How Man City and Guardiola built a treble-winning squad

Under coach Pep Guardiola, Man City has spent more than 1.3 billion USD to build the squad, dominate domestic tournaments and then make a historic treble in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League this season.

Guardiola (in black, sitting on the right) waits for captain Gundogan to lift the Champions League trophy at Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey on the evening of June 10, completing a historic treble for Man City. Photo: PA

Guardiola took office at Etihad Stadium in early summer 2016. In the 2016-2017 season - his first season leading the team, Guardiola recruited many stars such as John Stones ($60 million), Leroy Sane (55), Gabriel Jesus (35), Ilkay Gundogan (30), Claudio Bravo, Nolito (20) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (2).

But these investments still could not help the Spanish coach escape empty-handed. Man City finished third in the Premier League, behind Tottenham and champions Chelsea, lost 1-2 to Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals and 0-1 to Man Utd in the FA Cup fourth round. In the Champions League, Man City was eliminated by Monaco in the round of 16 on away goals. At that time, Monaco had a highly rated team with Kylian Mbappe, Radamel Falcao, Bernardo Silva, Fabinho, Thomas Lemar, Tiemoué Bakayoko, Djibril Sidibe, Benjamin Mendy and goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

That failure motivated Man City to spend money on Guardiola to recruit more players in the following season. In the 2017-2018 season , they doubled the amount of money on the transfer market to bring in Aymeric Laporte (70 million USD), Benjamin Mendy (60), Kyle Walker (55), Bernardo Silva (53), Ederson (43) and Danilo (32).

With this new crop of stars joining forces, Man City lost shockingly 0-1 to Wigan in the fifth round of the FA Cup, but crushed Arsenal 3-0 in the League Cup final and set a record for winning the Premier League with 100 points. However, Guardiola's team continued to disappoint in the Champions League when they stopped in the quarter-finals. They lost 0-3 to Liverpool at Anfield in the first leg, and then lost 1-2 when they returned to the Etihad Stadium.

In the 2018-2019 season , Guardiola only brought in one star when recruiting Riyad Mahrez for a fee of more than 70 million USD. Man City had a successful season, becoming the first English club to win three domestic titles in one season including the League Cup, Premier League and FA Cup.

The Etihad Stadium side beat Chelsea 4-3 on penalties in the League Cup final, won the Premier League with 98 points, one more than Liverpool, and crushed Watford 6-0 in the FA Cup final. Guardiola's side also won the Community Shield, beating Chelsea 2-0 thanks to a brace from Sergio Aguero. But in the Champions League, Man City continued to be stopped in the quarter-finals, losing 3-4 on aggregate to Tottenham.

Mahrez is one of Guardiola's biggest deals since taking charge of Man City. Photo: AFP

In the 2019-2020 season , Guardiola focused on strengthening the defense system by bringing in two expensive new players, including defensive midfielder Rodri for $75 million from Atletico and full-back Joao Cancelo for $65 million from Juventus. Man City won the Community Shield, the League Cup, finished second in the Premier League and lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals. In the Champions League, the Manchester club once again stopped in the quarter-finals when losing 1-3 to Lyon in Lisbon, Portugal.

In the 2020-2021 season , Guardiola still prioritized strengthening the defense, recruiting two defenders Ruben Dias ($77 million), Nathan Ake (45) and striker Ferran Torres (35). They reclaimed the Premier League title, defended the League Cup but lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals. In the Champions League, Guardiola and Man City reached the final for the first time, where they lost 0-1 to Chelsea thanks to a goal by Kai Havertz.

In the 2021-2022 season , Man City broke the English football transfer record when spending 139 million USD to sign Jack Grealish, then bought Julian Alvarez from River Plate for less than 20 million USD. In the domestic arena, Man City was eliminated early from the FA Cup, League Cup and defended the Premier League title. But in the Champions League, they missed the ticket to the final when they lost to Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

With the squad they have, Man City are considered perfect when playing with ball control. But they lack a steel fist in attack, a fast striker with the ability to sweep and fight in the air to increase directness and damage. This is the reason why they quietly negotiated early to close the deal to buy Erling Haaland for 63 million USD from Dortmund when the 2021-2022 season has not yet ended. In addition, in the 2022-2023 season , Guardiola also brought in central midfielder Kalvin Phillips ($61 million), defenders Manuel Akanji (20), Sergio Gomez (15) and goalkeeper Stefan Ortega (free).

According to the transfer website Transfermarkt , during Guardiola's six seasons in charge, Man City spent more than 1.3 billion USD for the Catalan coach to strengthen his squad. After being satisfied with domestic titles - winning the Premier League and FA Cup this season, Guardiola finally helped Man City win the Champions League for the first time when defeating Inter 1-0 in the final at Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey on the evening of June 10.

Haaland scored against Dortmund in the Champions League group stage. In all competitions this season, the Norwegian striker has scored 52 goals for Man City in all competitions. Photo: Imago

Except for Kevin de Bruyne who arrived at Etihad in the summer of 2015, and Phil Foden who was promoted from the academy, the remaining pillars of the Man City squad that won the treble this season are all stars that Guardiola bought in the past seven years. This number includes goalkeeper Ederson, defenders Dias, Stones, Laporte, Walker, Akanji, Ake, midfielders Gundogan, Bernardo, Rodri, Grealish and the trio of strikers Haaland, Alvarez, Mahrez.

Man City became the second English club, after fellow city club Man Utd, to win the treble. Guardiola is the first manager to win the treble with two different clubs, with Barca in 2008-09 and Man City in 2022-23. He is also the fastest manager to reach 300 wins in the history of the English top flight. He reached the milestone 102 games faster than the previous record shared by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Liverpool manager Bob Paisley.

Hong Duy

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