After a January spending spree, the soon-to-be deposed champions are expected to splash even more cash this summer to overhaul an ageing squad

Wednesday was weird. It was a pivotal night in the Premier League title race, and yet Manchester City's game against Tottenham was an irrelevance. The only meaningful action was taking place at Anfield and the City Ground, as Liverpool stretched their lead at the top of the table to 13 points with a home win over Newcastle while second-placed Arsenal were being easily held by Nottingham Forest.

Not since Pep Guardiola's first season in charge have City been effectively out of the Premier League title after 27 rounds. Back in the spring of 2017, though, we were already starting to see signs that the Catalan was building something special at the Etihad Stadium. Indeed, City lost just one league game from January 16 onwards – and even that was away to eventual champions Chelsea on April 5.

By the season's end, then, it was clear that Guardiola's footballing philosophy was already starting to take root and, that summer, he added a number of key elements – including Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker – to what would become his first great City side.

Despite the patchy nature of the performance at Spurs, there was enough evidence on display to suggest that Pep might well be in the process of constructing another squad capable of dominating the English game…

GettyUnexpected and rapid decline

City's collapse was as swift as it was shocking. Rodri's majestic influence over Guardiola's team may have been underestimated, but there was little reason to believe that they would completely fall apart a matter of weeks after the Spaniard suffered a likely season-ending ACL injury in September. After all, City had won an unprecedented fourth-consecutive title just four months previously.

However, City lost six of their eight league games between November 2 and December 21 to plummet from first to seventh in the standings. Never before had a Guardiola side experienced such a drastic dip in form – and the incredibly concerning thing was that the Catalan looked completely incapable of arresting the slide.

Consequently, there was even talk that a visibly stressed Guardiola might even resign a matter of weeks after signing a contract extension until 2027 – and it certainly didn't seem beyond the realms of possibility. After all, Guardiola had taken a sabbatical from coaching after the pressure had become too much for him during his fourth and final season at Barcelona, when the Blaugrana were dethroned as champions of Spain at Barcelona.

He had also walked away from Bayern Munich after three successive seasons of Champions League disappointment. Guardiola, remember, had taken over a treble-winning team at the Allianz Arena, but didn't manage to get them back into a single European final in spite of the arrivals of top talents such as Thiago Alcantara, Xabi Alonso, Robert Lewandowski, Arturo Vidal and Joshua Kimmich.

Despite the Etihad extension, then, there was a legitimate question mark over whether Guardiola had it in him to go again. We got an emphatic answer in January, though.

AdvertisementManchester City FCSpending spree

By the midway point of a calamitous campaign which cast considerable doubt on City's hopes of finishing in the top four, it was clear that Guardiola was in dire need of help. Luckily, his Abu Dhabi-based employers provided it in abundance.

City spent a whopping £180m ($223m) during the winter transfer window – more than the other 19 Premier League clubs combined. Only Todd Boehly's Chelsea had splashed more January cash during their historic and utterly insane spending spree of 2023.

Having erred badly by failing to sign a replacement for Julian Alvarez during the summer, City belatedly addressed their lack of an alternative to – and support for – Erling Haaland in attack by signing Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt for £59m. It also came as no surprise to see them pay £50m for Porto's Nico Gonzalez, given Mateo Kovacic had failed miserably to fill the Rodri-shaped hole in midfield. City's injury issues in defence also resulted in a combined £63.2m outlay on two young centre-backs in Abdukodir Khusanov (20) and Vitor Reis (19).

Guardiola is supremely confident that his four most significant January signings – teenager Juma Bah also arrived at the tail end of January from Valladolid – will eventually make a big impact in the Premier League. And, in fairness, some have already made their presence felt.

AFPKhusanov recovering well

Obviously, Khusanov gained immediate attention for all the wrong reasons by dropping a clanger on his debut against Chelsea, but he's barely put a foot wrong since, and the Uzbek was immensely impressive in the 1-0 win at Spurs.

"He travelled with no wash bag, no nothing," an incredulous Guardiola told reporters after the game in north London. "He arrived to play football and when you talk to him, he just laughs, all the time! But he's a reliable player, so fast, so quick and, with the ball, the quality of pass is extraordinary and he has the ability to break lines.

"Of course, he has to improve, but he's 20, so young. But I've seen players with a lot of pace and he is one of them. People adore him; he's silent, works, no complaints, so humble, and I’m pretty sure our fans will love him too. It's not easy to overcome his first, negative impact against Chelsea. But he was so calm the days after, and the games he's played recently have been really good."

Getty Images SportNico already at home

Gonzalez has slotted even more seamlessly into City's starting line-up, which is hardly surprising, as he and Guardiola speak the same language – in every sense.

The 23-year-old Spaniard was schooled at La Masia and made his professional breakthrough at Barcelona before attracting Guardiola's attention with his performances at Porto over the past two-and-a-half seasons.

City may have been ultimately overwhelmed by Real Madrid in the Champions League, and outfoxed by in-form Liverpool at the Etihad last weekend, but they've undeniably started to look a little more like their old selves with the Rodri-like Gonzalez pulling the strings in midfield, and Guardiola believes that his two compatriots could form a formidable midfield pairing when the Ballon d'Or winner eventually returns to full fitness.