In the fallout of Manchester City’s 2-0 loss against Spurs in their season home opener, questions have been raised around the real level of City’s squad following the optimism generated by their emphatic 4-0 win at Molineux a week earlier. With just a week left in the transfer window, and rumours still surrounding a number of potential incomings and outgoings, there is belief in some circles that City still need new signings if they wish to compete at the very top this season. I think this belief is misguided, and that Saturday showed more than ever that City must stick with their squad, not twist on the transfer market.
Teething issues
City were largely the architects of their own downfall against Spurs; they spurned chances while they were on top, conceded two daft goals, one involving a narrow onside and a defensive slip and the other a mistake when playing out from the back, and from there just couldn’t find a way through a well-drilled and hard-working Tottenham team. In many ways it reflects Tottenham defeats of years past, but there is no question that City showed signs that things have not quite gelled yet. But the potential is also clearly there, and the issues shown are those of a new-look team trying to find it’s rhythm, not those of a fundamentally broken team that cannot function as things are.
If you flip it to behind the goal, Nico Gonzalez drags his marker with him to open up the passing lane into Cherki for Trafford to play short.
— Sky Blue Times (@theskybluetimes) August 24, 2025
Haaland is 1v1 with space to run into if he goes long. Perhaps you can argue that Marmoush should have given him another option, but… pic.twitter.com/QGMxGttQTJ
The signings won’t improve anything
There is no reason to believe, however, that the proposed new signings, Donnarumma and Rodrygo, would improve these problems. The solution to an attack being profligate in one game is not to needlessly go searching for a new big-money forward, especially since it is only a week after a game of supreme clinicality, scoring four goals from four shots-on-target. Rodrygo is obviously a good player, but a lack of attacking cohesion will not be improved by adding another new player, especially one who doesn’t seem willing to play the same position as Savinho, the player he would be replacing. And the idea that replacing Trafford, a young goalkeeper who has come through the City academy, where passing out from the back has been the standard for years, for Donnarumma, who many people would argue is a considerably worse ball-playing keeper, would improve things, is hopeful at best.
The cards are in City’s hands
Another important factor is that ultimately, the cards all remain firmly in City’s hands; neither Savinho nor Ederson are desperately pushing for an exit. City have already shown this, reportedly shutting down all approaches from Tottenham for Savinh0. There is no reason they couldn’t do the same with Ederson, simply saying they are not willing to sell given the current situation. It wouldn’t even cost them money because the expenditure of Donnarumma, both on wages and transfer fee, would far exceed the relatively small fee that could be accrued for an aging goalkeeper who is out of contract in a year. Keeping Ederson actually seems to be the overwhelmingly obvious thing to do considering Saturday’s result; it adds someone who is more experienced playing goalkeeper for Guardiola than anyone else in the world of football, lessening the risks of mistakes when playing out from the back. It also provides Trafford the opportunity to spend a year as a cup-keeper, learning directly from arguably the greatest ball-playing goalkeeper in the history of the sport, so that when he becomes the definite first-choice from next season he will both be better at it and more familiar with the exact demands of Guardiola’s system. Especially when the alternative is bringing in a very expensive player who does not seem to suit the team’s style of play at all, just telling Ederson to see out his contract feels like a no-brainer.
🚨⚪️ Understand Tottenham are now prepared to improve their bid for Savinho over €70m, after the game this weekend.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 22, 2025
Manchester City hierarchy blocked all approaches in the last 10 days but Spurs will give it one more try.
🎥🔛 https://t.co/NEfurVHLgb pic.twitter.com/KIlKjnVo8C
Focus on outgoings, not change for the sake of it
None of this is to say that City need to cross their arms and do nothing for the next week; it is clear that exits still need to happen to trim the squad numbers down. Akanji and Gündoğan are rumoured to have interest from abroad, while out-of-favour keeper Stefan Ortega also still needs to find a club. These are deals that City unfortunately do not hold all the cards in, but that doesn’t change the fact that focusing on securing a squad Guardiola is happy with for the forthcoming season is far more important than making impulse purchases based on needlessly selling players. If either Ederson or Savinho were heavily pushing the club to let them leave, this would be a different conversation, one of necessity rather than preference. But as things appear now, if City sat down both players and said “we do not want to let you leave this window, you are both in our plans for the season” the entire matter would largely be resolved.
Players still have to come back
Panic over Saturday’s result should also be tempered by the fact that a number of players, even ignoring the two left out over transfer rumours, still have to return to full fitness. We saw glimpses of two of these, Rodri and Foden, when they came on against Spurs, while Gvardiol and Kovačić also still need to make their return to the team. So adding onto the cohesion problems is the fact that three of the team’s best players didn’t even play most of the match. If a loss against a side City haven’t done a league double over since 2018/19, while still bedding in new signings AND missing three key players, is cause for panic, I do not look forward to seeing how City react to an actually surprising loss.
Pep Guardiola: "Everybody's trained really good, they don't have any complaints, they have energy. We had many good things [vs Tottenham], just in simple things we missed. The aggression is high but the question of the pass we missed a little bit of that, a little bit more…
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) August 24, 2025
Conclusion
Ultimately, City will do what they feel is best. But from an outside perspective, it feels like their best course of action is to stick with the squad they are currently planning for the season with, rather than introducing even more new faces to an already new-look team. There are times when matches tell you a team needs new faces, and City had many of them last season, but Saturday was absolutely not one of these games.
