Heading into the 23/24 season Manchester City saw four players arrive at the club. Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol all arrived as the world champions last summer. Each player made an impact, some more profound than others. But when looking back at which player was Manchester City’s best summer signing Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol was easily City’s signing of the summer.
The quality of Josko Gvardiol was well known when he arrived at Manchester City from RB Leipzig. During his time at the Bundesliga club, he had become one of the premier young defenders in world football. Upon his arrival at Manchester City, the expectations were high that the Croatian defender could make an impact this season. Gvardiol set about exceeding those expectations with a stunning debut season as the world champions.
Gvardiol made 42 appearances in all competitions this season. He added 5 goals and 3 assists as he spent the majority of the season playing at left-back. But the stats don’t tell the full story of Gvardiol’s impact during his first season. He became an integral piece of City’s build-up play at left-back as his tremendous technical ability shone through. His ability going forward became an important component of City’s ultimately successful hunt for a fourth consecutive Premier League title. His goal against Fulham at Craven Cottage was the perfect example of this. It was a crucial goal in the title race and showed just how dangerous the Croatian defender can be going forward.
Manchester City strung together 19 passes in the sequence leading to Joško Gvardiol’s goal against Fulham. 🧠🔗pic.twitter.com/2j0DI2ivgw
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) May 12, 2024
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Looking forward Josko Gvardiol appears poised to be one of several key building blocks for Manchester City’s future. If his debut season at the Etihad is a sign of things to come the champions have a Rolls Royce of a footballer to build their defence around. Whether that’s at left-back or in a different position Gvardiol showed this season just how vital to Manchester City he is and will become.
Now that the story of the 23/24 season has been written Josko Gvardiol was Manchester City’s signing of the season. The Croatian defender had an immense first season at the club and showed the sky is the limit as to what type of player he could develop into. Typically new signings take time to adapt to Pep Guardiola’s demands. But Gvardiol shone in his first season at the club which sets him up for a successful career at Manchester City.
