Manchester City

Alex Bysouth
BBC Sport Senior Journalist

The 'here we go' is on hold, the 'bombas' are done and dusted and the window panes are reverberating after being forcefully closed on Tuesday night.

Now comes the moment for new arrivals to make their mark on the pitch rather than the balance sheet.

Throughout the Premier League era there have been hordes of transfer hits and misses, but here we're looking at those signings who proved game-changing for their club and the competition, the ones who really moved the needle.

I've ranked my top 10 and here are my Manchester City choices and where they are placed.

Image source, Getty Images

7. Robinho - Real Madrid to Manchester City, £32.5m, August 2008

It gets somewhat lost in the cloudy narrative of the past, but Robinho had a decent first season at Manchester City, scoring on his Premier League debut and netting 14 times in 31 top-flight games to finish as their top scorer.

Things went downhill from there, but Robinho's performance was less important than what his arrival meant for the future of English football. It was City laying down a marker.

On the day the club were bought by the Abu Dhabi United Group - it also happened to be transfer deadline day - they nabbed one of the world's most prominent players from under the noses of Chelsea for a British record fee.

City finished 10th that season. But 18 years and more than £3bn on transfers later, they have become the most dominant club in England, winning eight titles.

Image source, Getty Images

2. Sergio Aguero, Atletico Madrid to Manchester City, £35m, July 2011

Sergio Aguero set out on his debut as he meant to go on, scoring twice and setting up another in a 30-minute cameo off the bench against Swansea City.

Manchester City were without a top-flight title since 1968 when the Argentine arrived from Atletico Madrid.

Ten months later he had netted 23 goals in 34 Premier League games, including the one deep into stoppage time that crowned City champions.

City had spent lavishly on forwards previously but the prolific Aguero was a game-changer.

His goals shifted the power balance in Manchester and, after a decade in sky blue, he departed as the club's all-time record scorer with 260 goals to complement his five league titles.

Read Alex's top 10 game-changing transfers in Premier League history and make your own selections here

Umir Irfan
Football tactics correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Enzo Fernandez, Ayyoub Bouaddi, and Elliot Anderson are all players comfortable across several positions in Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca's system.

Maresca has moved between a box and a diamond shape in midfield at City. The main difference between the two shapes is that the former has two natural holding midfielders and the second a single holding midfielder.

Against Bournemouth, Marc Guehi paired Anderson at the base of midfield. Nico O'Reilly, the left-sided attacking midfielder, was joined by right-back Rico Lewis, moving infield to form the box.

Against Crystal Palace, left-back Josko Gvardiol and attacking midfielder O'Reilly flanked number 10 Rayan Cherki as the three ahead of Anderson in what looked like a diamond.

Anderson anchoring the midfield suggests Maresca sees him as Rodri's successor.

While full of praise for Bouaddi, Maresca has stressed his youth, a nod to the fact that he will probably deputise for Anderson.

Bouaddi replaced Anderson against Palace and his short cameo came soon after the introduction of Mateo Kovacic. In pre-season, the Croatian appeared to be Maresca's first choice holding midfielder but has since slid down the pecking order.

When he came on, although starting higher than Bouaddi in the midfield diamond, he dropped deep to get on the ball in holding midfield. When this happened, Bouaddi took Kovacic's position higher up.

These rotations between holding midfield and central midfield are movements Maresca may also encourage Anderson to perform when others fill the space behind him.

Versatility in the midfield four is key. Fernandez, under Maresca, was capable of playing at the base of midfield or as an attacking midfielder on both sides.

The last midfield spot, the number 10 position, has been shared between Phil Foden and Cherki. Although Foden did play right wing against Bournemouth and Palace given City's injuries, Maresca has spoken of his central quality.

Given Foden's promising showings as a box-to-box midfielder last season – there is also a possibility both he and Cherki play through the middle together at some point this season.

Steve Sutcliffe, Emlyn Begley and Gary Rose
BBC Sport journalists

Premier League clubs have broke their all-time summer transfer record with spending reaching £3.49bn.

A total of £506.5m was spent on deadline day itself, up from £391m last year.

The total amount spent during the window considerably dwarfs the £1.13bn spent by clubs just five years ago and underlines the power top English clubs have to attract talent, according to figures provided to BBC Sport by Paul Macdonald, founder of FootballTransfers.com.

Three of the 10 most expensive signings in the history of football have happened this summer – with all of them being Premier League signings. In fact, this summer window featured four of the top flight's five most expensive ever deals.

So maybe it is not surprising then that of the 20 most expensive transfers completed, only six were not to clubs in the English top flight.

Indeed, newly-promoted Ipswich have spent more on new signings than the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus and reigning European champions PSG.

Premier League clubs as a whole were willing to dip deep into their pockets this summer, as 11 of the 20 clubs broke their transfer records, six of them on more than one occasion.

Coventry, promoted to the Premier League alongside Ipswich and Hull, have done so four times over.

Read more on the Premier League's record-breaking transfer spending

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on Manchester City's transfer business.

Here are some of your comments:

Paul: Brilliant transfer window. The midfield quality is unbelievable.

Glynn: City's transfer business has been very good, although I think they have overpaid for Enzo Fernández. When are City going to sign a recognised full-back? I fear City will leak goals until the full-back positions are resolved.

Tony: Overall, as a City fan, I think there have mostly been good signings, although I do have reservations about Enzo Fernandez. I don't think he would have made a Guardiola team because of his discipline and overall egocentric attitude. His behaviour during the World Cup was appalling, and some of his England squad team-mates may have issues with him. No doubt he's a skilful player with a great shot, though. Likewise, Geronimo Rulli isn't in the same class as James Trafford. Wouldn't it have been better to have pacified him with offers of more Premier League games?

Stephen: While any new signings are always a calculated risk, essentially City have swapped their fringe players for new, young and exciting talent that could potentially form the backbone of the team for some time. This has to be a positive.

Alan: Should have kept James Trafford and Nico Gonzalez and not bought Enzo Fernandez for £30m saved. Gianluigi Donnarumma can go if needs be.

George: As a whole, I think City have had a really solid window. Considering how much we have lost in the last year or two, the replacements we have brought in are definitely exciting. Buying big in midfield with Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez to replace basically our entire midfield due to contract departures and sales was definitely necessary.

Arsenal have started the new Premier League season with two wins as the transfer window closes, looking in ominous shape to retain the crown they won for the first time in 22 years last season.

Have their main rivals done enough to prevent Mikel Arteta's side winning a second successive title?

And what are the other big issues as the Premier League's transfer business was concluded until January?

Manchester City have undergone heavy transition, from manager Pep Guardiola being replaced after 10 years by Enzo Maresca, to the departure of key figures in their glory years such as Rodri, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Jack Grealish, as well as Savio, Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzales, James Trafford, Nathan Ake and Tijjani Reijnders.

The burning ambition remains, however, as proved by the manner in which they have attacked the market to replenish their squad for a title tilt.

City paid £125m – equalling the British transfer record - to reunite former Chelsea manager Maresca with Enzo Fernandez, having already paid £116m to sign England midfielder Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest.

And further quality arrived in the shape of Iliman Ndiaye from Everton for £65m, the brilliant Morocco 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi, who cost £85.6m from Lille, as well as Allan Elias from Palmeiras in Brazil.

It amounts to quite the rebuild, with the Fernandez deal taking City's spending to a Premier League record £458m for a single transfer window, surpassing Liverpool's £415m from last summer.

However, City have also achieved around £300m worth of player sales this summer, illustrating the vast turnover at the start of the post-Guardiola era.

An eventful window but one that leaves City, who still have so much class elsewhere, in good shape to mount a serious challenge.

Read more from Phil on key transfers

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Image source, Getty Images

When Enzo Maresca was appointed as Pep Guardiola's replacement in June, the Italian apologised to his former club Chelsea for the "disruption" caused by his mid-season departure.

Senior City sources had told BBC Sport at the time that they held no ill feeling towards Chelsea and that the now-resolved contractual dispute was between the Stamford Bridge club and Maresca.

And that has played out in this deal happening.

The manager was the key factor in this blockbuster deal with Maresca keen to reunite with his former Chelsea skipper.

It is understood Maresca wanted Fernandez as someone who he can fully trust and rely on, a player that is familiar with the manager's instructions, the patterns of play and does not need to be learn how to operate in the middle of the park in the system.

The 46-year-old had a similar approach when being appointed as Chelsea manager in 2023, signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall having worked with the player at Leicester during their Championship-winning campaign.

Looking back on Friday's pre-match news conference, Maresca had hinted at a late incoming by saying he was hoping to add "a captain" to his squad before the end of the transfer window.

City have lost the experience of Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Rodri this summer, with Ruben Dias taking the captain's armband and Erling Haaland being part of the leadership group.

Fernandez adds big-game know-how to City's midfield after winning the 2022 World Cup with Argentina, being named young player of the tournament, and helping his country to a second-straight final in July.

His antics during the summer may not make him a universally popular figure but Fernandez comes across as a player that team-mates love to have alongside them and one that gets under the skin of the opposition players and supporters.

City had been interested in signing Chelsea's Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto earlier this summer but were seemingly put off by the respective asking prices and, at that stage, Fernandez was not a player that Maresca had necessarily asked the hierarchy to sign.

However, the departures of Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez meant there was a gaping hole left in the middle of the park that needed filling.

Eyebrows were raised when Maresca deployed centre-back Marc Guehi in a holding midfield role in the opening game against Bournemouth, with the player himself saying he was surprised by the change in position.

That alteration came about as the deal for Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi had not been completed, so Guehi played alongside fellow England international Anderson.

The ownership have now splashed out £125m on Fernandez and deemed it as being worth the hefty fee for their new manager - they can also point to delivering a player who could be the final tool needed for Maresca and his men to challenge on all four fronts this season.

Though City claimed a domestic cup double in Guardiola's final season in charge, they fell short in the Premier League and Champions League so Maresca will now be under pressure to fare better in both of those competitions.

• Read more on Tuesday's big transfers

Image source, Getty Images

In a summer of highly-inflated transfer fees, value has become increasingly hard to determine.

On one hand, the Iliman Ndiaye is a player of superlative skill, evasive, quick and wonderfully entertaining with the ball at his feet.

Ndiaye was responsible for 73 of Everton's 250 completed dribbles last season, the highest share of any Premier League player.

Everton fans may also point to recent moves in the Premier League involving Manchester City, such as the sale of Savio to Tottenham for an initial £75m, as further evidence that the club should have demanded more for Ndiaye.

On the other hand, Everton are effectively quadrupling the initial £16m they paid Marseille to sign Ndiaye two years ago for a player whose underlying numbers, at this stage at least, are not truly elite.

In the Premier League last season, Ndiaye only ranked joint third at Everton alone for goal contributions (nine), with Beto (10) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (12) providing more.

It is reasonable to assume that those numbers for Ndiaye will improve in a more attacking team at City but his general creativity is also middling as things stand.

He created 36 chances in total in the Premier League last season, ranking him only fourth at Everton. Toffees midfielder James Garner created 26 more. Jack Grealish, whose season ended in January because of injury, created eight more.

Grealish has effectively replaced Ndiaye at Everton following his loan move from Enzo Maresca's side.

Casting the net a little wider, 45 Premier League players have recorded more goal contributions than Ndiaye's 19 since he made his Everton debut two years ago.

As a 26-year-old set to be surrounded by better players, it would be no surprise should his numbers flourish at the Etihad.

But even in today's money, £65m for Ndiaye's current output may not be as questionable a deal as it sounds.

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City spent a Premier League record £458m in the summer transfer window to complete a rapid rebuild of the squad.

The midfield trio of Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi have been brought in to the tune of more than £300m, replacing the departed Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez.

Iliman Ndiaye, Allan and Geronimo Rulli were the other first-team players brought in by the club during this transfer window.

But they have also managed to recoup over £300m by selling the likes of Savio and James Trafford.

Omar Marmoush joined Tottenham on loan with an obligation to buy, which leaves Erling Haaland without a back-up, but it is felt Antoine Semenyo can operate in the number nine role if required.

Senior City sources are understood to be delighted with the business done in both the winter and summer transfer windows and believe their trust in the strategy is working.

Enzo Maresca has at least two top-class players to choose from in each position, leaving those upstairs rather pleased at the shape of the squad with the availability of cover and depth.

Now the deadline has passed and the dust is beginning to settle, how do you assess Manchester City's transfer business overall?

Get in touch with your views here

Manchester City have done the following business on transfer deadline day:

• Midfielder Enzo Fernandez has joined from Chelsea in a deal worth £125m.

• Young midfielder Jaden Heskey has rejoined League One side Sheffield Wednesday on a season-long loan.

• Everton have signed midfielder Jack Grealish on a season-long loan.

• Winger Iliman Ndiaye has signed from Everton in a deal worth £65m.

• Championship Swansea City have signed teenage City winger Jeremy Monga on loan for the remainder of the 2026-27 season.

This is your Man City page. Hit follow if you're on the website and you'll see more Blues content when you visit us. On the app? Hit the bell icon and select news alerts - we'll then send you the best bits.

Follow all the transfer deadline day news in our live text

What do you think of the City's business in the transfer window? Let us know here

Image source, Manchester City

Enzo Fernandez says he "could not be happier" after sealing a joint-British transfer record move to Manchester City from Chelsea.

The 2022 World Cup winner has signed a five-year deal at Etihad Stadium for a fee of £125m.

"Manchester City are the most successful club in England in recent times," Fernandez said.

"Every player wants to be part of a club like this because everyone knows how well-run City are.

"I could not be happier to be here, and I am ready for the challenge of helping City continue winning trophies. This is a club built for success.

"If you look across the squad, City have quality in every area. I want to learn from my new teammates and become a better player."

The move sees the Argentine midfielder reunite with his former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca who replaced legendary manager Pep Guardiola at City this summer.

City Director of Football Hugo Viana added: "At Manchester City, we are always looking to bring in world-class players and Enzo fits the bill.

"He is a complete midfielder: technically gifted, hardworking, tenacious and a goalscorer.

"To have played in two World Cup finals and won major trophies in multiple countries at just 25 says everything you need to know about his mentality, professionalism and technical quality.

"We are delighted to bring him here and feel very strongly he will improve our team."

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on Manchester City closing in on the signing of Enzo Fernandez in a joint-record British transfer from Chelsea.

Here are some of your comments:

Grace: £125m seems an awful lot of money for Enzo Fernandez. Enzo Maresca must really rate him for the club to pay this amount of money. It is hard for me to separate the person from the player so think he has a lot to prove.

David: Who are fans to disagree? If the manager wants him and the club has the money then it's a no-brainer. Adds bite and goals to our midfield. I'm chuffed with the signing.

Ian: Awful signing, what are the senior management thinking? He will completely disrupt the dressing room. What an appalling decision. Lost a lot of respect for the chairman.

Andrew: Generally excellent signing, but Fernandez was very expensive at £107m and he is now three years older. The old gag 'expensive at half the price' applies. This is a Maresca signing and good to see the club backing the manager but if one Enzo fails, the other does as well. Begiristain would never have agreed.

Salah: This is a baffling transfer. I don't see how Enzo is needed in this team, and the transfer fee is ridiculous, considering the money could have been used to strengthen other positions. I look at this transfer as Maresca simply having a soft spot for Fernandez. I believe Enzo wanted to go to Real Madrid, and when he found out they didn't want him, he was simply desperate to leave Chelsea.

Christopher: Fernandez may well be a good player, but recently City have avoided contentious players like him, rather the professional, get-the-job-done steel mentality. I don't think he'd fit into a Pep squad, but ultimately, it's no longer a Pep squad.

Brian: Man City have done the right thing at the right time to rebuild a winning squad and rebuild confidence with and from the fans. These new signings are mainly position specific and that will deliver success on the field. We have a midfield now that has the capacity to hold and retain whilst supporting our wingers and forward line. Possession football will hopefully provide more goal chances this season. A new manager with a mission to win big style. Bring it on.

Toby: It's not his ability that's the problem, or even the price tag - it's his attitude and history. The fact he filmed himself singing racist lyrics after the Argentina win is enough to make me never want him at the club, let alone the addition of his on-pitch theatrics and poor disciplinary record. He's a crisis waiting to happen, balanced on his own fragile ego.

Image source, Manchester City

Iliman Ndiaye says joining Manchester City "is the chance of a lifetime" and he is "determined to grab it with both hands."

The 26-year-old Senegal winger has signed from Everton in a four-year-deal worth up to £56m.

"I've worked my whole life for an opportunity like this," Ndiaye said. "City are one of the best clubs in the world and I've seen them win everything as I've grown up.

"To be able to write my own chapter in a story that special is the chance of a lifetime and I'm determined to grab it with both hands.

"It's not always been easy in my career, but I always had the belief that I could play for a team challenging for the biggest prizes and now I'm here. It feels so good.

"I love to play with the ball on the floor in an attacking team that wants to score as many goals as possible. That's why I know this is the perfect fit.

"City fans can rest assured that I will give my all to bring more success to this incredible club."

Director of Football Hugo Viana added: "Iliman is a very talented footballer. He's had to work incredibly hard to reach this level and in my first conversation with him it was immediately obvious how grounded he is and the determination he has to be the best player he can be.

"I've no doubt City fans will get a thrill seeing him in action for us.

"We know this club develops players. We make a commitment to every single player we sign that we will make them better footballers.

"I am really excited to see the level Iliman can reach in the years ahead because I know for sure working with Enzo and his staff is going to ensure he becomes a top-class Premier League player."