Pep Guardiola's first season at Manchester City has not gone according to plan. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has been struggling in his first season in the Premier League and failed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in his coaching career after losing to Monaco.
Also read: Pep Guardiola looking to sign unsettled Bayern Munich sensation Joshua Kimmich
Following that defeat, Manchester City officials have given Guardiola £200 million to spend in the summer to turn their fortunes around, and the future of as many as 17 players hang in the balance.
Gael Clichy, whose contract at the club ends this season, could be one of the players set to be axed in the summer and the Frenchman admitted that there could be a number of changes at Manchester City in the summer.
"There are going to be some new faces. What's going to happen in three months is up to the chairman, the boss and the club. People will talk but we can only concentrate on the next game" Daily Mail quoted Clichy as saying.
Apart from Clichy, Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, and Jesus Navas too have their contracts coming to an end this season and there is no guarantee that they will be offered a new deal. The likes of Joe Hart, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony, and Jason Denayer, who are all out on loan this season, are not expected to get back into the Manchester City squad next season and could leave the club permanently in the summer.
The future of club captain Vincent Kompany is also in serious doubt. The Belgian has been struggling with a lot of injuries and has not played since the end of January. Despite reports saying that he was fit for the Monaco match, Guardiola did not include him in the 18-man squad hinting that he too could be set for a summer exit.
A key area that Manchester City needs to work on is defence and they have identified a number of targets including Juventus centre-half Leonardo Bonucci, Valencia left-back Jose Gaya, and Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich, who can play at right-back and in midfield.
The future of their prolific goal scorer, Sergio Aguero, has also come into question ever since their new Brazilian wonder kid Gabriel Jesus came into the team. Guardiola preferred Jesus over Aguero when the Brazilian arrived in January and that did not please the Argentine too much. He is back into the squad for now due to Jesus' injury but feels that if Jesus was fit he would have to settle for the bench.
Despite being promoted to the No.1 spot, Willy Caballero also faces an uncertain future. The Argentine is just a short term solution for Guardiola at the moment and with Claudio Bravo struggling to adapt to the Premier League, you can expect Manchester City to sign a prolific goalkeeper too. Real Madrid's under fire goalkeeper Keylor Navas has emerged as a possible option to solve their goalkeeping crisis.
