga giants Real Madrid to his signature.
The suggestion is that a raft of clubs, including Liverpool, have been keen on the reported £66m star, although if those Spanish claims are to be believed, he looks to be on his way to the Etihad.
While that would represent a marquee, statement signing for the Citizens, there may be a frustration that Begiristain has already sold the perfect replica of Wharton on the cheap.
Man City already sold their own Adam Wharton
With so many young exciting talents passing through the Man City academy, it is almost hard to keep track of every rising star who has been moved on before being handed a chance at first-team level.
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The obvious examples include the likes of Morgan Rogers, James Trafford and Liam Delap – among others – although a perhaps lesser-known case is Serbian sensation, Ivan Ilic.
The 6 foot 1 midfielder was signed from Red Star Belgrade, along with older brother Luka, back in 2017, with the teenage pair joining for a reported fee of just £5m, before returning on loan to their former club for the next two seasons.
Stat (*per game)
Record
Games
31
Goals
3
Assists
2
Big chances created
8
Pass accuracy*
86%
Key passes*
1.5
Tackles*
0.7
Interceptions*
0.6
Total duels won*
49%
Successful dribbles*
0.6
Later in 2017, Ivan was included by The Guardian as City’s representative in the Premier League’s top 20 young talents, albeit while failing to actually make a first-team appearance for the club, amid further loans at FK Zunum and NAC Breda.
The teen prodigy was then subsequently sold to Serie A side Hellas Verona for a fee of just £7m in 2021, having since gone on to join another Italian outfit, Torino, in 2023.
Those moves have proven particularly profitable for the 23-year-old, with analyst Ben Mattinson marking him out as the “complete midfielder” last summer, despite being “seriously underrated”.
A silky left-footer, much like Wharton, Ilic has actually been compared to the City summer target, with Mattinson insisting that he is “similar in many ways” to the Palace gem and former Arsenal star, Granit Xhaka, albeit with Ilic the “most mobile and tallest” of the trio.
A potentially subtle difference between the pair, despite the Torino star also being an “exceptional long passer”, in the words of Mattinson, is that Ilic is far more adept at carrying the ball forward, thus ranking in the top 5% of Serie A midfielders for progressive carries per 90.
Although injuries have hampered his involvement this season, the 21-cap Serbia international has also shown himself to be a threat in an attacking sense, with 13 goals and assists in 61 games for his current side. Wharton, for instance, has just four assists and no goals in 33 games for the Eagles.
Of course, thriving in the Premier League is a different task to shining in Serie A, but it does beg the question as to whether City made a rare mistake by not handing Ilic the opportunity at the Etihad.
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1 ByRobbie Walls
