Man City must regret selling “incredible” star who’s like Gonzalez & Luiz

Out of all 20 Premier League teams, Manchester City’s January transfer window was arguably the most productive.

Indeed, Pep Guardiola made four important signings who could all contribute to the future of the club, potentially helping usher in a new era at the Etihad.

Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov all joined City. The latter two are aged just 19 and 20, indicating that the future is bright in Manchester.

A midfielder in the form of Nico Gonzalez also arrived.

Manchester City’s hunt for a new midfielder

The Citizens have desperately needed a new midfielder ever since Rodri went down with an ACL injury.

Those problems were only exacerbated against Arsenal on Sunday when they were torn to shreds by Arsenal.

So, what did the title holders do to try and fix this? During the window, City were showing some interest in re-signing midfielder Douglas Luiz, five and a half years since selling him to Aston Villa.

The Brazilian has failed to settle at Juventus, but no move materialised to re-join his former side this winter.

The 12 most expensive January signings
Rank	Player	Signed for	Year	Fee
1	Philippe Coutinho	Barcelona	2018	£142m
2	Enzo Fernandez	Chelsea	2023	£107m
3	Mykhailo Mudryk	Chelsea	2023	£89m
4	Virgil van Dijk	Liverpool	2018	£75m
5	Bruno Fernandes	Man Utd	2020	£67.7m
6	Dusan Vlahovic	Juventus	2022	£66m
7	Omar Marmoush	Man City	2025	£63m
8	Oscar	Shanghai SIPG	2017	£60m
9	Khvicha Kvaratskhelia	PSG	2025	£59m
10	Christian Pulisic	Chelsea	2019	£58m
11	Aymeric Laporte	Man City	2018	£57m
12	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Arsenal	2018	£56m

Elsewhere, the club were also keen on Porto midfielder Gonzalez in a bid to add something extra to their midfield area.

Unlike Luiz, this was a move they ultimately got over the line in the final knockings of the window, paying a reported £50m fee.

Although signing either of these two players or even both, if Guardiola was willing to splash the cash, will have given the club a lift, they could have avoided the need to spend such a seismic sum…

Man City have already sold their own Gonzalez

Ahead of the 2022/23 campaign, Guardiola sold a certain Romeo Lavia for a fee of just £10.5m to Southampton. The Belgian had featured just twice for the senior side under the former Barcelona manager, and it appeared as though he had no future at the club.

His spell at the Saints was a resounding success. He played 34 times for the club, starring in the top flight. Defensively, he was solid, ranking in the top 11% of midfielders in the Premier League for blocks and the top 24% for tackles and interceptions, despite the club suffering relegation.

Injury problems have disrupted his Chelsea career so far, but he has made some progress this season. The midfielder has played ten Premier League matches, demonstrating his ability across a range of metrics.

Not only has he succeeded with 92% of his passes, but the 21-year-old has created a big chance, succeeded with 58% of his dribble attempts and won 53% of his total duels per game, showcasing an all-round game which encapsulates the best parts of Luiz and Gonzalez combined; combative duel winners who are also comfortable in possession of the ball.

Described as a “top, top class midfield player” by pundit Tim Sherwood, the youngster certainly could have saved the club a few bob.

While he wasn’t quite at this level during his spell with City, if Guardiola had given him more consistent game time, then perhaps the likes of Gonzalez and Luiz could have been forgotten about.