Manchester City Ready to Sign John Stones and Aymeric Laporte

Back in February it was reported that Pep Guardiola, the upcoming manager for Manchester City, was focused on signing midfielder Paul Pogba after taking over the club. However, while the French Juventus player is still a favourite to make an appearance at the Sky Blue club, it would seem that Man City also have their sights on John Stones and Aymeric Laporte. In fact, according to the latest information, Guardiola currently has eight players in mind for joining the team.

Despite the grand designs the new manager has, it is Everton player Stones and Athletic Bilbao central defender Laporte who are said to be priority signings now, a factor that will undoubtedly cause many punters to reconsider their bets this transfer window. If all eight targeted players were bought, the club would spend approximately £300 million in total, and even if only two players are decided upon, that could still add up to over £100 million. Although Manchester City are not unknown to spend a lot of money, having been named the top spenders in 2015, further splurges of cash after so many last year seems excessive. And yet the Spanish manager claims that a team overhaul is needed for the future successes to occur.

There is no avoiding the fact that the team is ageing, with the majority of players aged 28 or over, meaning that there is little innovation of youth in the club at the moment. By Guardiola introducing the 21 year old duo of Stones and Laporte, it would seem that the team can halt the decline that inevitably comes with a seasoned team. That being said, until signings are officially made, it is an open playing field as to who will be brought in, a situation that can be closely followed on prominent industry. Not only are questions now coming as to who could be bought in, but there are also ones surrounding who could be transferred elsewhere once Guardiola takes over.

Although Man City are positioned fourth in the Premier League at present, it is obvious that the team hasn’t been as victorious as they could have been. When compared with the other teams of the League, Man City is only second to Aston Villa for going a while without any back to back wins. In addition to that, out of the present top four clubs City is the only one that has experienced lengthy gaps between wins, 21 matches to be exact. With the FA Cup fast approaching, there seems little time for the team to improve their form given the current statistics.