Man City exodus could come at perfect time as rivals struggle with same issue

Manchester City were facing a rebuild of sorts in the coming years, but might not have expected that rebuild to be forced upon them this season.

City are no strangers to losing key, influential players and replacing them. Every year under Pep Guardiola a club legend has left, yet the trophies and Premier League titles have kept on coming. Last summer, City sold Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, and then went on to win the treble.

With Ilkay Gundogan leaving this summer, and more potentially following, fans can be confident that Guardiola will find a way to make City competitive next season.

Can he do that if, say, Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez follow Gundogan out of the door, thinning an already thin squad and losing two more experienced winners from the team?

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Reports in Germany say that Walker has decided to join Bayern Munich, although counter-reports suggest no such decision has been made. Over the weekend, it has been claimed that Mahrez has 'agreed terms' with Al Ahli in Saudi Arabia, but again, conflicting accounts cast doubt over how far any deal has actually got.

There is also uncertainty over Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Joao Cancelo. With the season approaching, time is suddenly against City when it comes to signing quality replacements at good value.

If selling clubs know that City quickly need a right-back, a world-class winger and a centre-back, they will have the upper hand in negotiations. It's hardly ideal for City to be starting pre-season on Monday when five experienced players may not be at the club after the transfer window closes.

But City only need to look around the Premier League to see that the