Manchester City have struck an October deal to break a long-standing transfer record, in a move that few anticipated right now.
The Premier League champions had a quiet summer, with manager Pep Guardiola stating early on the transfer window that there would be no wholesale changes to his squad. In recent weeks, a replacement has been touted for the injured Rodri, while Kevin De Bruyne's successor is still a topic of conversation.
The club are in flux at current, with the Premier League's ongoing case into Manchester City's alleged breach of 115 rules, along with the uncertain future of Guardiola and the recent announcement that director Txiki Begiristain is to leave the club, with Hugo Viana now to become his replacement. Despite this, City have had some unexpected good news in the transfer market.
Manchester City have broken a club transfer record that looked uncertain
Manchester City spent much of their summer selling. The headline departure saw Julian Alvarez depart for Atletico Madrid in a huge €95 million deal, which was a club-record, as per the Athletic.
Other sales included Joao Cancelo's permanent exit to Al-Hilal and Taylor Harwood-Bellis securing his move to Southampton. Sergio Gomez and Tommy Doyle, meanwhile, both left the Etihad, as did Kalvin Phillips on loan to Ipswich Town – and Yan Couto to Borussia Dortmund, with an option for the Black and Yellow to buy the Spaniard.
Dortmund have taken the option up already to trigger Couto's move. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano confirmed this to be worth €30m, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
As per Transfermarkt, this deal now tips City's transfer income for the season to between €167m and €171m, when factoring in this new sale. It's unclear whether the loan fee of €4m that Dortmund paid for Couto still stands now that the permanent option to sign the star has already been signed off.
This is a record for City, though. Two seasons ago, the club recorded €162m in sales, when they let go of Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko – all three of whom are now playing for Arsenal – in order to strengthen with Erling Haaland in attack.
Last summer was another big one, too, with Cole Palmer, Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte and academy prospects Yanel Herrera and Nahuel Ferraresi departing for a combined €125m. In the last two years, however, City have spent €155m and €259m respectively, across summer windows, with Haaland's fee weighing down the net balance, along with expensive moves for Josko Gvardiol, Jeremy Doku, Matheus Nunes and an €18m deal for Argentine wonderkid Claudio Echeverri – rated 16th in FourFourTwo's list of the most exciting teenagers in world football right now.
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In FourFourTwo's opinion, the shift of City becoming more of a selling club is only going to become more prominent over time. That is assuming that the City Football Group network continues to hoover up talent and the Cityzen's world-class academy continues to churn out prospects ready to turn a profit on.
The recruitment has turned the club into an elite prospect on the pitch but the model of making over €100m every summer has turned City into a somewhat self-sufficient business that no longer needs to rely on investment from its billionaire owners. Expect the sales record to be broken again next season – and for other giants in the Premier League to catch on and up their game when it comes to selling big.
