Man City's transfer blueprint spells bad news for Premier League rivals

Manchester City have made just one signing so far this summer in the form of Mateo Kovacic and are lagging behind many of their rivals in terms of acquisition numbers.

Cross town rivals Manchester United have added Andre Onana and Mason Mount. A new striker is on the cards at Old Trafford too.

Arsenal have been busy after losing out to City in the Premier League title race last season. Kai Havertz has arrived from Chelsea to strengthen the forward line, while Jurrien Timber's acquisition from Ajax adds more bodies at the back. And there's also the small matter of the most expensive English player in history in the form of Declan Rice arriving for more than £100m from West Ham.

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Liverpool might have lost the likes of Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson but Jurgen Klopp has added Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai while Chelsea have had a huge summer of transition at Stamford Bridge.

City have benefited, acquiring Kovacic for £25m. On the other side of the coin, Ilkay Gundogan has moved to Barcelona on a free transfer, while Riyad Mahrez is poised to move to Saudi Arabia, with speculation also surrounding the futures of the likes of Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva.

Any other side with question marks over so many quality and key players would be asking questions as to how the squad is shaping up. But City are not any other side. And their history in the transfer market suggests a control and calmness in the transfer market.

City were in a similar situation just 12 months ago. The Blues sold Raheem Sterling to Chelsea and both Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko went to