One of the ways in which Pep Guardiola worked all these years in Manchester City was that he signed guality players but who are above all, versatile. There is hardly a single player in the current squad which is not capable of playing at least two positions and the Citizens kept a relatively small squad all these years, since they had versatile players. But this season, they witnessed a huge number of injuries and admitted that they will have to change that policy. It is also possible (if not most probable) that they will be active in the January transfer window and buy Rodri‘s replacement. But if we count this small team policy as a mistake, then there is another one which must be pointed out, and it‘s a bigger one – selling their own stars.“I didn’t give Cole minutes that he maybe deserved”When the Saudi owners bought Manchester City, they copied the Chelsea model of investing a lot in young players and just like the Blues, they ended up not using most of those players (if any) but rather selling them at a cost much higher than the one they brought them in, and also easily complying with PSR rules in the process. A win-win situation. But let‘s now examine what would happened if City had some of their sold players in the team now. Would they need to buy in January? Would they be short of healthy players?BVB files: The importance of coming from England and having a J-starting nameCole Palmer leads the list. The Chelsea‘s new leader for years to come is surely Pep Guardiola‘s biggest mistake, as he failed to give him proper playing time, even in games where the Citizens were heavy favorites or the score line was big. In the end, after just three Premier League starts, Palmer just didn‘t believed Pep‘s words that he will play more and went to Chelsea for 42 million pounds. He exploded at Stamford Bridge and is worth around 100 million. Jamie Gittens is next, as the next big English star in Dortmund also came from City‘s academy. He was regarded as one of the best prospects in academy football when City lost him to Borussia Dortmund at the age of 16. He was sold for 90.000 pounds and he is now worth 41 million and starts in Bundesliga.He arrived in England as a lonely kid isolated by Covid. Today, he’s a part of the $1 billion revolution at ChelseaOne of the reasons he went to Germany is that he saw what happened to Jandon Sancho. He was also in City‘s Academy but never got the chance and then signed for Borussia. He went to Germany in 2017 for only eight million and signed for arch rivals Manchester United for 73. Another City player who did (and still does) wonders in Germany is Jeremie Frimpong. The Dutch wing-back was told that he has no future at the Eithad and he went to Celtic in 2019 for only 350.000 pounds. He is now regular for Bayer Leverkusen and the Netherlands and is worth over 40 million. Former City defender Vincent Kompany said back in 2020 that Romeo Lavia, who came from Anderlecht was ‘what Pep Guardiola is looking for’ in a player. He was wrong about Pep as he used him only twice and sold him to Southampton. He is now playing for Chelsea and is worth 33 million pounds.##NAJAVA_MECA_8593734##Apart from these players, who are already established as quality, first team players, there are others who are yet to earn that position. Players like James Trafford (Burnley), Tosin Adarabioyo (Chelsea), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton), Angelino (Roma), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa) and Liam Delap (Ipswich). All in all, Pep Guardiola failed to use any of those players who are now worth a staggering 360 million pounds.
