The five Man City players who could leave in January

Tom Weber

• Updated: 22 Dec 2023 16:11 GMT
• 4 min read

After an underwhelming few weeks, Man City only sit fourth in the Premier League.

To remedy the situation, the Cityzens could dip into the market to bring in fresh faces in January. But there won't only be movement on the incoming front. Several big-name players are finding game time hard to come by under Pep Guardiola and could head for the exit.

Here are five Man City stars who could leave in January.

Kalvin Phillips

Kalvin Phillips is the most obvious candidate to leave. Indeed, despite Guardiola recently asserting that he hopes the England international will stay, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano is certain that Phillips will depart, having spurned a move in the summer in a bid to fight for a place in the side.

Phillips has been heavily linked with the likes of Juventus and Newcastle United, while Bayern Munich could also look to the 28-year-old in their ongoing search for a defensive midfielder. Phillips joined City from Leeds in 2022 for almost €50 million but has thus far only made 31 appearances.

Zack Steffen

Once the great goalkeeping hope of the United States Men's National Team, Zack Steffen's move to Man City turned into a bit of a nightmare. Despite doing well on loan at Fortuna Dusseldorf at one point, Steffen's form has been on a steady decline since leaving Major League Soccer.

Relegated to third choice at City, Steffen will look to depart in 2024, but it may be hard to find any takers for him in January as the American is currently nursing a knee injury. Steffen's contract expires in 2025.

Sergio Gomez

Once a highly-rated La Masia product, Sergio Gomez is now 23 and mainly a benchwarmer at Man City. Signed from Anderlecht for €15m in 2022, Gomez has made the same number of appearances as Kalvin Phillips since his move (31).

The Spaniard will surely look to secure a January exit - even if it is just on loan - in a bid to get game time and have a chance of getting into the Spain setup for Euro 2024. Gomez has only made eight appearances so far this term.

Stefan Ortega

A player too good to be a backup, Stefan Ortega will have no shortage of suitors in January, though it appears unlikely that Guardiola would sanction a move as it would potentially leave him with 38-year-old Scott Carson as the only fit senior backup to Ederson.

The City number two is a goalkeeper who would start for most top-flight teams in Europe and it is unsurprising that Bayern Munich were at one point linked with him before Manuel Neuer returned from his injury. Ortega can't be content with his current minutes, having only played five games this season.

Oscar Bobb

Finally, City could face a potential Cole Palmer situation with Norwegian wonderkid Oscar Bobb. The 18-year-old has impressed whenever he has stepped on the pitch, but his game time has mostly been limited to short cameos off the bench.

With Palmer starring for Chelsea since his summer move, City will be wary of allowing another celebrated talent to leave permanently. Bobb has been attracting transfer interest, but it's difficult to imagine that Guardiola would sanction anything more than a loan.