Enzo Maresca claims Manchester City are ready for the new season but the signs are ominous.
The storm clouds are gathering. The birds of prey are circling.
City begin their Premier League campaign at home to Bournemouth on Sunday after a summer in which a slew of players have left the club.
Bernardo Silva and John Stones left with Pep Guardiola at the end of the season. Tijjani Reinders has joined Al Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League. James Trafford moved to Leeds United. Rodri has left for Barcelona. Savinho and Omar Marmoush are also on their way out, with Tottenham as the destination.
That is potentially seven first team players, alongside their manager, leaving this summer.
Maresca said Rodri and Savinho had both made their intentions to leave clear, making it difficult for City to stop.
“When the player wants to leave, then it is complicated to convince them to stay,” Maresca said.
“It happened with Rodri and the same thing is happening with Savinho. Since day one he has come in and said he wanted to leave, so now we are waiting. Omar is still here, still with us. He is different to Savinho, so we will see what happens.”
Counting down to the @premierleague ⏱️ pic.twitter.com/mF3xUx5cn4
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 21, 2026
Players streaming out are one thing but City have also failed to bring in replacements to rejuvenate the squad. Elliot Anderson has come in for £116m but the club are still stuck on proposed moves for Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez and Lille’s Ayoub Bouaddi.
A move for Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, which smacked of desperation, was rebuffed earlier this week.
Maresca had an impossible enough job replacing the big man at the helm for nearly a decade, but the difficult, even strange, summer is taking things up a notch. City’s lack of prudent business could completely derail his first season, and possibly his entire tenure.
The manager did not give details of the club’s plans in his press conference ahead of Sunday’s opener against Bournemouth, but he indicated he was expecting further transfers, even if he crowed about his satisfaction with the current squad.
As the Community Shield game against Arsenal last week showed, City are vulnerable. What they do in the last weeks of the transfer window could make or break the start of their new era.
