There can be little more affirming for a player than being deemed not good enough by Pep Guardiola. Over the last few years, James Trafford, Morgan Rogers, Roméo Lavia, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Douglas Luiz and Cole Palmer have all been allowed to leave Manchester City before proving their former manager wrong, and James McAtee could become the latest addition to that list. His price has been set at £35m; both West Ham and Eintracht Frankfurt are interested.
Across Manchester, the opposite is so: rather than leave to get good, players arrive to get bad. Bryan Mbeumo is the latest to jeopardise his prospects and reputation and, with his medical complete, his transfer from Brentford will soon be finalised. But to leave requisite appalling mess before getting sacked during the November international break, Ruben Amorim needs more, and a centre-forward is next on his list. He still fancies ruining Viktor Gyökeres, for whom Arsenal have been unable to do a deal with Sporting, but Pio Esposito will be remaining at Inter despite interest from United and Atalanta.
