It is a year to the day since Manchester City unveiled not one but three new signings to their excited supporters.
Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez (technically a January buy but this was confirmation of his first team status) and Stefan Ortega were all introduced at an event outside the Colin Bell stand, while Kalvin Phillips would have been there if he wasn't ill. With a deal for Haaland announced even before the season had wrapped up, Txiki Begiristain had ensured the bulk of City's incomings were done early.
If they had held a similar welcome this year, Mateo Kovacic would be the only new face aside from an academy goalkeeper with the former Chelsea midfielder the only new addition so far. With no sign of RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol doing his tour of the training ground yet, where are City at with their transfer plans in relation to previous years?
Clearly, last summer was supremely effective to bring in four first-team players - including the coveted Haaland - before pre-season was underway. However, the search for a left-back dragged on through the summer in frustrating fashion before a decision was finally taken after the first weekend of the season to keep Sergio Gomez rather than send him on loan; Manu Akanji was another late arrival, being signed in the final week of the transfer window before going on to play an integral role in the Treble-winning season.
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Jack Grealish was snapped up for a cool £100m the day before the Community Shield in August 2021, having returned to Aston Villa to begin his pre-season while he waited for a move to be completed. And while Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres were snapped up early in the 2020 summer window, it took a 5-2 hammering at home to Leicester - their third match of the campaign - for City to make their mind up on a central defender and make Ruben Dias their record signing.
Another year where plenty of business was done early was 2019. Rodri was the marquee signing and Zack Steffen and Angelino were also brought in as Pep Guardiola finally landed a midfielder to inherit Fernandinho's role after being frustrated the previous summer.
There was more disappointment later in the window though as even though walking away from a deal for Harry Maguire looks prudent in hindsight the failure to replace Vincent Kompany contributed significantly to that season being the only year in the last six that the Blues haven't won the Premier League. Joao Cancelo was not present for the pre-season tour but arrived in time for the season to try to bolster a defence that had looked shaky, with Danilo moving the other way.
Riyad Mahrez had starred on the 2018 tour as one of few first-teamers present given the World Cup was going on (Algeria hadn't qualified), having arrived promptly from Leicester. The saga over Jorginho continued through that month though before City decided against making a move having been gazumped by Chelsea.
The need for an overhaul was clear after Guardiola's first year in English football and Ederson, Bernardo Silva and Danilo were all brought in swiftly by the recruitment team in a sign of intent. The haggling over full-backs took longer to sort, though, with Benjamin Mendy arriving in the middle of City's tour of the United States towards the end of July after Kyle Walker had only just made the plane; Aymeric Laporte was a rare January buy six months later.
Ilkay Gundogan was the first Guardiola signing through the door in June 2016 and Nolito followed a month later in time for the tour. It would not be until August that Leroy Sane and John Stones arrived though, and City were already four matches down when Claudio Bravo finally arrived as the manager brutally decided to call time on Joe Hart's position in the first team.
Looking back at the seven summer transfer windows during Guardiola's time at the club, there have definitely been plenty of pivotal signings brought in early with Gundogan and Haaland in particular standing out. At the same time, it is not unusual to find them at this stage of the summer with the bulk of their work still to do.
That feels particularly important this summer with the amount of incomings yet to be decided as the club waits on outgoings. City's record in this time would suggest that not having key signings in place by now is no hindrance to winning lots of trophies.
