For perhaps the first time in his seven summers in charge, there has been an air of desperation from Pep Guardiola in the transfer window this week.
He has been well within his rights to be concerned, too. City have made an excellent start to the new season with two Premier League wins out of two and a UEFA Super Cup triumph but the squad is still weaker than the one that completed the Treble in June.
Ilkay Gundogan is a humungous loss and it's not yet clear if Mateo Kovacic will be able to replicate the departing captain's influence. Riyad Mahrez will also be missed and he hadn't even been replaced. That is, until now.
Additionally, City have a growing injury crisis and were without Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Bernardo Silva at the weekend while Joao Cancelo and Aymeric Laporte weren't involved as they edge towards the exit door. Under so much strain, Guardiola admitted some big decisions will have to be made in the market.
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"We will need everyone with this schedule and calendar. Over the next one or two [weeks] the club have to take some important decisions with the squad. We didn’t expect with Kevin and we didn’t expect with Riyad to leave but I have a feeling we’ve spoken about that.
"We are who we are. A lot of young players on the bench and that’s the difference. Okay we are a few people - the guys who want to be here are here and let’s try and do it."
City have been pondering the best way to go about replacing the attacking threat Mahrez brought to the side and have been stuck between adding a winger or an attacking midfielder. Michael Olise was on the club's radar but he committed his future to Crystal Palace after attention turned to Lucas
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