For many Manchester City fans, the summer transfer window felt strangely dissatisfying.
Yes, there was and remains huge excitement about the British record capture of Jack Grealish - a box-office footballer and a cult hero who already appears to be loving life in Manchester.
However, the main area of need within the squad went unaddressed and resounding 5-0 wins over Norwich City and Arsenal should not obscure that fact.
"We lose a very important legend in Sergio Aguero, very hard shoes to fill, but I’m confident we will find the right player to fill those shoes,” said chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak in the aftermath of May’s Champions League final defeat to Chelsea.
Aguero’s golden boots remain empty but, as shown below, there was not a lack of prime striking talent on the market across Europe.
Harry Kane
The big one. City made Kane their number one target - the England captain’s prolific Premier League record allayed with an ability to drop deep and link play making him the perfect forward for long-time admirer Pep Guardiola.
City were prepared to break the record they set to snare Grealish to bring in Kane, but not to the extent they would meet Daniel Levy’s asking price. A bout of brinksmanship up until the deadline looked likely but the 28-year-old announced last week he would stay at Spurs, which sent the Blues in the direction of an intriguing option elsewhere...
Cristiano Ronaldo
Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo was looking for a way out of Juventus and for a short time, an improbable link up with Guardiola and City for the Manchester United and Real Madrid hero looked to be on the cards.
However, City abruptly withdrew their interest last Friday as Sir Alex Ferguson and some of Ronaldo’s former United team-mates made the case for a romantic return to Old Trafford. It was a prospect Ronaldo found impossible to refuse.
Lionel Messi
Years from now, it will feel like a trick of the mind that the two most valuable commodities in football history moved clubs in such a hasty, unplanned fashion. But, before Ronaldo and the Reds were reunited, Messi was thrust into the arms of Paris Saint-Germain after a financially stricken Barcelona were unable to make good on the contract extension they had agreed with their greatest ever player.
It left Messi in the unusual position of being forced to leave Barca when he wanted to stay, a year on from being forced to stay when he wanted to leave. City was his preferred destination in 2020 but, with Grealish in the building and the Kane pursuit in progress, circumstances did not align for Guardiola and his former protege. The City boss confirmed last week that Messi did not get in touch about joining this time around.
Use our tool to select your best City XI following the end of the transfer window:
Antoine Griezmann
Having joined Barcelona on exorbitant terms in 2019 and largely underwhelmed, France forward Griezmann fills an unfortunate part of the narrative in a catastrophic period for the Catalan club. Earlier in the window, he was offered to City but the Premier League champions declined.
The Blues remained absent from the conversation when Griezmann moved back to Atletico Madrid on deadline day on a season-long loan, with the option of another year and a compulsory purchase option. Barcelona really were keen to move him on.
Erling Haaland
For many before and during the Kane pursuit and even more so as we look towards future windows, Haaland is the man City should go all-in for. The young Norwegian is a truly frightening talent who looks set to dominant the elite level for the next decade.
If that all sounds great, there is the small matter of his representative. Guardiola and Mino Raiola’s mutual distaste is well documented and the super agent’s demands of £820,000 weekly wages for his star client - made in line with interest from Chelsea, according to Bild - explain why City did not make a move this summer. A knockdown release clause might help extract Haaland from Borussia Dortmund next year but Raiola is likely to remain an impediment.
Robert Lewandowski
Claims that Poland superstar Lewandowski was seeking a fresh challenge away from Bayern Munich felt intriguing from a City perspective. Like Ronaldo and Messi, he would have been a short-term option, but remains closer to his peak than those two all-time greats, having broken Gerd Muller’s Bundesliga scoring record for a single season last term.
The 33-year-old’s previous relationship with Guardiola from their time together at Bayern also made him feel like the ideal fit. On the Transfer Window Podcast, Ian McGarry claimed Lewandowski had been offered to City but that line of speculation soon petered out.
Which striker would like City to have signed during the transfer window? Follow our City Fan Brands Editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
