After head coach’s failure to recognise the need to upgrade an ageing squad last summer, the FA Cup is their last hope
In Manchester City having only the FA Cup to chase we see the product of the club’s failed summer recruitment, ill fortune with injury and the ravage of time to a core of Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering squad.
While Julián Álvarez’s club-record £81.5m sale to Atlético Madrid in the close season bulged transfer coffers, only Savinho was recruited for £30m, alongside the return of the now 34-year-old Ilkay Gündogan for free, as Guardiola decided no major replenishment was needed.
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