The seven players Man City could sell after ‘flexing muscles’ in £288m spree ...Middle East

Manchester City have the financial fair play “headroom” and desire to spend again this summer – despite taking their outlay for the year to close to £300m with a flurry of signings.

City announced the £46.6m signing of Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan on Wednesday, the Serie A player of the year following this week’s signings of Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.

Added to January’s spending – which was focused more on bringing in players for the future, with the signings of Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis – the 2025 tally now stands at an eye-watering £288m.

The result is a radically overhauled squad from the one that started the 2024-25 season, with Reijnders giving Pep Guardiola the ball-carrying midfielder capable of beating the press that he has been searching for since 2023.

There’s an element of risk to all of the deals. The exciting Cherki comes from Lyon in Ligue 1 to replace the creativity of club legend Kevin De Bruyne, but City insiders point out they have signed four players for the equivalent of what Liverpool are prepared to spend on Florian Wirtz.

The feeling is that with his mojo back after a difficult 12 months, Guardiola can mould this new group into a team capable of recapturing the title taken by Liverpool this season.

And by giving him the majority of his new arrivals before the Club World Cup in the USA, there will be plenty of time for them to be drilled in Guardiola’s unique tactical demands by the time the new season begins in August.

It has certainly been a remarkable and defiant shopping spree, regarded by rival Premier League executives as City “flexing their muscles” after a disappointing season.

That they have continued to spend while 115 charges related to alleged financial misconduct at the club hang over them also tells its own story about how confident City are that they will not face major sanctions from the independent commission that started deliberating on the case six months ago.

Ederson is not off limits if the right offer comes in (Photo: Reuters)

The reset may not be over, though. The i Paper understands that City remain in the market for a right-back – tentative efforts to tempt Newcastle United to sell Tino Livramento have met with a resounding not-for-sale message from St James’ Park – and may replace senior first team players who they will listen to offers for.

The next stage will be to supplement their reputation as, in the words of one recruitment specialist, “the best sellers in the Premier League” by striking deals for a crop of players who are on the market.

City need to find solutions for big earners Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish – also absent from their Club World Cup squad – who will also depart. But a swift exit for Grealish is unlikely even though half of the Premier League is interested in the terms City and the player are demanding.

Others like Ederson, Stefan Ortega and even Bernardo Silva might not be safe if significant enough offers are tabled. At this stage that looks unlikely.

There is, however, a big market for academy graduate James McAtee, wanted by Everton and clubs in the Bundesliga, and the £25m asking price would be banked as “pure profit” under the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR).

Deals like that are part of the reason City have no PSR worries, despite the significant spending of the last year.

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“Manchester City have been fantastic at generating money, they’ve made half a billion in sales,” football finance expert Kieran Maguire told The i Paper.

“They’ve been extremely smart in the transfer market: they’ve sold [Julian] Alvarez, they sold Cole Palmer, they sold [Oleksandr] Zinchenko. There is so much capacity to spend because they’ve sold so well.”

It emerged after signing Reijnders that City are also in advanced negotiations to bring in Norweigan midfield prodigy Sverre Nypan from Rosenberg. The 18-year-old is highly regarded and had also been the subject of interest from Arsenal, Manchester United and Aston Villa.

Those who hoped this season’s misstep was the beginning of the end for City might wind up disappointed.

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