Oleksandr Zinchenko transfer could present Pep Guardiola with biggest Man City challenge yet

As was the case last summer, despite winning the Premier League title the futures of a number of Manchester City players are in doubt as the transfer window approaches.

While there is not the same level of discontent from players as there was last summer - it's believed that four key players wanted to leave - there are a few members of Pep Guardiola's squad who have been linked with moves away.

The futures of Ilkay Gundogan, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling are all up in the year, with their contracts set to expire in a little over a year's time. Last week there were widespread reports that Gundogan was flying to Madrid to conduct transfer negotiations, although it turned out that he was actually flying to Copenhagen - and then Rome - to get married.

This week, the latest City player to be linked with a move away is Oleksandr Zinchenko. While he played a lesser role in City's Premier League triumph than his aforementioned teammates, he would arguably be the player hardest to replace.

Since becoming a member of City's first team squad in the summer of 2017 - he spent the 2016/17 season on loan at PSV Eindhoven - Zinchenko has never made more than 20 Premier League appearances in a single season. Nevertheless, he has managed to play important roles in City's four Premier League-winning campaigns during that time.

He was particularly important in 2018/19 when, having featured in just three of City's opening 20 league games, he started 11 of their last 12 as the Blues put together an incredible 14-game winning run to pip Liverpool to the title.

Last season after a similarly slow start, he was a near permanent fixture in the team that won 15 consecutive games between December and March. By the end of the campaign he had