There haven’t been many occasions over the past decade when you could say it was a bad time to be a Manchester City fan.
That being said, now is a particularly good time to follow the Blues.
Sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League with a favourable draw against Sporting Lisbon in the last 16 of the Champions League to come, Pep Guardiola’s charges look well set to embark on another memorable campaign.
City fans need not concern themselves with transfer gossip and far-fetched rumours ahead of the mid-season window — though the same cannot be said of their cross-town rivals.
Instead, they can afford to sit back and kick their feet up knowing fine well their side are perfectly equipped to continue fighting on three fronts. After all, what better entertainment than to watch the rest of the Premier League clubs desperately scramble for season-defining signings?
While incomings are unlikely to be on Guardiola’s agenda next month, outgoings may well be.
Xavi's appointment as Barcelona manager has seen La Liga's fallen giants linked with a whole host of Premier League stars, with the newly-appointed boss seemingly filtering to 'Manchester' when conducting his scouting missions.
A number of Manchester United players have caught Xavi's attention and, if rumours are to be believed, he's also been keeping a keen eye on developments over at the Etihad Stadium.
Ferran Torres' move back to Spain appears to be edging closer, with a €50m (£42.4m) move plus €5m (£4.2m) add-ons understood to be on the cards.
Three months ago, if you'd told a City fan that Torres would swap the Etihad for Camp Nou in January, they'd most likely have checked if April Fool's Day had arrived late in the year.
Having finished the 2020/21 campaign with a flourish — notching five goals in his final six Premier League outings — Ferran carried his rich vein of form into the early months of this season, spearheading City's attack and making the woes of the ill-fated Harry Kane pursuit seem a thing of the past.
After drawing a blank against RB Leipzig in a pulsating 6-3 home win, Ferran's run as City's leading man was curtailed and a Carabao Cup appearance against Wycombe Wanderers would be the last appearance he'd make in City blue before picking up an injury on international duty.
In the absence of the man who'd looked like being Guardiola's go-to striker this season, City's forwards have picked up the slack in emphatic fashion.
Ferran's imminent departure now seems little more than a side-note in what promises to be an electric campaign, and the form of Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling in recent weeks has emphasised that.
The former's deflected strike in the 7-0 rout of Leeds last week saw him tick into double figures for the season, becoming the only City player to have scored 10 goals or more in every season since he moved to the Etihad.
Sterling, who has also been courted by Barcelona this season, seems set to cap off a year of incredible highs and chastening lows with a timely return to form.
Having once seemed destined for the 'surplus to requirements bin' at the Etihad, the England international has recorded six goals and two assists in his previous nine games in all competitions. Just over a week after celebrating his entrance to the Premier League 100 club, more importantly, Sterling has been welcomed back into Guardiola's good books.
Had City's forwards not been firing on all cylinders in Ferran's absence, Guardiola would probably have been spending his spare time banging on the medical team's door asking for an update on his striker.
As it is, Ferran will be waved off with a smile by Guardiola and his side as they continue their relentless quest for glory.
Do you think Ferran will be missed at City? Follow City Is Ours content editor Ross Jackson on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
