It's bound to be a quiet January for Manchester City.
Other than some academy players heading out on loan or perhaps some City Football Group signing who will never step foot in Manchester, there won't be much action at the Etihad. City had an uncharacteristically busy summer as Pep Guardiola moved to rejuvenate his squad and the manager has already made it clear he won't be looking to add to it this month.
But that doesn't mean there won't be any signings in 2023. There isn't much room for improvement in City's squad at present but one area that will need to be refreshed and reinforced this year is the midfield. Even more so after Bernardo Silva has once again discussed his future.
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City have spent a lot of money to improve their defensive and attacking options in recent years and are well stocked in those areas but midfield has seen comparatively little attention. That will have to change. Ilkay Gundogan is 32 and it's still not clear if his expiring contract will be renewed, Kevin De Bruyne will be 32 when the next season begins, Kalvin Phillips has hardly had a kick since he moved from Leeds and Bernardo's future remains uncertain.
That leaves only Rodri as a sure-fire option in the heart of City's midfield for years to come. That's not to say the midfielders aren't still brilliant but City have always been great at replacing their ageing stars before they actually have to. Rodri coming in two years before Fernandinho waved goodbye being the prime example.
Bernardo may have just pressed the issue even further. It's no secret the dynamic Portuguese has wanted to move closer to home for the last couple of years but no suitable offers have ever been made for him. With the window open, Bernardo has spoken to news outlet Record regarding his future.
"I don’t know how long I’ll be fine. I’m 28, 29 in the summer, and two more years on my Manchester City contract," he said. "My contract would end at 31. I won’t hide that my goal in recent years, if something good happens elsewhere, will probably be to move to a new project.
"Going to a new project at 29, I’ll only finish this contract probably at 34. If you ask me: what did you think 10 years ago? My goal was to return to Benfica at 32 at most. What do I think today? It depends on next summer.
"When I was about to leave City two years ago, that'd go right, [returning to Benfica] at 32. Now it won’t. If I leave, and I don’t know, a club that pays what City want won’t give me a three-year contract, they will give me five. And it’s 34 years old.
"Being very realistic: to leave City or Benfica, or another great European for Benfica, I can't leave with two or three years contract, Benfica don't have the money; I have to go free. A difficult situation, but we’ll see.”
So while Bernardo remains realistic about the need for a club to offer City a lot of cash for his signature, it does appear his heart remains set on returning to mainland Europe. City admirably don't stand in the way of players who want to leave providing the money is right so it would only take one sizeable offer to steal him away. It's not beyond the realms of possibility at all for a club to finally see sense and cough up the cash for what would be an incredible signing for anyone.
Bernardo is an excellent player but as he brings attention to, he too is now approaching 30. Being 30 isn't a death knell for a career, far from it given modern standards of fitness and diet, but having so many of your first-choice midfielders north of it certainly isn't the best way to future-proof the side.
That's why a new midfielder - with Jude Bellingham being the ideal - has to be City's priority in 2023.
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