Top 10 Worst Man City Signings Of The Pep Guardiola Era

David Tully

3 weeks ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester City News, Transfer News

City’s player recruitment since Pep Guardiola was appointed manager eight years ago has been rightly praised.

We have put together a list of the top 10 best signings of the Guardiola era in a previous post.

However, no matter how good your recruitment is, mistakes will always be made. No team has a 100% success rate when it comes to signings.

Press the next page as we count down the worst purchases since Guardiola arrived at the Etihad.

10) Jack Grealish

It may be slightly harsh to put the midfielder on the list of worst signings but, for £100m, you would have expected more of an impact.

Since arriving from Aston Villa in the summer of 2021, Grealish has scored 14 goals and contributed 18 assists in 122 appearances. It’s a very average return for the club’s record signing.

9) Ferran Torres

The Spaniard did show some promise following his £20.8m move from Valencia in the summer of 2020, scoring 13 goals in 36 appearances during his first season at the Etihad.

However, it became clear that Torres wasn’t interested in a long-term stay at the club and, when Barcelona showed their interest, he quickly packed his bags.

8) Danilo

The fullback was signed for €30m from Real Madrid but he wasn’t really able to compete with Kyle Walker for a first-team place.

Within two years, Danilo was offered to Juventus in a part-exchange deal that led to Joao Cancelo moving in the other direction.

7) Sergio Gomez

The young wingback was snapped up for £11m in the summer of 2022 but he has barely featured over the last two seasons for City.

Gomez has made only two Premier League starts in total, with most of his appearances coming in the Champions League or domestic cup competitions.

6) Nolito

The Spaniard arrived in the same summer as Guardiola, fresh off a good season for Celta Vigo where he had scored 12 goals and provided 7 assists in 29 league appearances.

At City, though, it soon became clear that Nolito was not cut out for the Premier League due to his lack of pace. He scored just 4 Premier League goals before being sold back to Spain within 12 months for half of what City paid for him.

5) Zack Steffen

The American international was City’s no.2 at times, in between his three loan spells away from the Etihad.

However, Steffen was never a reliable backup for Ederson, and he will mostly be remembered for an awful mistake in an FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool which led to Sadio Mane scoring during a 3-2 defeat.

4) Angelino

The Spaniard actually came through City’s youth system before he was sold on a permanent basis to PSV Eindhoven. However, after an impressive season playing in the Netherlands, he was re-signed.

Angelino lasted just six months as part of the first team setup before he was loaned out to RB Leipzig.

3) Kalvin Phillips

The England international has barely played since his arrival from Leeds in the summer of 2022. City paid a hefty £45m to secure his services but he has struggled to get gametime.

Guardiola must have known he had made a mistake early on, having only started him in two league fixtures in 18 months before he was loaned out to West Ham in January.

2) Claudio Bravo

Following Joe Hart was always going to be a tall order but the former Barcelona shot-stopper really struggled after arriving in the summer of 2016.

Bravo’s shot-stopping was suspect and even his kicking, which was the reason Guardiola signed him, wasn’t exactly perfect. He was quickly replaced by Ederson.

1) Benjamin Mendy

Without getting into the legal problems that led to the Frenchman leaving City under a cloud, the defender was struggling to justify his £52m fee even before then.

Mendy had his fair share of injuries and was rotated in and out of the team, with Oleksandr Zinchenko being regularly used instead of him.