Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City secured a fourth Premier League title in five years on the final day in dramatic fashion. It took three goals in five minutes to put the Citizens in the lead at home against Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa, from Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri, and they never looked back. Now, as then, they only look forward.
Forward to the summer, and with several signings either already being agreed or being rumored close to completion, some players are going to have to head the other way. Here are three of the biggest players that Manchester City are almost certainly going to need to find a way to move on from in the 2022 summer transfer window.
Gabriel Jesus
With the arrival of Erling Haaland, the group of forwards at Manchester City is bound to be shaken up to make room for the Norwegian. For Jesus, it means he and the club are seeking a move for him elsewhere, with rumors of a $60 million transfer being thrown around involving both North London rivals, Arsenal and Tottenham. The Gunners seemed the likeliest to land him a few weeks ago, but those rumors have cooled off a bit while Spurs have only entered the race in the past week or so.
Having been at the Etihad since 2016, the 25-year-old tallied 13 goals and 12 assists in 41 appearances this season, bringing his likely final total to 95 goals and 46 assists in 236 appearances since joining from Palmeiras those six years ago. The reason Jesus seems bound to leave is that with the World Cup coming, he wants to give himself the best opportunity to play often in order to break into Brazil's roster for Qatar.
It's a crowded forward room in Brazil, and it's worth noting that Jesus has played fairly regularly for them, appearing in seven of Brazil's World Cup qualifiers, but not registering a single goal or assist since group play in last summer's Copa America, and not scoring for his country since the 2019 Copa America Final against Peru.
Raheem Sterling
The man whose assist kicked off the comeback on the final day against Aston Villa, Raheem Sterling is a player who will likely move on from Manchester City, but could also sign a new contract at the Etihad if a move doesn't materialize. Several clubs are reportedly interested, ranging from again the two North London clubs of Arsenal and Spurs, to the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid. His fee would likely be similar to that of Jesus, totaling somewhere in the region of $60-65 million, breaking even on his move from Liverpool as a fresh-faced 20-year-old in the summer of 2015.
This season, Sterling notched 17 goals and nine assists in 47 appearances, his fewest in a City shirt since joining. Across his entire tenure in Manchester, Sterling is dwarfed only by Sergio Agüero, with 131 goals and 95 assists in 339 appearances. Sterling's reasoning for a move is somewhat similar to Jesus, except for the fact that Sterling is a near-lock for Gareth Southgate's final England squad regardless of minutes on the pitch, so it's more about maintaining form than anything else.
Sterling was playing regularly at the end of last season for Manchester City, and his form carried over excellently into the Euros, scoring three and assisting once while guiding England to their first international final since 1966. Sterling, and Southgate surely, will be hoping that a potential summer move away from Manchester may bring out similar international performances from Sterling come the World Cup in November.
Ilkay Gundogan
Gundogan is the least likely of the three to leave, with Pep Guardiola saying if he had it his way there would be no intention of allowing Gundogan to depart, and Guardiola typically does get his way, but contract talks have stalled to date, and transfers often materialize quickly when they do. Earlier in the spring, there were rumors of Gundogan being interested in linking back up with Mikel Arteta at Arsenal, but nothing seems to have come of that.
Also joining Manchester City in the summer of 2016 with Jesus, Gundogan coming from Dortmund, he has since made 253 appearances and totaled 99 goals and 60 assists. He, like Sterling, is a near-lock to go to Qatar with Germany, so he likely would only move to a club that could offer more regular minutes to maintain form if nothing else. His current contract expires next summer, so there's no immediate rush to get a new one sorted, but if City wishes to keep the 31-year-old German midfielder, they'd best hurry because he can sign pre-contracts with other clubs as soon as January 2023.
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