Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City

Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City (Image: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)

The confetti has only just been cleared from Deangate after another successful season at Manchester City, with attention now turning to the squad that will defend their latest Premier League crown.

In the last few days, there has been talk of Ederson, Jack Grealish, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips and Bernardo Silva all leaving the Etihad in the transfer market, as well as a few names potentially arriving to strengthen the squad.

Rodrygo of Real Madrid is the latest name to be linked with City, while Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes and goalkeeper Michael Zetterer have also been named as possible transfers. The main talk over the summer, however, will be over Guardiola’s future.

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Guardiola’s current deal expires in the summer of 2025, making the next season his last at City unless he signs an extension. He admits he is closer to leaving City than staying another seven years, and reports this week suggested the expectation at the club is that he will not stay beyond next summer.

His assistant Carlos Vicens said this week that the initial priority is for Guardiola to enjoy some much-needed down-time after a long season, and ahead of what could be his last year. “We have to leave Pep alone now and let him recover from the season,” he said.

“Then the time will come for him to make his decisions. We’ll see what happens in the future. It’s too early to talk about this.”

Even if Guardiola did commit to another year or two to take his reign past 10 years, City must think ahead for what life could look like without him.

Handily, most of the squad are contracted past 2025. Only Stefan Ortega, Scott Carson and Kevin De Bruyne are due to leave next summer – although there are strong arguments for all three to sign extensions soon. After that, some extensions will need to be negotiated for 2026, but should Guardiola leave in a years’ time, there will be a helpful amount of consistency in the squad.

One factor City’s transfer team will have to manage, however, is a squad that is ageing and will have more than a third of its players aged 30 or over by the time the new season begins. By the time of the 2025/26 season starting, Guardiola (or his successor) will have 45 per cent of their squad over 30, rising to 50 per cent in September 2025 when Grealish turns 30.

Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City after the team’s defeat in the Emirates FA Cup Final match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. (Image: Justin Setterfield – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

Key men like Stones, Silva and Mateo Kovacic have, or will, turn 30 this year with Nathan Ake and Manu Akanji to pass 30 in the next 13 months. Ederson, Ortega, De Bruyne and Kyle Walker are all in their 30s, too.

It’s an issue that won’t be news to City, nor is it necessarily a bad development. Players can leave, and new signings will naturally bring the average age of the squad down. Last summer saw 21-year-olds Josko Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku arrive, while Erling Haaland will turn 24 this summer to follow Phil Foden’s 24th birthday this week.

It’s also hardly a squad that’ll be too old to battle for titles, with the experience of all the trophies won helping each season’s drive for more silverware. City’s average age of 27 last season was the seventh-highest of the Premier League, made even more impressive that they had the smallest squad in the division, and they were the best team over 38 games.

Over time, succession plans will have to be found to replace those older players, however this is also not new information. So when City look to rebuild and rebalance their squad over the next two summers, reducing the average age will be a factor behind their decision-making, all while keeping the balance of experience with their senior players.

Just like with Guardiola, it is a reminder that this brilliant group of players cannot stay together forever.

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Manchester City wrapped up the 2023/24 season with a fourth successive Premier League title, but they missed out on another Treble with defeat in the FA Cup final and Champions League quarter-finals. It’s now time for Pep Guardiola and co to turn their attention to the transfer window.

Our MEN team of City experts will be on top of all the goings-on at the Etihad this summer and beyond, and you can get the latest updates and inside information to your phone by joining our new free WhatsApp community. You can also join the 40,000 (and growing!) band of Blues fans who are following our WhatsApp channel.