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Having won the Premier League at a canter and broken all sorts of records in the process, one would be forgiven for thinking that Manchester City have little to do to make the team better for next season, but given that this is a team coached by the high priest of perfection a.k.a Pep Guardiola, that sounds highly unlikely.
The Catalan manager must have obviously been very happy with the things he saw his team do last season as they were almost perfect in the league and also won the Carabao Cup. However, the manner of the defeat to Liverpool in the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League is one that must have left a sour taste in the mouth of Pep and the management team at City.
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The 2018/2019 season is expected to be even tougher as Jose Mourinho's Manchester United can surely not be as mind-numbingly boring again while Liverpool buoyed by making the UEFA Champions League final will be looking to make a statement.
Arsenal will start the post-Arsene Wenger era under new man Unai Emery and Tottenham Hotspur will be moving to the new White Hart Lane stadium. Meanwhile, given the happenings surrounding Roman Abramovich, nobody knows what to expect from Chelsea.
On that note, here are five things the Cityzens need to do to be successful next season as well:
#5 Continue gradual integration of younger players
Yaya Toure is expected to leave and surely, it cannot be long again before the likes of captain Vincent Kompany, star midfielders Fernandinho and David Silva and even star striker Sergio Aguero (given his injury record) begin to show their age.
From his first day at the club, Pep Guardiola had been grooming young players to gradually take over from the old guard and with the team now having a large target on its back, it is expected that the younger, more dynamic elements in the team will continue to have more responsibilities placed on their young shoulders.
There has been a lot of talk about Phil Foden and it is expected that he will begin to get more game time next season (he is reportedly about to get a new long-term contract) but Spaniard Brahim Diaz has shown more quality in the games he has played and will need nurturing and game time as well.
John Stones and Aymeric Laporte are also expected to get more responsibilities next season especially if Kompany's injury issues come up again, and the slow but certain easing of Gabriel Jesus as City's leading striker should also continue.
Also Read: Players that have improved under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City
#4 Sell unwanted players
At the last count, the Cityzens had about 12 players out on loan last season (Pablo Maffeo has since signed for VfB Stuttgart for €10m), this list needs to be whittled down to the players that the club feels have the potential to get better.
One of the less mentioned good things the club and manager Guardiola did last season was to get rid of a large number of players who could no longer contribute positively to the club (Wilfred Bony, Sami Nasri, Jesus Navas, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Aleksander Kolarov and so many more) were let go of in a massive cull and the same will need to be repeated this season.
The likes of Eliaquim Mangala and Joe Hart are into the last years of their contracts and the club should find a way of getting them off the wage bill as soon as possible.
Others like Jason Denayer, Partick Roberts, Marlos Moreno, and co. have not shown enough on loan to believe that they can make the grade at the Etihad Stadium and will need to be moved on as well.
Also read: Manchester City: Weekly Wages of First-Team Stars Revealed
#3 Rotate the team better
A fully fit Manchester City squad is one that few teams can match and this showed clearly in the league last season. Guardiola was able to call on quality players like Bernardo Silva and Danilo off the bench whenever the need arose and these players did not look out of place whenever they were given the nod to start.
More rotation will need to be done especially when a large number of players are fit and ready to go. For the first time in a long while, Man City seem to have a sorted out backline with Fabian Delph expected to continue to deputize or even usurp Benjamin Mendy as the first choice left-back while it is doubtful if Claudio Bravo will want to stay another season in the shadow of Ederson.
If the Chilean number one decides to move, Angus Gunn, who had a good season on loan at Norwich City last season is expected to become the team's number 2. With this surfeit of quality, it is expected that Pep will rotate the players at his disposal more to keep his team fresh for its assault on all the competitions it enters next season.
#2 Conduct transfer business early
City's transfer business last season was exemplary as the club moved swiftly and decisively to get its targets, this gave Guardiola ample time to work with his team in pre-season and get the new entrants to tow his line of thinking.
This had a positive effect on the team's season as some of the new boys like goalie Ederson, fullbacks Benjamin Mendy (before his injury) and Kyle Walker slotted into the team almost immediately.
More of this will be needed and given that the World Cup will end in the middle of July, the manager may not have too much time to gel his new players as the league starts in August.
Leicester City winger Riyadh Mahrez and Napoli's central midfielder Jorginho are the two players that have been consistently linked to the Etihad and the rumoured £100 million splurge for both players should happen sooner in the interest of the club.
The manager has consistently said that the club will only look to get two or three players in this summer and given the fact that the two linked players would not be participating at the World Cup, signing them early makes a lot of sense for the Cityzens.
#1 Tie young guns down to long contracts
Manchester City, alongside European champions Real Madrid and a few other clubs have shown that they cannot be bullied into selling a player and this is a trend that should continue.
However, the shockwaves that PSG's world-record move for Brazilian superstar Neymar from Barcelona caused, are still being felt and the big clubs have already begun to make moves to ring-fence their prized young guns.
Real Madrid have given Marco Asensio and Isco new contracts recently with both players now having buyout clauses that total €1.05 billion. City must look to do the same for its special young talents especially players like Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, and Jesus (Ederson has already signed an extension).
Sterling and Sane, in particular, have been linked to Real Madrid and with Ballon d'Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo slowly but surely approaching the twilight of his career, these two could be targetted by Real supremo Florentino Perez.
The Cityzens must, therefore, tie these guys down to long-term contracts with no release clauses if the momentum from last season is to be continued.
