With Kalvin Phillips departure to West Ham soon to be completed Manchester City appear to have their first-team squad settled. The second half of the season is set to begin tomorrow night against Tottenham in the FA Cup fourth round.
It seems that the world champions will go in with the squad they have besides Kalvin Phillips as they seek to defend the treble they won last season.
At face value, it would appear that the Manchester City squad could be a midfielder-short with Kalvin Phillips departure. But on closer inspection, there are options among the squad to cover for Rodri if the Spanish international has to miss any games. Injuries and fitness will dictate but Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes have now been at the club for some time. The pair are now settled into life at the world champions and more than capable of covering in the centre of the pitch if required. While they aren’t like-for-like replacements for Rodri they can step in if required.
Also, Kalvin Phillips hasn’t been a regular for Pep Guardiola this season. He has only featured 10 times this campaign and most of those appearances have come in the final minutes of games. While his name won’t be on the bench he wasn’t a big contributor to the Manchester City squad.
It would also appear that the European champions won’t immediately sign a player to be a backup for Rodri. Signs point to Claudio Echeverri being the only signing in the January transfer window for the world champions.
So it would appear that the squad Manchester City will seek to defend the treble with is the same minus Kalvin Phillips. The quality is there in Pep Guardiola’s squad as they seek to defend the treble.
