With Manchester City destined to finish far behind Premier League 2019/20 champions Liverpool, it wouldn’t really be a surprise to see Pep Guardiola make a number of personnel changes in time for next season.
His balancing act may be made all the harder if the Court of Arbitration for Sport uphold UEFA’s banning of City for the next two seasons of the Champions League too.
In that eventuality, those players who are keen to continue playing at the highest level are likely to up sticks for pastures new.
However, in any event, central defence remains a problem area for Guardiola, with the possible exception of Aymeric Laporte.
John Stones still flatters to deceive with City badly missing a leader in the Vincent Kompany mould.
Calciomercato, cited by the Daily Mail, suggest that Pep will look to move for Inter’s Milan Skriniar in the summer, but neroazzurri coach, Antonio Conte, will look to acquire Sergio Aguero in return.
If Lautaro Martinez moves to Barcelona in the summer, and Inter aren’t able to broker another loan deal for Alexis Sanchez with Manchester United, then Conte will be in the market for a striker to partner Romelu Lukaku.
A ‘big man, little man’ attacking combination could work wonders for the Serie A outfit, but it’s unlikely that Guardiola would let City’s greatest ever striker leave without a fight.