Five Man City players who could leave this summer

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 11 Jul 2023 10:04 CDT
• 4 min read

Last season, Manchester City sealed not only their fifth Premier League title in six years, but they finally lifted the Champions League trophy to secure a historic treble after also emerging victorious in the FA Cup final.

However, despite their level of dominance in English football over recent years, several of their current stars have been linked with exits.

Captain Ilkay Gundogan has already departed on a free transfer to Xavi's Barcelona, despite their best efforts to keep him, and others have generated interest from elsewhere too. Academy goalkeeper James Trafford has agreed a €22 million move to newly-promoted Burnley after his heroics for England's U21 side at the European Championships.

Last summer, Man City cashed in on Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, with the former joining Chelsea and the latter two signing for Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola's side generated €143.5m from selling the trio, which they reinvested in Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Sergio Gomez and Manuel Akanji.

READ: Real Madrid still plotting Haaland swoop despite mammoth release clause

However, City have shown they are willing to sell their assets if appropriate bids are lodged. FootballTransfers looks at five of the most likely to leave this time around.

Joao Cancelo

Another former Pep Guardiola favourite, Joao Cancelo fell out of favour at the end of last year and left, under a cloud, on loan to Bayern Munich. He had a mixed spell in Bavaria, and the German champions declined to make his stay permanent.

Cancelo has found a new system in place on his return to Manchester, one in which Pep regularly trusts Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake - centre-backs by trade - in the full-back areas, with John Stones flitting between defence and midfield from a more central position.

Where Cancelo ends up remains to be seen, but the chances of it being the Etihad are growing ever slimmer.

Aymeric Laporte

Aymeric Laporte might have fit the aforementioned system, a ball-playing left-footed centre-back with a knack for scoring big goals, but knee surgery last summer has derailed his Man City career, and an exit now seems likely.

Barcelona have been credited with an interest in the French-born Spain international, but it will take another club to afford a player valued at €42.3m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm and still under contract until 2025.

Josko Gvardiol's imminent arrival from RB Leipzig could push Laporte even closer to the exit door.

Kalvin Phillips

Kalvin Phillips has simply never got going since joining Man City from Leeds in a €49m deal last summer. The England international arrived with a shoulder complaint, but that injury hasn't been deemed serious since November and he still only mustered two Premier League starts last campaign.

Rodri - and latterly Stones - now dominate the defensive midfield position he would like to occupy, while Mateo Kovacic's arrival further complicates matters. Aston Villa are ready to offer Phillips a way out, according to reports.

Kyle Walker

Guardiola may have used Walker on a regular basis in the back-end of last season, but the England international was dropped for the Champions League final and doesn't exactly fit into the new system deployed by the Man City boss.

Bayern Munich have expressed interest in signing him, while he has not yet signed City's latest contract offer. His current deal is set to expire in 2024, meaning Man City may look to offload him if he doesn't put pen to paper on a new contract soon.

Bernardo Silva

Bernardo Silva has been linked with a Man City departure for the past few seasons, but he has stayed put so far. However, despite being a consistent figure under Guardiola's last campaign, this summer could prove to be his last in Manchester.

The Portuguese international has just two years left on his current deal and Saudi Arabian Pro League side Al-Hilal are reportedly set to offer Man City €70m to sign Bernardo this summer.

Furthermore, they are willing to pay the player an eye-watering annual salary of €50m.