Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has confirmed the club intends to bring in further transfer market reinforcements as they aim to take back the Premier League title from Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola s side were unable to make it three domestic titles in a row in 2019-20, falling well short of a dominant Liverpool, who ended 18 points clear of second-placed City.
Winger Ferran Torres and defender Nathan Ake have already arrived at the Etihad Stadium from Valencia and Bournemouth respectively, for a combined outlay in excess of £60million.
Speaking to his club s official website, Khaldoon said City would seek to strengthen further and would not limit themselves to younger players if readymade, experienced performers are what Guardiola requires.
When it comes to the two acquisitions we ve made – Ake and Ferran Torres – we moved quickly and clearly, he said. These were our targets and when the opportunity came we were able to come in very quickly and swiftly and do that business
There are additional players that we will be bringing in and we will stick to the plan, within the realities of the market that we live in today.
If you look at the acquisitions we ve made over the past couple of years, there s a consistency in terms of the type of player we ve targeted – their age and quality.
We will continue down that road for the first team in that 20-25 years old category. That s kind of the spot we like.
But, at the same time, sometimes opportunities come up that fit with what the manager wants and what we need for the squad that might be outside of that box.
Nothing is set in stone. We have a set of targets who are well defined but, at the same time we re pragmatic enough to take the opportunity if that opportunity comes up.
Very excited to join . Can’t wait to get started!
— Nathan Aké (@NathanAke)
Those words chime with City being persistently linked to a move for Napoli s 29-year-old centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly, even if it might a stretch to associate them with Lionel Messi, 33, and his apparent unrest at Barcelona.
Guardiola has been variously linked with further reinforcements in attack, central midfield and at left-back as City pick over a campaign that ended with their lacklustre 3-1 Champions League quarter-final defeat to Lyon.
Khaldoon noted their failure to make an impression on the final stages of the tournament in Lisbon amounted to a significant opportunity missed.
Me and Pep have something very important in common – we both hate losing and we don t take it lightly, he said of Champions League glory continuing to elude his club.
On this, we have the same level of disappointment. We had a great opportunity this year, the same as the last couple of years.
When it comes to the Champions League it is always challenging. It boils down to two games or, in the case of this season, one game and you have to deliver.
We are upset with that result because we knew it was a great opportunity to go to the semi-finals and a great opportunity to actually win this competition.
We have to be able to look back at this season, take the learnings, go back to the drawing board and make sure we are ready next year to give it another shot.
