Hello and welcome to the City Is Ours daily digest, your dose of Manchester City news you may have missed.
Fernandinho's City contract is set to expire in June, and it looks like Pep Guardiola has identified his ideal replacement.
However, the runaway Premier League leaders have been warned off a top Championship talent.
Meanwhile, a City shot-stopper could be set for a fresh loan stint.
Guardiola's wish
With Fernandinho's contract set to expire at the end of this season, Pep Guardiola's squad will be in need of some reinforcement in the centre of midfield.
Rodri's performances this season leave little doubt that the Spaniard will be City's starting midfield anchor for years to come, but he is going to need cover, especially with City regularly fighting on four fronts.
According to Fichajes.net, reinforcement could come in the shape of Barcelona prodigy Nico Gonzalez.
Guardiola and City have reportedly identified the 20-year-old as a "top wish" this summer (blow out those 51 candles on today's cake, Pep, and you never know...), largely because he can play in multiple positions across the midfield.
Having graduated from Barcelona's famed La Masia academy he is already au fait with Guardiola's style and has gained top flight and Champions League experience this season.
Our take: Given Rodri's command of the starting holding midfield spot, it would make sense for City to bring in someone who can play in different positions so that they don't just end up sitting on the bench every game.
However, Barcelona are not going to be keen on selling one of their best young talents. Nico is very much part of Xavi's rebuilding project at the Camp Nou and, along with Pedri and Gavi, is seen as the future of Barca's midfield. City would have to make a hefty offer to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
Striker link 'nonsense'
According to Goal, City have been keeping an eye on young Queen's Park Rangers striker Sinclair Armstrong.
The 18-year-old forward is a product of the Shamrock Rovers Academy in the Republic of Ireland and, after joining the QPR youth set-up in 2020, spent the first half of this season on loan at National League side Torquay United.
The Ireland youth international scored two goals in eight appearances before returning to Loftus Road and has been linked with the likes of City, Celtic and Southampton.
However, QPR manager Mark Warburton has been quick to extinguish rumours of a big move.
"I’m not being derogatory in any way, I just don’t want to put pressure on a young player’s shoulders too early," he told West London Sport. "It’s absolute nonsense. Let’s give the boy a chance now for the next stage of his career."
Our take: We all know how good City are at recruiting you best talent from across the country to play in the academy, but a move for Armstrong right now seems a little premature.
City already have lots of promising forwards in their youth set-up like Liam Delap and Oscar Bobb, but they'll no doubt keep tabs on Amrstrong's progress.
Goalkeeper move
Arijanet Muric made five appearances for City in 2018/19 as understudy to Ederson, but it doesn't look like he will be adding to that tally any time soon.
The return of Claudio Bravo from long-term injury in 2019 and the signing of Zack Steffen to replace him have seen Muric sent out on a number of loans, the latest being at Turkish Super Lig club Adana Demirspor.
According to Kosovan outlet Koha.net, Turkish giants Galatasaray could be about to take the keeper on a temporary basis for the rest of the season.
That's because their new manager Domenec Torrent, former long-time assistant to Guardiola, is a big fan of the 23-year-old goalkeeper.
Our take
Muric has established himself as Demirspor's starting keeper in recent months, but a move to a true giant of Turkish football in Galatasaray would be a logical next step in his career.
It seems unlikely that Muric will ever play for City again, but he is a good goalkeeper with a successful career ahead of him. We'll always have that penalty shoot-out at Leicester, Aro!
