Manchester City Transfers: 5 Players They Must Sign

How do you improve on greatness? Here's how!

by Andrew Pollard

Let's be honest, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City aren't exactly in need of a dire makeover this season.

This is a City side who won the Premier League, FA Cup, Caraboa Cup and Community Shield last season, in addition to reaching the quarter-finals stage of the Champions League. Sure, the Champions League exit may have disappointed some, but the 2018/19 campaign was a monumental success no matter how you look at it.

Like any successful team, though, the key is to consistently look to keep things fresh and add new faces to the ranks as you look to achieve even more trophies and break even more records.

As a squad, The Citizens already have one of the greatest groups of players ever assembled in world football. Whether it's in attack, in midfield, in defence, or even in goal, City have a slew of top class options that mean Pep has an absolute embarrassment of riches at his disposal. But that's not to say that the blue half of Manchester doesn't need some new additions, of course.

It may be a tall task, then, but here are five players who could prove to be absolutely essential signings for Manchester City.

5. Joao Cancelo (Juventus)

When looking at the dearth of playing riches available to Pep Guardiola, Kyle Walker is the clear standout to start at right-back for Pep's Manchester City.

Now while Walker is an England international who has won plentiful of silverware since swapping White Hart Lane for The Etihad, that's not to say that the rapid full-back isn't without his faults.

When it comes to reading the game, Walker can at times be found lacking, and his positional sense isn't what you'd expect from a top level defender. Luckily, of course, said rapid pace is on hand to get the former Sheffield United player out of any trouble he may find himself in.

Just looking at Guardiola's squad, you can see how Pep likes to have top world class players for each position. But for those times when Kyle Walker has a dip in form, the only other alternative is Danilo.

The Brazilian ex-Real Madrid man is a decent option, yet he's nowhere near Walker's level of quality. As such, Guardiola could be well served by putting in an offer for Juventus' Joao Cancelo.

In terms of the modern full-back, Portugal international Cancelo has everything. He's athletic, he's quick, he likes to join the attack, he's good on the ball, and he's strong in the tackle.

The former Valencia defender is also extremely versatile, having played as a right midfielder, a right forward, and at left-back for the Old Lady last season.

According to The Mirror, Maurizio Sarri's Juve are holding out for £53 million for a player who currently has interest from Barcelona and Bayern Munich - and with such big clubs already circling the attacking full-back, City need to pull their finger out should they want to go for Cancelo.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.