Five players Man City should have signed instead of Grealish

Stefan Bienkowski

• 21 Dec 2021 19:58 GMT
• 4 min read

Manchester City may be sitting top of the Premier League and looking strong in the Champions League but one player in particular isn’t enjoying this season.

Jack Grealish, the club’s £105 million signing in the summer, has so far managed just three goals and three assists in 20 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Trending

Which football managers have been sacked this season?

Premier League managers: Full list of current bosses

When does the 2025 January transfer window open and close?

Indeed, the England international looks a shadow of the player he once was at Aston Villa, leading some fans to perhaps wonder whether the club made the right decision in signing him.

Naturally, City had a number of potential signings that they could have made in the summer and perhaps should have done with the benefit of hindsight.

Harry Kane

Perhaps the most obvious player Man City should have signed in the summer was the one player they were desperate to sign: Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur.

Unlike Grealish, Kane would have provided a clear outlet for all of the possession and passing that Guardiola's side likes to have and would have clearly filled a role in the team that is currently left to just Gabriel Jesus.

Of course, Kane may have had a poor start to the season at City, just as he has at Spurs, but in the long run he would have perhaps been far more useful.

Erling Haaland

After Man City found out they couldn’t sign Kane, the English giants should have given Borussia Dortmund a ring and thrown enough money at the German club until they sold Erling Haaland.

The Norway striker is expected to leave Dortmund this summer for anything between €75-90 million due to a release clause, so the opportunity to cash in for as much as €120 million 12 months earlier would have potentially been an ideal solution for the club.

And Man City would have then been able to claim one of the best strikers in the world as their own.

Frenkie de Jong

Man City had their heart set on a new striker in the summer, but what they really needed was another all-conquering central midfielder that can defend as well as he can create plays from the base of midfield.

As such, the English giants could have done far worse than making a move for Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong ahead of this season.

Although the Dutch international seems to be a favoured star at Camp Nou, there’s no doubt that Barca would have seriously considered a sizable offer for the player - especially if it was as much as Man City ended up spending on Grealish.

Dusan Vlahovic

Another striker that Arsenal should have seriously considered ahead of this season was none other than Fiorentina goal machine Dusan Vlahovic.

Last season the Serbian target man scored no less than 21 goals in 37 league games for the Florence side and just about every major club in Europe knew he was only going to add to that tally this time around.

Now Vlahovic is sitting on 18 goals in 20 games for the Serie A side this season and is wanted by every major club on the continent. Man City could have easily stolen a lead on their rivals by simply signing him 12 months earlier.

Lionel Messi

The world of football ground to a halt in the summer when Lionel Messi was forced to leave Barcelona after the club got tangled up in financial rules with La Liga.

As we all know, Messi ended up at Paris Saint-Germain. But not before a drawn-out transfer sage suggesting a potential move to Manchester instead.

Like PSG, City have a limitless pot of money to throw at such problems and could have perhaps convinced Messi to make the move to England. And few would doubt that he’d be a notable upgrade on Grealish.