Manchester City go into the new Premier League season looking to become the first side since Manchester United in 2009 to win the title for a third consecutive year. Pep Guardiola’s men finished just one point ahead of Liverpool last season after finishing the campaign strongly.
Here is a look at three players who are going to prove crucial to City having success not just domestically, but in the Champions League, the one trophy Guardiola will be desperate to win more than any other at City.
Aymeric Laporte
BREAKING: Manchester City have agreed a deal to sign Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte, according to Sky in Italy #ssn pic.twitter.com/f0V4v2Hrfo
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 26, 2018
Aymeric Laporte has emerged as City’s best defender over the last 12 months and his role is going to be huge this season now that Vincent Kompany has left the club to join Anderlecht as their player-manager. Laporte is sure to be supported by John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi. However, it is the Frenchman who is the most consistent of the three central-defenders and is less prone to mistakes. When they signed Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for a then club-record transfer fee of £57 million, there were some eyebrows raised about whether he was the right option, but those doubts have now been quashed. Expect Laporte to play more football than any other defender at the club this season and to continue to shine in a City shirt.
Kevin De Bruyne
Last season proved to be a miserable campaign for Kevin De Bruyne from a personal point of view as he missed so much football due to injuries. When fit, KDB is arguably the best player in the Premier League. If Guardiola can get more football from the Belgian this season, they are worthy contenders to win the title once again where they are 4/6 favourites in the Premier League betting with the bookmakers. De Bruyne is also crucial for City to finally win the Champions League as he has that x-factor which all clubs need to win Europe’s premier competition. De Bruyne not only adds goals to the team, he usually has a big role in their attacking breaks. City fans will be keeping everything crossed that the midfielder avoids any injuries in the 2019/2020 campaign.
Rodri
Rodri became @ManCity‘s second signing of the summer on Thursday https://t.co/cFCqAuIovE pic.twitter.com/HTu8O2ww3J
— Premier League (@premierleague) July 5, 2019
Manchester City have not been as active as some Premier League clubs in the summer transfer window but their main target was holding midfielder Rodri from Atletico Madrid and they were able to capture the Spaniard for a club-record deal of £68 million. The 23-year-old has impressed for club and country in his role over the last couple of years. With Fernandinho getting no younger, it was important that Guardiola signed a player who could play deep in his midfield. Rodri should help City go to the next level as they are not short of attacking players in the final third but have maybe been lacking a player of his calibre just to make sure they are more balanced across the XI. Guardiola believes Rodri is going to be around for the next 10 years for City, in which case he could prove to be an excellent investment.
It should be an exciting season ahead of the Citizens as they look to better their impressive domestic treble.
