Jim Salveson appeared on a recent edition of the Football Social Daily podcast, during which he spent some time criticising Manchester City’s recruitment during the tenure of current manager Pep Guardiola.
As per Transfermarkt, Manchester City have made 37 new permanent additions to their squad during Guardiola’s tenure at the Etihad Stadium.
Some of these signings, such as Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Ederson Moraes and Kyle Walker have played quite a prominent role for City during the ex-Barcelona man’s time at the club.
However, during this recent edition of the Football Social Daily podcast, Salveson slammed City’s recruitment during the period in which Guardiola has been at the club, with the podcaster suggesting that City have failed to adequately replace some key members of their squad in this time, such as Vincent Kompany, who left the club in the summer of 2019, and the duo of Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero, both of whom are still at the club.
He said: “There’s something certainly very strange with the way Pep Guardiola has gone about his recruitment in recent years.
“They’re certainly spending the money and they’re certainly buying players who play in the right positions and we’ve talked about this before but for some reason, a lot of those transfers don’t seem to be working out the way they’re intended and it can’t always be the fault of the players not stepping up to the mark.
“Whether it’s just too challenging for a lot of players to play in the Guardiola way and they don’t know until they come into the club whether they can step up to the mark in a tactical sense or not – I don’t know but for some reason, it doesn’t quite work.
“We’re seeing time and time again and you could say – Sergio Aguero – they bought in [Gabriel] Jesus and he hasn’t really proven himself to be the heir to that throne. Fernandinho – they bought in Rodri and he hasn’t really stepped up to the mark. They had a problem when Kompany left, they didn’t bring in a [centre-back].
“David Silva would be a miss if it wasn’t for Phil Foden being the talent he is who came through the youth ranks. So, it seems to be a regular problem time and time again.”
Has there been a problem with City's recruitment in recent years?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what Salveson had to say about City’s recruitment during Guardiola’s tenure…
So, clearly, Salveson thinks there is an issue with the way City have gone about their recruitment in recent years, however, we feel this criticism may be somewhat over the top.
While City did struggle to replace Kompany last season, they were also hit with a long-term injury to fellow centre-back Aymeric Laporte last term which certainly didn’t help things in that area and they have only just signed another centre-back, Ruben Dias, who has become the club’s most expensive signing under Guardiola so perhaps he will prove to be a significant addition to their defence.
Additionally, while Aguero’s and Fernandinho’s respective contracts are set to expire at the end of next June, both men are still at the club so perhaps it’s a bit premature to criticise the club for not replacing them when they haven’t left yet.
Also, considering that 23-year-old Jesus, who joined the club in January 2017, scored the joint-14th-highest number of goals in Premier League history for a U23 player (37) while having played fewer games (92) than all but two of the players to have scored more goals than him before turning 23, maybe the criticism of him is slightly harsh too.