Aguero and the rebuild

When Aguero leaves this summer Pep will be down to only 3 players he inherited from Pellegrini namely KDB, Sterling, and Fernandinho.

Fernandinho may still leave this summer (hope not) and KDB's contract situation is not comfortable at all. We are simply fortunate that for the first time in 20 years Barca and Real Madrid do not have the pulling power they have had for 2 decades.

Back to City, 30 first-team players sold or released in the time Pep has been manager. Admittedly we haven't recouped anywhere close to the value of these players, something liverpool are excellent at doing. Basically Liverpool or Michael Edwards are Arsene Wenger in the late ninties and early noughties.Even FSG clearly said they would be copying the Arsenal method when they bought the club.

We could never compete with them Net spend wise if they can sell average British players for so much money. However despite spending so much to achieve this rebuild what has never been truly appreciated is the club's very deliberate and excellent transfer and recruitment strategy. Pep wouldn't be nearly as successful without a director of football like Txiki Begiristain. We have bought young and very talented players. Can't think of a single world-class player we have signed in Peps time, probably Kyle Walker at a push, and watching him yesterday the guy has never convinced me as a player that suits a Pep team.

Walker, Mendy, and Bravo are probably the disappointing buys in this era, and even then as characters you get the feeling Pep likes the first 2 and wouldn't mind keeping them around the squad despite both costing a combined 100 million

Other than that the recruitment has been flawless and needless to say I believe we are the best run club in the country. That combined with having the best manager of his generation we have managed to rebuild whilst winning domestic trophies at the same time.

This summer we say goodbye to our best ever striker. (Best ever player is David Silva for me)

The significance is huge. We saw the impact Kompany leaving had on us as a football club. Losing Sergio will be similar in a different way. We have never been a clinical team in the final third. I have consistently said that Pep at Barca and Bayern has worked with the finest attackers but at City, he has had to work with young players who simply don't take their chances. And we are losing the only player who could.

It's hard to watch but Aguero is not the same player anymore. The legs are gone now. I just hope we persist with him and he delivers the CL but the biggest story is how we move on as a club.

I believe the manager when he says we won't be signing any of these big-money strikers. We will go another season and access thereafter. I do hope we get a squad player. Someone like Ings and Giroud would be perfect. Not ideal but better than not signing anyone at all. If we don't sign a striker and have the kind of injuries we had at the start of the season then we could be in trouble. Pep is contracted until 2023. That's 2 more seasons after this summer. His nemesis Klopp is contracted to Liverpool until 2024. Can only hope we pick up one more PL title and a CL in that time.