From Sam Lee: Squad rebuild plans, Julian Alvarez replacement truth, and Hugo Viana’s role in 2025

Manchester City are plotting a squad rebuild across 2025 as Pep Guardiola continues to scramble to get his squad’s performances back on track this season.

The previous summer market saw the Premier League champions significantly quieter than some may have expected, particularly given high-profile exits from Pep Guardiola’s first-team playing squad in the same window.

Manchester City opted to stay away from mass changes in the way of arrivals, securing just the one investment in the form of Savinho from fellow City Group club ESTAC Troyes, whilst Ilkay Gundogan returned on a free transfer from FC Barcelona.

Those deals were accompanied by Julian Alvarez’s €95 million package exit to Atletico Madrid, Sergio Gomez’s transfer to Real Sociedad, and Joao Cancelo bringing an end to a troublesome final two seasons as a City player by joining Al Hilal.

Given Manchester City’s ongoing six-game winless streak across competitions, and a trip to Liverpool on the horizon this weekend, many supporters have raised the subject of whether a major overhaul of the squad is needed in the coming calendar year.

And according to the information of The Athletic’s Sam Lee, those at Manchester City had planned to rebuild Pep Guardiola’s first-team squad in 2025, as opposed to across 2024 and in particular the last summer market.

Much was made of the decision not to sign a replacement for Julian Alvarez following his move to Atletico Madrid, and it is now reported that part of the season for that decision was because Guardiola felt they had enough options in midfield to move somebody to play false-nine.

But in a summer when Manchester City will bid farewell to their hugely successful director of football following 12 seasons at the Etihad Stadium, who will lead the revival and refresh of Guardiola’s squad?

Sam Lee reports that Begiristain will make the decisions as he remains in the role until next summer, but there is expected to be a period after the upcoming winter window where the incoming Hugo Viana will get used to the role by working alongside the 60-year-old.

From the summer, it is reported that Viana will then take the reins, while it is likely that between the winter and summer, the two will work together, to some extent, to get deals lined up for Manchester City ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

At present, it remains unknown as to who Manchester City could invest all of their intentions into when it comes to potential transfer targets next year, however there is a common belief that the first priority could be to strengthen their defensive midfield ranks.

Rodri’s injury sustained in September has left the Premier League champions without their Ballon d’Or winner for possibly the rest of the ongoing season, and that has sparked interest from within the club in recruiting in the Spaniard’s role in January.

Further down the line and Manchester City could yet explore creative midfielders in anticipation for Kevin De Bruyne’s exit in the not too distant future, whilst the full-back and attacking positions could do with some attention in the eyes of many.