Manchester City are in another tough Premier League title race with Arsenal in the 2025/26 season, and they have really turned up the heat recently after a slow start to the campaign.
The Citizens retooled again in the January transfer window this year, bringing in Erling Haaland’s biggest Premier League Player of the Season challenger in Antoine Semenyo, winning a transfer sweepstakes for the Bournemouth hero that included pretty much every other club in the Big Six.
Man City have fully recovered from an atrocious, by their lofty standards, 2024/25 campaign in which they came frighteningly close to missing out on the Champions League entirely.
But since Man City are not seen as favorites to win the Champions League despite their recent resurgence, they will, once again, figure to be major players in the coming summer 2026 transfer window.
So here is a look at 10 stars around European football, both current and future, who could potentially join Manchester City for the 2026/27 Premier League and Champions League seasons.
Real Madrid RB Trent Alexander-Arnold
Manchester City bought Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolves over the summer transfer window, and young Nico O’Reilly is blowing everyone away. O’Reilly is starting to play further up the pitch, so Man City going for another young left back standout like Nathaniel Brown with additional positional versatility is not out of the question.
Brown should be readily available for transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt in summer 2026, but a more ambitious transfer target for Pep Guardiola could be on the right-hand side of the formation, Real Madrid superstar Trent Alexander-Arnold.
TAA hasn’t looked like a superstar for Real to this point, but injuries have held him back. It’s more likely he stays in Madrid to try to fulfill his dream of shining at the Santiago Bernabeu, but the right offer from the Premier League giants could coax him to join the Citizens.
Now, Alexander-Arnold may have something against truly betraying his childhood club, Liverpool, by joining their long-time title rivals Manchester City, but after watching how quickly Reds supporters turned on him just for joining Real Madrid – a perfectly understandable transfer – he may not care about what Liverpool fans think. Loyalty apparently doesn’t go both ways in football.
Alexander-Arnold is a Pep-coded player. His ability to change games on a dime with one sliced pass or one gorgeous deep cross is simply too good to ignore, and putting him on the same team as Omar Marmoush and Erling Haaland would be downright unfair to the rest of the Premier League.
Nottingham Forest CM Elliot Anderson
A more likely transfer for an English star would bring Nottingham Forest’s breakout midfielder Elliot Anderson to the Etihad Stadium. Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton is another young midfielder worth watching as a Manchester City transfer target this summer – and we’ll get to him later – but Anderson is the biggest prize Man City could bag this summer.
Even when Forest are not playing their best football in the Premier League, Anderson still stands out for his quality on the ball. He is a press-resistant midfielder who can be an immediate upgrade on the declining, but still important, Mateo Kovacic, whose serious injury this season honestly leaves his future contributions to Man City in doubt.
Meanwhile, Anderson has a serious case for being the best all-around No. 8 in the Premier League this season, especially when you factor in how disappointing Forest have been.
He is averaging four combined tackles and interceptions per game with 3.6 combined fouls drawn and dribbles completed. Anderson is also averaging 1.5 key passes per game with a pass completion percentage above 85 on about 67 attempted passes per game.
Those are astounding numbers in all respects, and Anderson can unlock a lot more offense for Man City with his ability to win possession quickly and turn it into attack as a progressive dribbler and passer.
Newcastle DM Bruno Guimaraes
Bruno Guimaraes has been an obsession of top Premier League clubs for years, and Manchester City, in particular, have been dreaming of stealing away the Newcastle United captain for their own.
A double-pivot of Rodri and Guimaraes would put even Arsenal’s elite tandem of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi to shame, as the defensive quality between the two would pretty much lock down any team in the Premier League for good.
Bruno is one of the best ball-winners and progressors in European football with leadership chops that rival Rodri’s. With Rodri being more of a screening and passing progressor, Bruno can play a more box-to-box role, a charging bull to rampage through the hearts of opposing defenses.
There is a bit of an unspoken rivalry between Manchester City and Newcastle emerging, but should Bruno push hard for an exit to the most successful club in English football, the Magpies, as with Alexander Isak last year, will find it difficult to deny him.
RB Leipzig LW Yan Diomande
Manchester City have a glut of options on the wings, but as a recent injury to Savinho reminded everyone at the club, you really can never have too many options at this position.
Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Oscar Bobb, and Omar Marmoush are all among the best in the Premier League out wide, and now Antoine Semenyo has come in to join Erling Haaland and Marmoush as three legitimate goal threats for this attack.
But the thing is, when you break this lineup down, Man City have more options on the right side than the left. Out of these players, only Doku and Marmoush have made more appearances on the left-hand side of the attack.
Manchester City could go for a young, dynamic left winger to open up more of the offense for the next decade, and there isn’t a more talented winger prospect in the game today than RB Leipzig’s Yan Diomande, who recently delivered two masterful performances against Borussia Dortmund and Wolfsburg in 2-2 Bundesliga draws, even catching Cruyff turns out of the air.
Diomande is electrifying and effortless. He is one of the top five players in the Bundesliga already, scoring goals and putting defensive players on skates with the sort of ball progression that a team can base an entire attack around.
Pep Guardiola, in recent years, has become obsessed with explosive wingers who can create chances, score goals, and, most importantly, produce chaos through sheer skill and athleticism.
Diomane, even moreso than Doku and Savinho, is a master of this increasingly coveted craft. The perfect hybrid of the old-school, traditional winger and the new-age, inverted scorer, Diomande would be worth every penny for Man City.
Bournemouth CM Alex Scott
Manchester City don’t usually go after the less heralded names at smaller sides in the Premier League, but as their wise swoop for the rock-solid Rayan Ait-Nouri last summer showed, they are willing to make this exact sort of move for the right player.
With Elliot Anderson breaking out for Nottingham Forest and Adam Wharton earning attention from the big boys in La Liga, Alex Scott has truly flown under the radar, but he is every bit an intriguing center midfield transfer target this coming summer window.
Scott has been one of the top defensive midfielders in the 2025/26 Premier League season, showing good ball-winning chops and the ability to maintain possession and help recycle it.
The main issue with Scott is that his work on the ball is more solid than outstanding, and Guaridola requires the latter in his players. Although Scott is no slouch like Kalvin Phillips, the latter’s horrible stay at the Etihad has caused Pep to set a high bar in the midfield.
Still, Scott is a solid player who could be doing a lot more if he weren’t so restricted in the Bournemouth system, and he is a valid midfield option, if not the least impressive of the crew on this list.
Real Madrid LW Rodrygo Goes
If there were a No. 1 dream transfer target for Manchester City at this juncture, then it would be Rodrygo Goes, who has quietly been one of the most accurate passing wingers in world football over the last several seasons.
Miscast on the right side of the Real Madrid attack out of necessity, Rodrygo finally flirted with leaving Madrid after the 2024/25 season to become a bigger star, having been outright benched by Carlo Ancelotti by the end of it and even disrespected by the Madrid media prior to it.
The hero of the 2021/22 Champions League knockout stages, Manchester City have gotten several up close and personal looks at the underrated Brazilian dynamo, who has remained in Vinicius Junior’s shadow despite occasionally outshining the most productive modern-day Champions League winger.
Normally a left winger when at his best, Rodrygo’s quickness, insane dribbling ability in tight spaces, curled shots, and link-up play with fabulous one-twos would make him THE ideal inverted Guardiola winger.
If Manchester City feel they have enough explosive talent out wide and wanted a more linking player – basically, a souped-up version of Jack Grealish – then Rodrygo is the man. And if there is even a snowball’s chance in heck that Real Madrid are willing to dangle Rodrygo as transfer bait, you had better believe Man City will pay any reasonable price.
Bayern Munich DM Aleksandar Pavlovic
Bayern Munich would have to be foolish to even seriously consider the possibility of transferring Aleksanar Pavlovic out of the club, because he is both the present and the future of a midfield that has a serious depth issue beyond himself and long-time stalwart Joshua Kimmich.
Though Kimmich was once the top dream transfer target for Guaridola, who had helped him get his start to superstardom in Bavaria as Die Roten’s manager, Pavlovic is now the real prize with Kimmich getting older and Pavlovic only scratching the surface on the elite No. 6 he will be in his prime.
Pavlovic is already one of the unsung heroes and important players of this Bayern team, usurping Leon Goretzka as a starter. The 21-year-old has started 12 games with 7 appearances in the Bundesliga this season, but it’s pretty evident that he is ready for more action.
A threat to score from range and an excellent screening holding midfielder with his defensive work, athleticism, and even reading of the game, Pavlovic is earmarked for stardom in the German top flight and almost never misplaces a pass.
If Manchester City were smart enough to think of an heir to Rodri – and you had better believe that Guardiola and his friends are – then Pavlovic, with a 95 percent passing accuracy on 70 attempts per game, is the right choice. It’s best to get in the door early.
FC Koln LW Said El Mala
Likewise, Bayern Munich won’t want to let another Bundesliga gem slip out of their grasp in Said El Mala, who joins Yan Diomande as one of the two future superstar left wingers in the German top flight and two highly coveted transfer targets to eventually take over for current star left winger Luis Diaz.
El Mala has not been starting every game for FC Koln, but that’s only because the club’s manager has been confusingly stubborn to start a man who, despite being 19 years of age, is already, by far and away, the team’s best player.
He has scored 8 goals with 3 assists in just 10 starts and 13 substitute appearances, looking like the next big thing in the Bundesliga and an even better left wing/striker hybrid than Omar Marmoush, whom Manchester City signed from the Bundesliga just a year ago.
El Mala is an explosive weapon, averaging 2.6 dribbles completed per 90 minutes, though he needs some additional seasoning before he becomes well-rounded enough to start games for Manchester City.
Getting in the door early being the operative phrase here, Man City could take a flier on El Mala, beat Bayern to the punch, and then send the Koln man off on his way to help Girona in Spain – should they survive the La Liga drop this season, of course.
Newcastle RB Tino Livramento
Manchester City and most big clubs in the Premier League tend to prefer signing established starters within the English top flight, because with them, there are generally fewer questions about how they will translate and adapt to life at the Etihad, given there is no need to worry about the most difficult transition, which is to the league itself.
If there were any real, lingering needs in this Manchester City side prior to their resumption of being the most dominant team in European football, then the right back position may be the last area to address in the summer window.
Once again, Newcastle come to mind as an ideal stepping stone for Man City to grab a valuable starter from. Young left back Lewis Hall is the gem of the fullbacks at St. James’s Park, but that has led the talented Tino Livramento to become undervalued.
Livramento has been out with a hamstring injury, but in his 11 starts this season, he was solid on both the left and right-hand side, which would lend him the versatility Man City crave.
A capable ball-winner and one-on-one defender, Livramento is a positive progressor of the ball and has the technical quality at the fullback position with the accuracy of passing to suit Manchester City.
Crystal Palace DM Adam Wharton
The best possible deep-lying midfielder for Manchester City or any other club in need of one, such as Real Madrid or even Tottenham Hotspur, is Adam Wharton, though because of his desirability and status as the best young holding midfielder in the Premier League (and of English nationality, no less), Crystal Palace essentially have a free Autobahn to ask whatever price they would like.
A similar fee above 100 million euros to what Rice cost Man City is likely in order for Wharton, who, almost inconceivably, may have more upside than Rice when factoring in his superior creativity and defensive skills.
Partially thanks to Manchester City themselves, the No. 6 position has become the most coveted in world football, and now that Arsenal have taken it to the extreme with two top-class 6’s – that they signed from right under Man City’s noses, mind you – there is an arm’s race for the few valuable holding midfielders who are actually worth employing at a club of title-bearing standard.
Wharton is an elite defensive player in midfield with 3.3 combined tackles and interceptions per game for Palace while averaging 1.2 key passes per game and 1.1 fouls drawn per match.
His passing is nowhere near the caliber of a Rodri or Rice, but his defensive work and ability to drive the ball forward into dangerous areas are arguably just as good – or even better, in some cases.
The 22-year-old still has time to go in his development at a position in which the learning curve in usually much steeper, but perhaps even moreso than Rice before him, Wharton stands to benefit immensely from joining a club like Manchester City where his traits can shine much more than they do at Selhurst Park.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.