Man City players can help Txiki Begiristain with outstanding transfer business

It really isn't long since Txiki Begiristain was being hailed as the master of the transfer market by Manchester City fans.

Not only did the Blues secure the coup of the window with a £51m deal for Erling Haaland but Kalvin Phillips and fresh competition for Ederson were quickly brought in and the decision was made that Julian Alvarez was ready to be part of Pep Guardiola's squad. Adding those players to a squad that has already won the Premier League for the last two years is outstanding business in anyone's eyes.

Credit is very quickly forgotten in the frenzy of the transfer window though, especially when timing plays such an important role in how business is seen. City's summer would almost certainly be seen as more positive now if they had made the three to four new signings after selling three first-teamers rather than before.

Also read: Sergio Aguero critical of Man City for selling Sterling to Chelsea

Losing players after strengthening is almost certainly playing into concerns about the squad with a month of the window left. If there was uncertainty about not replacing all the experience and quality of Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling in attack, there are greater worries about losing the versatile and talented Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Having gained kudos from failing to buckle over Nathan Ake amid a shortage of centre-backs, City's refusal to meet Brighton's asking price for Marc Cucurella and Chelsea's subsequent apparent willingness to have left the Blues scrambling to sign the left-back that the squad looks like it needs to avoid being too thinly stretched across a lengthy season. Joao Cancelo's performance in that role against Liverpool in the Community Shield suggested a pressing need to get the position