Football Season Guide

Manchester City needed a late surge in form in the final weeks of the campaign to secure a Champions League spot last season and coach Pep Guardiola has pulled out all the stops, at least in the transfer market, to ensure a more sustained challenge for silverware in the upcoming campaign. City finished a respectable 3rd in the Premier League but suffered an early exit from the Champions League, somewhat denting Guardiola's invincible aura. While they had one of the most lethal attacks in Europe, City's problems were rooted at the back and Guardiola has tried to address the problem by spending more than £200 million in overhauling the squad. Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Jesus Navas, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernando and Nolito have all left the club on a permanent basis while Joe Hart has been loaned out to West Ham United. Claudio Bravo will have to settle for a backup role this season after Guardiola spent big on Benfica's Ederson while Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy will be taking over on either side of the central defense. Bernardo Silva will also strengthen what was already a formidable attack but despite the heavy spending, City continue to remain weak in the center of the defense with question marks persisting on Vincent Kompany's fitness while Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones were not exactly convincing last season. Guardiola has admitted that his side has not yet finished spending and are searching for a central defender while reports continue to link them to a mega deal that could bring Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe to the club. City will be kicking the new season off as favorites to win the Premier League and may well start the campaign on a blistering pace similar to the last year. However, Guardiola will be aware that key to the title will be consistency over the course of the campaign and another dip in form midway through could see them miss out once again.