So Declan Rice won't be a Manchester City player next season, as he closes in on a record-breaking move to Arsenal.
City bid for Rice, but refused to match Arsenal's next offer which took the deal over £100m. City have a firm stance not to pay over the odds for any player, or to be dragged into bidding wars, and have walked away from huge deals in the past. Their approach to the Rice transfer suggests they will do it again, too.
When they have walked away, City have left key positions light on numbers - like when they wouldn't pay £80m for Harry Maguire, or £150m for Harry Kane, or £60m on Marc Cucurella. If they go into next season with their current midfield options, they will do. And they wouldn't even be worse off having brought in Mateo Kovacic for the outgoing Ilkay Gundogan.
Maybe a new midfielder does sign before the end of the transfer window, and City will conduct any remaining business with an eye on any departures. However, now the heat is off the boil a little when it comes to transfer, maybe another position will need attention.
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If City take their current squad - with Kovacic replacing Gundogan - into the new season, it wouldn't be a disaster. However, there are doubts over the futures of Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo, as well as Aymeric Laporte in defence. Should either or both senior full-backs leave, City would be left with Rico Lewis and Sergio Gomez as their only recognised full-backs. And Gomez is currently showing at the U21 European Championships that his natural position is a winger.
RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol is an option in defence as Laporte is expected to leave, which would keep the centre-back department fully stocked. City's treble success was built on Nathan Ake filling the left-back slot, Manu Akanji playing across the back four, and John Stones turning into a world-class right-back and midfielder at the same time.
So if they had to defend their titles without a recognised full-back for the big games, they have shown they have done it before. Would they have progressed past Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals had Kyle Walker not nullified Vinicius Jr so effectively?
City showed they can cope without Cancelo, but Walker is someone with a unique skillset in the squad, even if Guardiola's tactics are gradually evolving away from width and to a more versatile, narrow system.
Even if Walker goes, could a new full-back be a useful addition going into the next year or two? Walker is out of contract next summer, and is not getting any younger, so if an affordable full-back was on the market, it may be worth City investigating this summer.
Lewis may be an extremely promising option to be City's long-term right-back, or even a future midfielder, but it's worth remembering that he's still a very inexperienced teenager. Making him first-choice right-back could be counter-productive, rather than letting him get used to senior elite football in his own time.
Towards the end of the transfer window last year, City brought in Akanji and Gomez for a combined £30m. If they could replicate the Akanji signing in particular to solve the niggling full-back issue, it could be one of their most important signings for the future.
