After completing their historic Treble, Manchester City look set to make some changes to their squad ahead of the upcoming season.
With Ilkay Gundogan's move away from City confirmed and the future of Bernardo Silva uncertain, some new additions will be needed in the City midfield next season. City and Chelsea have agreed on an initial £25million fee for midfielder Mateo Kovacic, with the Croatian having undergone a medical.
Kovacic isn't seen as a replacement for Gundogan though, with Declan Rice now subject of City interest this summer after two failed bids for the Englishman from Arsenal. Pep Guardiola's side are interested in the midfielder, and City have had a £90m package for Rice rejected but he still looks set to depart West Ham this summer.
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So, how could City perform in the 2023/24 Premier League campaign with Rice and Kovacic in their ranks? Let's take a look.
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2023 editor to move both Rice and Kovacic to City, using FM23 to run the simulation. We then simulated the entire 2023/24 season to see how the duo got on.
Both midfielders were used regularly in the simulation, with Rice playing more than Kovacic as the Englishman made 54 appearances compared to the Croatian's 50. 49 of Rice's appearances were starts whilst Kovacic started just 16 times, with the latter mostly used off the bench by Guardiola.
Rice averaged the second-best rating per game out of the City midfielders, with his rating of 7.22 per game only beaten by Kevin De Bruyne (7.38). Interestingly, Kovacic's rating was the lowest of the midfielders, averaging just a 6.88 rating per game.
De Bruyne scored nine and assisted 10 in all competitions, the most out of the City midfielders. The Belgian also won the most POTM awards (8), whilst Rice was the next best in goals (2), assists (6) and POTM awards (2).
At the end of the 2023/24 season, Football Manager 2023 put together an overall best XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics. This is what City's' best XI looked like at the end of the 2023/24 season as predicted by Football Manager 2023:
Full City best XI (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Laporte, Dias, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne, Rice; Silva, Haaland, Foden.
Only Rice made the City best XI at the end of the season, with Kovacic missing out on the midfield three to De Bruyne and Rodri. Aymeric Laporte found his best form again to make the best XI, whilst Phil Foden grabbed 18 goals and 18 assists to beat Jack Grealish to the left-wing spot.
As a whole, the Premier League was much closer in the 2023/24 season with the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea returning to their best. But, no team proved a major threat to City, with Guardiola's side defending their Premier League title in the simulation.
Despite drawing four of their seven league games, City still managed to win the league by seven points, pipping Liverpool to the title. 25 wins, 11 draws and just two losses handed City the title, earning 86 points across the 38 games.
City also ended the campaign as the league's top scorers with 71 goals scored whilst they also maintained the strongest defence, conceding just 24 goals all season. With the Premier League title under their belt, City won one other trophy in the simulation to complete an impressive double.
After beating Barcelona, Ajax and Manchester United in the Champions League knockout rounds, City beat Inter 2-0 in a repeat of last season's Champions League final to lift the trophy once again. They couldn't defend the FA Cup as they lost 2-0 to West Ham in the fifth round, whilst a shock 2-0 defeat to Watford saw Guardiola's side eliminated in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Overall, according to Football Manager 2023, Kovacic and Rice could be great additions to the City squad, with the latter becoming one of City's best players in the simulation. Kovacic proved a great squad player and found most of his game time in the cup competitions as Guardiola's side defended their Premier League and Champions League titles.
Do you think Rice and Kovacic would be good signings for City? Let us know in the comments below!
