Manchester City don’t usually sign new players and immediately add them to their first team during January transfer windows.

Instead, City get the majority of their transfer deals done during the summer windows, with Txiki Begiristain involved as the club’s sporting director.

For instance, the previous summer window saw the Blues secure a £33m deal for Savinho as well as seeing Ilkay Gundogan return to the Etihad Stadium on a free transfer after spending one year at Barcelona.

On the flip side, the Premier League champions saw a handful of players leave the club on permanent deals such as Julian Alvarez, Joao Cancelo, Liam Delap and Sergio Gomez.

Back in September, after Rodri suffered a season-ending injury, it was suggested by Pep Guardiola that City could sign a midfielder in the upcoming January window.

In addition to that, another transfer claim has recently emerged regarding what the Citizens may look to do in the winter window, which has now been addressed by a transfer expert.

Transfer expert addresses recent Man City transfer claim

Earlier this month, it was reported that City are increasingly likely to sign a replacement for Alvarez during the upcoming January transfer window.

When asked about this claim, GRV Media’s transfer expert, Graeme Bailey, gave this response to Manchester City News on the matter.

He said: “It’s an option, they’re always assessing the squad, but I’d be surprised if they do something in January as it stands.

“You’ve got [Claudio] Echeverri coming in, they’ve got [Oscar] Bobb coming back. As you know, they are light.

“City would rather go without than signing the wrong player. They’re not going to sign someone who’s not part of their long-term plans.

“I’d be a bit surprised if I’m being honest from what I’ve heard with City. It partly depends on how the next few weeks go, [Erling] Haaland’s fitness and see where we are.

“They had chances to replace [Julian] Alvarez in the summer. It was quite late, but they still had chances to do it.

“City are one of these teams with scouts out there covering all bases. Txiki’s got his big board there, they know who they like, they know who they want. If a deal’s right City will strike.

“I don’t see that at this moment in time, but it’s still two months to go before the window opens. I wouldn’t rule it out.” 

A defensive-midfielder should be City’s January priority

Having lost their last three games in a row for the first time since 2018, this has exposed the defensive frailties that City have had over the entire season.

	Matches Played	Goals Scored	Goals Conceded	Clean Sheets
Premier League	10	21	11	2
Champions League	4	10	4	3
Carabao Cup	2	3	3	0

Having only kept five clean sheets across the 16 games they’ve played in all competitions, the majority of which they’ve had to get through without Rodri on the field, this suggests that signing a replacement for their injured defensive-midfielder should be the main priority in January rather than getting a back-up for Haaland.

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