The 2025 summer transfer window has now closed and it has caused a lot of change for Pep Guardiola's side, which saw legends such as Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Ederson leave Manchester City. City finished the window spending around £200 million but there still seems to be some missing pieces in the puzzle before Guardiola gets his side back to a similar level to where they were before last season.
Losing six treble winners in one window
This summer saw City move on from many of the players who were mainstays in the team which saw the Blues win the treble and four Premier League titles in a row. De Bruyne, Ederson, Gundogan, Walker, Grealish (loan) and Akanji (loan) all played key parts in the most successful season in the club's history in 2022/23 but now just two years later have been deemed not good enough and as such have been moved on.
Despite a clear drop in form for all of the above since 2023, losing that much experience and winning mentality will clearly have an impact on Pep's current side which is a much younger squad than in previous years. With the players that have left City this summer it definitely feels like the end of an era in terms of the dominant City side that won six Premier League titles out of seven, four of them in a row which had never been done before.
The departure of possibly City's greatest ever player in Kevin De Bruyne and Ederson in goal highlight that change in style and focus for Pep as he tries to rebuild his side and re-energise a club which has gone a bit stale over the past 12 months in comparison to there usual level within the last decade.
A new era
City brought in five first team players during the summer transfer window, the marquee one being 2025 Serie A midfielder of the season Tijjani Reijnders. James Trafford, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki and Gianluigi Donnarumma are the other four incomings.
Reijnders and Donnarumma are seen as signings for the here and now who are in their prime and ready to make an instant improvement to the FA Cup runners-up. Tijjani Reijnders received lots of praise on his debut against Wolves but has shown that he may also take some time to fully adapt to the league with his performances against Tottenham and Brighton.
Donnarumma is a complete unknown who seems the furthest thing from a Pep goalkeeper due to his average to poor ball playing ability compared to Ederson who has been seen as the best ball playing keeper for the past eight years.
Both Ait-Nouri and Cherki are younger players who have shown glimpses in City colours so far but will need time to adapt to a Pep time and improve under his management as they still have a long way to go before they reach their prime.
The 2025 Summer Transfer Window in England is now: 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗗. 🏁🚨 pic.twitter.com/qOoM1mDjBV
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) September 1, 2025
Have City done enough this summer?
Despite spending almost £200 million in the window many questions have been asked to whether City have brought in the types of players they needed to try to get back to the levels they were at before.
With the permanent departure of Kyle Walker, no right-back has been signed and the blues were only linked to Tino Livramento, without any formal offer ever being made. This leaves only Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes as options for Pep to use at right sided full back.
A winger, especially one which produces both goals and assists seemed an obvious move as well with poor output from all of City's wingers for the previous two seasons. Doku and Savinho have been unable to put up numbers anywhere near the level of Sterling and Mahrez of the past, meaning the goalscoring is almost solely the responsibility of Erling Haaland.
Oscar Bobb is like a new signing after missing all of last season through injury, but at just 22-years-old in his first proper season he is another potential player like Doku and Savinho, without any guaranteed output being there from any of the current City wingers.
Transfer Window summary:
Outgoings:
Kevin De Bruyne to Napoli (Free)
Kyle Walker to Burnley
Ilkay Gündoğan to Galatasaray (Free)
Ederson to Fenerbahce
Maximo Perrone to Como
James McAtee to Nottingham Forest
Yan Couto to Borussia Dortmund
Jack Grealish to Everton (Loan)
Manuel Akanji to Inter Milan (Loan)
Vitor Reis to Girona (Loan)
Claudio Echeverri to Bayer Leverkusen (Loan)
Juma Bah to OGC Nice (Loan)
Sverre Nypan to Middlesborough (Loan)
Scott Carson (Without club)
Incomings:
Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan
Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves
Rayan Cherki from Lyon
James Trafford from Burnley
Gianluigi Donnarumma from PSG
Sverre Nypan from Rosenborg
Marcus Bettinelli from Chelsea
