Only two survived. Pep Guardiola’s line-up for Manchester City’s first match has been revealed.
Football statistics media ‘TransferMarkt’ re-examined the starting lineup for the first game of Guardiola’s 2016-17 season on the 16th (Korean time).
Only two have survived to this day. 메이저놀이터‘Soccer guru’ Kevin De Bruyne is still active as the core of Manchester City. This season, he is paired with the ‘monster’ Elling Holland to score points, and in the last game against Leicester City, he helped Holland’s wedge goal and occupied the 15th assist in the league.
There was also John Stones, the ‘soccer guru these days’. Stones entered Man City with manager Guardiola, and went back and forth between selection and replacement every season, serving one person whenever the team was in trouble. Recently, he plays as a right-back and is showing great success as if he has completely opened his eyes to football with a look like the completion of an ‘inverted fullback’.
Everyone else has left the team. The three-top was completely disbanded at the end of last season. Starters included Nolito, an “ambitious failure” who left the team after one season, Sergio Aguero, now retired from playing, and Raheem Sterling, who has been slowing down at Chelsea this season.
In the midfield, there were ‘soccer masters of the past’. De Bruyne’s partner was David Silva. Silva joined Man City in the 2010-11 season and led the team’s revival, leaving the team at the end of 2020. As a defensive midfielder, Fernandinho, who opened his eyes to soccer under the guidance of Guardiola, was positioned.
The defense was devastating. The members of the four-back with the Stones were Gael Clichy, Aleksandar Kolarov, and Bacary Sagna. Even the goalkeeper was Willy Caballero. It is a lineup that suggests the disastrous Manchester City defense at the time of Guardiola’s appointment, and all other players except Stones transferred in 2017.
Since Guardiola took office in 2016, he has carried out a step-by-step rebuilding by replacing scarce resources with great players and replacing his existing core with recruits and prospects with similar abilities. As a result, since the 2017-18 season, Manchester City’s golden era, including four league championships, has been fully opened.