Manchester City's golden rule with wantaway stars is well known but sometimes the specifics get lost.
Anyone that wishes to leave can do ... but only if they bring an acceptable offer to the table. City are not a charity willing to let players walk away for peanuts and they also factor time into any equation; Paris Saint-Germain's bid for Bernardo Silva last summer was rejected fundamentally because it came too close to the closing of the transfer deadline.
Time is of course relative, and City are relatively late in getting up and started again for the new season with their players still enjoying their holidays after other clubs have reported back to start preparations for the new campaign. Part of that is a deliberate strategy from the club, but it also reflects the fact that their season ended later than anyone else and two weeks after all but one Premier League club.
There are no panic stations in the transfer window either. Despite some fans being impatient at the lack of resolution over signing RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol, there is ample time for that deal to be done.
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Slightly more pressing is the decision over departures. Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, and Riyad Mahrez are three of the players mulling their options over next season and City may have to enforce a deadline if their policy is to wait for those calls to be made before acting further in the transfer market.
City do not necessarily need to replace Ilkay Gundogan given Mateo Kovacic has arrived and Joao Cancelo or Aymeric Laporte could also leave without further strengthening (assuming Gvardiol comes anyway) yet those three would require action. Given the knock-on consequences in the squad, it is beginning to feel that that action must come sooner rather than later.
Walker going to Bayern would be a blow for City in the sense that they do not have anyone with Walker's specific skillset to come in. Rico Lewis is more similar to John Stones and unless Cancelo was to have a miraculous reintegration it would leave Pep Guardiola with just Lewis as a full-back and similarly thin numbers across the defence.
The midfield and attack would be similarly stretched if Bernardo or Mahrez, or both, were to head for Saudi pastures new. It would leave the manager with just eight or nine options to fill six places every three days in a season in which City could play more games than ever before.
Losing Mahrez could mean a change of heart on Cole Palmer to give him the chance on the right wing this season, while James McAtee could be a big beneficiary of Bernardo going. As respectful as City want to be to the first-teamers mulling over their future, they also have a responsibility to make the best decision for those coming through; if there are no opportunities for them at the Etihad, they need to get a very good loan sorted to ensure they get the best possible chance to develop.
City will feel they owe it to their first team stars to make their own decisions on their futures, but that doesn't mean they can take all the time they want over it.
