After a period of unrivalled success under Pep Guardiola, the 2024/25 campaign saw the wheels spectacularly come off the City juggernaut.
An injury to goal machine, Erling Haaland, notwithstanding, too many of the first-team squad looked laboured in their play.
Man City's poor season meant changes were needed
Although a mini-revival at the end of the season ensured that City eased into next season's Champions League, the truth is that they were well off the pace for most of the campiagn.
For example, a previously unbeatable Kyle Walker appeared to have lost a yard of pace and so it was little surprise to see him loaned to AC Milan halfway through the season.
Jack Grealish managed just one goal and one assist in 20 games, and as a result looks like being left out of City's Club World Cup squad. That surely signifies the end of his time at the club and perhaps a loan move will be on the cards.
Kevin De Bruyne jumped before he was pushed
Kevin De Bruyne perhaps didn't hit the heights that we've come to expect either, and after previous speculation about his future, the Belgian decided that the time was right to end his association with the club at the conclusion of the campaign.
A hamstring injury in the early part of the season didn't help his quest for full fitness, though his numbers still stand up despite him only making 22 starts in all competitions.
Six goals are two more than he managed in 2023/24, but his eight assists are exactly half of the 16 from last season.
His passing accuracy of 83% was only just shy of his best return from the past seven seasons - 86.5% from the 2019/20 FA Cup run.
It was inevitable, however, that as he began to approach his 34th birthday, his influence would begin to wane. Rather than wait until he was pushed, De Bruyne did the decent thing and made the decision himself.
Tijjani Reijnders set to replace De Bruyne
In so doing, he ensured that City would need to work hard and fast to find a suitable replacement, and it would appear that AC Milan's brilliant Dutchman, Tijjani Reijnders, is that man.
Just as with Guardiola's side, the Rossoneri endured a pretty awful season, but unlike City they didn't qualify for the Champions League.
Not only that, they didn't manage to qualify for any European competition next season, and were beaten in the Coppa Italia final by Bologna, who won their first silverware of any description in 51 years.
Clearly, players were going to have to be sold in order for Milan to balance the books ahead of what's likely to be another struggle during the 2025/26 season.
Losing Reijnders, whilst expected, could be a blow from which they don't recover, for he was a major shining light in a team whose spark had evidently gone out.
His 10 goals and four assists from central midfield were an astonishing return in an underperforming team, and to put his output into a little more context, no central midfielder in the top five European leagues scored more in 24/25.
Only striker, Christian Pulisic, managed more goals at Milan, so one could conceivably conclude that without Reijnders' supplementary attacking presence, the Rossoneri might've been even worse off in terms of their final league position.
At 26, the Dutchman is approaching his peak as a player, and the box-to-box nature of his natural game will suit City to a tee. Alongside Rodri, Reijnders can play in a double pivot but will also have a licence to get his team up the pitch and into those positions which allow him to dictate the ebb and flow of City's attacks.
A player who likes to play on the front foot at all times, his 84.4% pass completion in the final third of the pitch shows an accuracy that many of his teammates were unable to match.
It's clear that he likes to move the ball a lot and is creative enough to be able to free up colleagues despite a lack of space to do so in the tighter areas of the pitch.
Though he'll need to work on his one-on-ones where he won the ball on just 42.8% of the occasions he challenged an opponent last season, Reijnders' 146 ball recoveries and 43 interceptions suggest that he's a player who isn't frightened of putting his foot in when required.
Reijnders isn't short of confidence
He isn't short of confidence either, both in his playing style and demeanour.
"My biggest goal is to win as many trophies as possible because if I play football, it’s to write my name in the history books," he said recently.
"Being a Ballon d'Or candidate one day is a dream, of course, because it means a lot. Everything will depend on my performances and the trophies I win."
If he wants to be seen as the replacement for De Bruyne, he'll need more than words to convince the City faithful and a manager as demanding as Guardiola.
The Belgian has long been a true all-rounder and arguably the most vital cog in the City wheel over the past few seasons.
It's clear, therefore, that Reijnders has to hit the ground running and work on the more defensive aspects of his game in order to fulfil what he believes is his footballing destiny.
Pep has got his hands on a great player
"'If I could play with 11 midfielders, I would.' Pep Guardiola has never hidden his predilection for what he considers the most important role in modern football, overturning every past paradigm according to which a good team must have a good defence and a striker who scores when needed," Flashscore's Raffaele Riverso noted.
"At the heart of this thought, there is the doctrine of his master, Johan Cruyff, the totem of total football, the Flying Dutchman. Reijnders also comes from the Netherlands, and is a player who interprets the role of midfielder in a dynamic and fluid way: 'Total', to use a word dear to Cruyff and Guardiola.
"That's a much broader concept than the English 'box to box' style and the quality of Reijnders that convinced Pep to bet on him is not only that of being decisive in both penalty areas, but precisely that of identifying, at any moment of the match, the area of the pitch where he can be most useful to the team.
"In essence, someone like him could easily be part of that team composed of 11 midfielders that Guardiola would one day have the courage to field. For the Catalan coach's playing philosophy, great players are those who make their teammates better.
"Well, with Reijnders, Pep has his hands on a great player."
If he meets all of the add-ons being placed into the deal for his services, the midfielder will not only become Milan's record sale (currently €67m for Kaka's move to Real Madrid), but will prove to be a €70m bargain for a team that are in dire need of that creative and marauding presence.
