Can Pep Guardiola’s side win a fifth successive Premier League title? We ask if there’s any stopping them with our Manchester City 2024-25 season preview.
Is the Pep Guardiola era closer than ever to its end, or is his fire burning as brightly as ever? Quite frankly, it’s hard to know which end of the spectrum we’re at.
Following a thrilling title race with Arsenal last term along with a stinging penalty-shootout defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League, Manchester City won’t be lacking in motivation, worthy rivals, or competition for trophies. Yet at the same time, we’re now heading into season number nine for Guardiola in Manchester. That’s more than he had at Barcelona and Bayern Munich combined (8).
After becoming the first side to win four consecutive Premier League titles last season, the Man City boss said he was closer to leaving than staying. During their pre-season tour of the United States, however, he didn’t do much to support that idea in the short term. “If you love what you do, why should I stop? I like it, so let’s go,” he remarked.
With the 53-year-old’s contract set to expire next summer, his future will remain a big talking point throughout the coming season, regardless of how well things might be going. But for Guardiola, the idea will be that remains little more than background noise in an otherwise dominant season on the pitch – once again.
Will Savinho Further Ignite City’s Wide Play?
Following up the signing of Jérémy Doku last summer, Manchester City’s move for Savinho has dramatically changed the make-up of their wide players. And although the Brazilian cites Riyad Mahrez as a main inspiration, the potential for him and Doku to play together on the wings evokes memories of Leroy Sané and Raheem Sterling in the title-winning campaigns of 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Sané and Sterling – aged 21 and 22 respectively at the start of that first season – amassed 54 goal involvements in 65 games between them in the 2017-18 Premier League campaign.
One-on-one talent and fleet-footedness were the name of the game, as they were repeatedly able to get beyond opponents’ defensive lines either through dribbles or off-ball runs. Through balls into the wide players were a continuous theme, as they made more successful pull-backs across those two seasons than any other Premier League side (44).
Savinho is cut from a similar cloth in terms of his directness, and he represents a one-on-one nightmare for defenders. The regularity with which he can go beyond players, along with the fact he can do so with the ball at his feet and running onto it with blistering speed, makes him a coveted asset in the modern game.
His 104 successful take-ons were the most of any player in La Liga last season. What’s more, the last player to hit 100+ in a single campaign while aged 21 or under was a certain Lionel Messi in 2008-09.
Of course, Guardiola will want to exert some level of control on his vivacious winger. Learning to pick his moments will be part of the process, but the 20-year-old has already shown plenty of reliability in that regard at Girona. Perhaps bringing him to the Etihad at such an early stage is recognition of just that; a player who won’t need masses of coaching to adapt to the role they have in mind.
In even better news for City, Savinho’s outstanding season at Girona came while playing off the left wing; a position which he admits isn’t his favourite. At the Etihad he should find his minutes on his favoured right flank, and cutting in onto his strong left foot should help to open up further opportunities of going it alone.
It’s a big move for a young player to make, but he’s a tantalising talent to put in the hands of Guardiola.
Can City Learn to Survive Without Rodri?
Rodri has won two Premier League titles, a Champions League, and the European Championship in the last two seasons while being integral in all of those triumphs. At 28, he’s at his peak and is already pretty unanimously known as the best in the world in his position.
Competing at the height of club and international football, season after season, does mean he’s been exposed to a serious workload, however.
In the last two seasons, Rodri has made 102 starts at club level, with his 8,803 minutes accumulated substantially more than any other Man City outfielder. Throw in his games for Spain and he’s started 124 matches in the last two campaigns, racking up over 10,000 minutes of football.
The other element of Rodri’s stacked calendar is that City’s defeats in recent times tend to come when he’s not playing. Since the start of 2022-23, they’ve only lost six of the 102 matches they’ve played with him in the starting XI. That’s as many defeats as they’ve suffered in the 18 games in this period when he hasn’t started.
Take their last loss without Rodri: in their defeat away at Aston Villa last term, City managed just two shots and gave up 22 in return. In the 558 top-flight league games Pep Guardiola has overseen, that was the biggest negative shot margin by one of his sides, as well as the fewest shots (2) they’d ever managed. It wasn’t an off day, but more a complete system collapse.
In a title race where every point dropped will seem like it could have grave consequences, Rodri’s availability will be essential. Managing his workload will be important, but with the lack of a direct replacement and no sign of any arriving this summer, it’ll be hard for Guardiola to keep him off the pitch.
Will Álvarez Be Replaced Externally or Internally?
Julián Álvarez was one of only four Manchester City players to make 100+ appearances over the last two seasons, but the fact only 62 of those were starts was clearly an issue for him. It’s the hard part of having a squad of world-class players: they all want to be important and play in every big game.
That might well be the club’s line of thinking when it comes to ‘replacing’ the Argentinean, who is all set for a move to Atlético Madrid, in that they may be better off re-positioning certain players already at the club rather than investing in someone good enough to play for Manchester City, who also doesn’t mind playing second fiddle to Erling Haaland. Álvarez ticked the first box, but evidently not the second over the long term.
Guardiola has already won titles while playing without a recognised striker, so adapting from within won’t exactly keep him up at night. With the arrival of Savinho in particular – who should only play out wide – it’s easy to see how Bernardo Silva could head back to a more permanent central role, rather than starting from a wide position.
Manchester City have good depth in their wide positions for 2024-25, with Jérémy Doku and Jack Grealish off the left and Savinho and Oscar Bobb on the right. If Guardiola deems that quartet good enough to take up the brunt of minutes on the wing, Bernardo Silva could well be back to his ultra-versatile best this term.
Is the Next Wave of City Youngsters Ready to Step Up?
There were six players who started every game for Manchester City in pre-season, and four of those were 21 or under. James McAtee, Oscar Bobb, Rico Lewis and Nico O’Reilly started all four matches on their tour, with Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish the other two. What’s more, their only summer signing to date is 20-year-old Savinho.
With just the one new external recruit, it looks likely that the outer edges of next season’s squad will be beefed up by a number of the aforementioned youngsters. And by the sounds of it, Guardiola is more than happy for that to be the case.
“Sometimes he’s a bit shy but when he plays without fear he has incredible potential,” Guardiola said of Bobb, during the pre-season tour. He also added in regard to McAtee: “He’s a player I have a high, high opinion of,”
Bobb was directly involved in five goals in four games on the pre-season tour, scoring twice and providing three assists. He also led all Manchester City players for chances created (10) and successful take-ons (10), showing an exuberance that ought to have caught his manager’s eye. Between the Norwegian and Savinho, the future of their right-wing position looks remarkably well set.
While Rico Lewis logged roughly 18 full games’ worth of action last season and looks well on his way to prominence, Guardiola doesn’t seem to have any doubts about McAtee’s ability on his return from a loan at Sheffield United. In fact, with what he already knew about the 21-year-old, he thinks last season’s experience will have given him a new edge. “When you play in the Premier League in a team fighting to not be relegated (Sheffield United), you get something special… I am curious to see Macca especially,” he said ahead of the pre-season tour.
What Guardiola saw during the tour – and later in the Community Shield – will have only served to strengthen his intrigue.
Will We See Even More From Gvardiol?
Josko Gvardiol cost plenty of money, granted, but for a debut season by a 21/22-year-old defender playing under Pep Guardiola, it was pretty impressive.
The Croatian arrived from RB Leipzig having played most of his football as a left-sided centre back, but his debut season in Manchester played out from a different role – that of a more orthodox left back.
It’s plenty feasible to think Gvardiol can continue in that position, and continue to perform at a high level too. There’s certainly no necessity for change. However, with the evolution that Man City signings tend to experience when working under Guardiola, the 22-year-old looks like a player who has only lived the first chapter of what will be a more complex book by the time all is said and done.
“His focus is football. He wants to be better and better, and when that happens you have something special,” Guardiola said at the back end of last season.
Without being a natural full-back, Gvardiol’s performances last season spoke to that of an exuberant talent. While he’s likely on the path to being a centre-back over the longer term, playing as a left-back allowed him to express himself and uncover parts of his game we perhaps wouldn’t otherwise know existed.
Indeed, his run of five goals in seven games between April and May doesn’t mean he’s a prolific scorer, but rather a massively skilled footballer; one who isn’t merely a specialist of position.
Across another lengthy campaign where injuries, suspensions, and all sorts of troubleshooting will likely be needed, look out for Guardiola further testing the limits of Gvardiol’s game. When his manager’s next innovations inevitably arrive, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Croat right at the heart of it.
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