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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Daniel Murphy

Man City fans vote for club to sell four players in the summer transfer window

Manchester City supporters believe the club should sell four players this summer and that doesn't include the outbound Ilkay Gundogan.

City are still just over two weeks removed from making history by becoming just the second English team to win the treble after they defeated Inter in the Champions League final. However, attention has already turned to the forthcoming campaign as Pep Guardiola prepares to do it all again.

The Blues are closing in on their first signing of the summer with Mateo Kovacic set to be announced this week. City will pay an initial £25million to Chelsea, which could rise by a further £5million, to bring in the classy Croatian.

Though the club don't see him as a direct replacement and still want to sign another midfielder, Kovacic arrives at the Etihad as captain Gundogan departs. The German was instrumental in City's remarkable success last season - as well as all of their trophy triumphs under Guardiola - but has decided to leave upon the expiration of his contract and join Barcelona on a free transfer.

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Guardiola and every supporter were desperate for Gundogan to stay and he will take some replacing. City have gotten used to waving goodbye to legends - with Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho all leaving in recent years - but none of them were still as important to the team as Gundogan.

As a result, it looks like it could be yet another summer of change at City as supporters want to see four other players depart. MEN Sport asked readers to give their verdict on each member of the senior squad and vote on whether they should be kept or sold. If less than 50 per cent of voters wanted a player to remain at the club, they would slip into the sell column.

Joao Cancelo finished at the bottom of the list with only 22 per cent of voters wanting him to stay at the club. The Portuguese was excellent for years and regarded as one of the best full-backs in the Premier League but a sudden breakdown in his relationship with Guardiola saw him depart for Bayern Munich on loan in January.

The Bundesliga champions opted against making the deal permanent so as it stands Cancelo will be back this summer but fans want him to leave permanently.

Next up is Sergio Gomez with 60 per cent of fans thinking he should be sold. He was a victim of City's poor planning last season as he was a makeshift replacement for Aleks Zinchenko despite originally being set to leave on loan after his move from Anderlecht but he struggled when given rare opportunities.

Only 44.2 per cent of fans want Aymeric Laporte to stay after he's made noises of dissatisfaction after slipping down the centre-back pecking order and the final player fans want sold is Kalvin Phillips. The midfielder made no impact following his transfer from Leeds last summer and just 45.8 per cent of fans want to see him get another chance. For his part, Phillips has vowed to stay at the club and prove his doubters wrong.

At the opposite end of the table, Phil Foden, Rodri, Ederson, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez all have an over 95 per cent approval rate. Fans appear a bit more torn on Riyad Mahrez, who has been linked with a move away, as 64.5 per cent want him to stay while 69.3 are still holding out for a change of heart from Gundogan.

Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker have both been linked with possible transfers but about 85 per cent of voters want them both to remain for another season.

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