Welcoming Haaland, replacing Fernandinho and reshaping squad: Man City set for busy summer

Barely had the final piece of street furniture been dismantled, the last of the litter swept away, and the players’ vacation aeroplane vapour trails disappeared, before the Manchester City brains' trust was back around the table plotting more success.

Hours after City had clinched the Premier League title in such dramatic style with a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Aston Villa they began eyeing more silverware and squad changes.

A relentless desire to win matches and trophies has characterised Sheikh Mansour’s majority ownership for more than a dozen years and never more so than in the Pep Guardiola era.

However, four Premier League titles in the last five years, twice back-to-back winners, has not yet sated that drive for more trophies.

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, in his annual end of season interview conducted in Abu Dhabi, confirmed that a short time had been set aside for celebrations before it was back to the business of improving the already glittering resources at the disposal of their storied Catalan coach.

Some pressing matters have been addressed already with the signing of two forwards to finally fill the boots of all-time great Sergio Aguero, who departed at the end of the 2020/21 season.

In from the Bundesliga has come Erling Haaland, the prolific young Norwegian striker who is tipped to become one of football's next global superstars, and joining him in the revamped forward line will be Julian Alvarez from River Plate in Argentina.

Now firmly established in his national team Alvarez, at 22 a year older than Haaland, recently scored a hat-trick in each half as his club thrashed Peru’s top team, Lima, in the Copa Libertadores.

Next up will, in all likelihood, be the replacing of the captain, Fernandinho, who