8 Reasons Why Man City Will Be Pep Guardiola's Biggest Test

5. His Team Isn't The Finished Article

For the first time in his managerial career, Pep is coming to a team that isn't as complete as his Barcelona side, or his Bayern side. Similarly, for the first time in his career, you could argue that Guardiola is going to have to practically build a new side to attain the Man City €œlegacy€ that the Abu-Dhabi owners crave so much.

The spine of the City team that has been so important in the last few seasons €“ Hart, Kompany, Touré and Silva €“ looks ragged and worn down, and easily past their best. Their only world class player in Sergio Aguero seems to be more frequently struck down with injury, and without him the goals appear to dry up.

This season, the spine of the team has looked badly exposed, and teams have been taking advantage of it. Manuel Pellegrini struck a gem in signing Kevin de Bruyne from Wolfsburg as a future replacement for Silva, but Pep will have to more than likely create a new spine to build his team around.

There is a lot of driftwood in the current City team which needs to be cut and refined; Touré will probably go this summer, as will fringe players such as Fabien Delph, Samir Nasri, and Martin Demichelis, among others. Refining this City team is a big job, and it'll take more than one transfer window to accomplish.

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An English literature graduate who probably should do more writing, but chose to run a bar instead. Go figure.