Ferran Torres’ departure to Barcelona has done nothing to change Pep Guardiola’s January transfer policy.
“No, we’re not going to bring in any striker in January,” he answered unequivocally last week when the Spain forward was in the final stages of completing his £55.2million move to Camp Nou.
This might be enough to strike fear into the hearts of many City fans, given the Blues failed to sign a striker over the summer and Torres looked an impressive makeshift option at centre-forward during the opening weeks of the campaign.
However, since Ferran suffered a broken metatarsal in October, Guardiola’s side have ramped up their goalscoring efforts, with 24 flying in across December alone in the Premier League.
Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Brentford gave the champions more reasons to be cheerful as Phil Foden poached a fine winner and performed excellently at the point of the attack.
On the latest City Is Ours Facebook Live, content editor Ross Jackson was joined by Alex Brotherton and football.london’s Brentford reporter Uzzi Majid to run the rule over Foden unveiling another string to his considerable bow.
AB : “Usually when he’s taken that role this season he has been dropping back from the front and pinging balls out into the channels and letting the number eights run into that space he’s vacated.
“At Brentford he very much played as an out-and-out striker. You only have to see the goal to see that.
“When you watch the replay he looks at where [Kevin] De Bruyne is and sees that [Joao] Cancelo is about to lay the ball back to him.
“That’s his cue to make that run in behind Pontus Jansson and he just gets that little bit of space that he needs to keep onside.
“It’s a fantastic cross from De Bruyne, you can’t deny that, but the movement that Foden showed for that goal in particular… it looked like he was a seasoned striker the way he was moving around, with his touches and his instincts.”
But Alex was keen to stress that this does not mean City should park their anticipated striker hunt next summer.
AB : “Early in the second half he headed just wide of the far post. Again, he beat Jansson to the ball from another De Bruyne cross.
“Then he headed in from a Jesus cross. He was offside and that showed that if he’s going to play more as an out-and-out striker he’s got a bit to learn because he was a good yard offside.
“This was the first time we’ve seen him stay pretty much for a whole game in and around the penalty area and he was really good at it.
“I think we all know City are going to go after a top striker in the summer but it’s another example of how versatile and dynamic Phil Foden is. I can’t think of another England player of his generation who can play in so many positions and do them all so well.”
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