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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
David McDonnell

Pep Guardiola's plan for Man City squad with three transfer targets and five likely exits

Pep Guardiola will waste little time strengthening and reshaping his Manchester City squad after their historic Treble triumph.

With City's Treble worth £294million in prize money, Guardiola will have significant funds at his disposal to keep the newly-crowned European champions ahead of the chasing pack. Guardiola and the City hierarchy began working on their summer transfer strategy long before Rodri's Champions League-winning goal against Inter Milan in Istanbul.

While the core of Guardiola's squad will remain intact, there will be several high-profile departures, with City set to move swiftly to replace them to consolidate their domestic and European dominance. Skipper Ilkay Gundogan is out of contract and set to leave City after seven years to join Barcelona as a free agent, while fellow midfielder Bernardo Silva has expressed his desire for a new challenge.

City have identified Chelsea's £45million-rated midfielder Mateo Kovacic as the ideal replacement for Gundogan and are set to step up their efforts to sign him following their Treble success. While City have not given up hope of persuading Silva to stay, the Portugal international is determined to leave, having stayed on for this season when he was keen to go last summer.

Pep Guardiola celebrates with the Champions League trophy on Saturday (Getty Images)

With playmaker Kevin De Bruyne facing up to three months out after suffering a serious hamstring injury in the first-half of City's win over Inter, and Gundogan and Silva likely to be leaving, Guardiola will want to sign Kovacic as quickly as possible.

Silva's anticipated departure will certainly open the door for Phil Foden to show Guardiola he is worthy of a regular starting spot, the England midfielder having been on the periphery of the squad this season. Foden was not part of Guardiola's first-choice line-up long before he was sidelined for several weeks towards the end of the season after undergoing an emergency appendicitis operation.

Kevin de Bruyne is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines (Getty Images)

But next season is likely to be a pivotal one for the 22-year-old, along with Argentina World Cup winner Julian Alvarez who, like Foden, has spent much of this season among the supporting cast.

Defender Aymeric Laporte, another who has spent much of the season on the bench, has indicated his desire to leave this summer, after making just 11 Premier League starts this season, with City happy for the Spain international to go, once they find a replacement for him.

That man is likely to be RB Leipzig's £80m-rated defender Josko Gvardiol, who has impressed Guardiola, particularly with his versatility in being able to play as a centre-back and left-back. Riyad Mahrez is set to leave the Etihad this summer, with a lucrative offer from Saudi Arabia on the table for the 32-year-old Algeria captain, who is no longer a first-choice under Guardiola.

Brighton's 19-year-old Paraguay winger Julio Enciso, who scored a superb long-range strike against City in a 1-1 draw last month, has impressed Guardiola and could be the man to replace Mahrez. Kalvin Phillips, who endured a nightmare debut season following his £50m switch from Leeds, is another who could be on the move this summer, having started just two Premier League games – both after City had won the title.

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