Manchester City know the script by now. An iconic player has left every summer since Pep Guardiola, with Ilkay Gundogan the latest.
The tributes were written, the impressive montages were finished, and City's farewell to club captain Gundogan was as slick as the player himself. Not every player has left on such a high, but all have been given appropriate tributes to reflect their contributions to City.
Joe Hart's exit in 2016 was a little acrimonious, but he has a pitch named after him at the City Football Academy. Pablo Zabaleta and Yaya Toure got hero's farewells on the pitch the following two years, and Vincent Kompany is immortalised in a statue outside the Etihad, along with David Silva and Sergio Aguero, after their successive departures between 2019 and 2021.
Fernandinho went with a fitting farewell of his own, and so too has Gundogan having lifted the Champions League trophy for the club for the first time. Just like every year, City have waved off a legend, and now focus on replacing him.
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In some cases, City have acted quickly to find a replacement, or even brought that successor in previously. Rodri stepped up when Fernandinho left, Phil Foden stepped up when Silva left, Kevin De Bruyne had already taken Yaya Toure's mantle, and Kyle Walker was signed after Zabaleta's exit.
On other occasions, the replacement has taken longer, with Claudio Bravo not the Hart replacement City hoped, until Ederson arrived a year after. City wouldn't rise to £80m to sign Harry Maguire in the summer that Kompany departed, and paid for it by losing the 2020 Premier League title, but found their eventual replacement in Ruben Dias 12 months later.
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