ANALYSIS KEY ISSUES FOR BLUES
■ THE EFFECT ON THIS SEASON
LAST night’s announcement has thrown a huge cloud over City.
The Premier League title race is already over but the Blues remain in three other competitions and are still hopeful of a landmark season.
But it is impossible to see how this huge unwelcome distraction won’t have a tangible impact on the rest of this campaign.
An appeal will likely see the club left in limbo for several weeks, if not months, but Pep Guardiola will surely be having to fend off questions about it week after week now. The Blues are still in the Champions League, which they long to win and have a huge two-legged tie against Real Madrid starting at the Bernabeu in a fortnight.
Will the vitriol from the club towards UEFA spill over onto the pitch in any way?
It certainly will from the stands. Fans have booed the Champions League anthem for years but the atmosphere inside the Etihad for the second leg will undoubtedly be deafening. Conversely, Guardiola and the players may be extra motivated to win it, given it could their last chance until 2022.
■LOSING CURRENT STARS
CITY are widely regarded as having one of, if not the, best squad in Europe. However, it could become increasingly difficult to keep that squad together if they are not playing Champions League football.
The Blues have been a constant fixture in Europe’s elite competition since 2011 and all those who have signed will have done so in the expectation that this would continue.
City have been very prudent in regards to contracts and have recently tied down a number of star names to long-term deals.
Leroy Sane, a summer move for who now looks even more likely if it wasn’t before, has been an exception and there has been a distinct lack of stars
wanting away from Etihad. However you have to wonder how the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, to name just two, will feel about the prospect of two years of no Champions League football. Europe’s top clubs will surely come circling. City have always been firm in saying they don’t have to and won’t sell top stars, but the chance of that stance being properly tested is now firmly on the horizon.
■ FAILING TO ATTRACT ELITE REPLACEMENTS
IT is accepted by most that City’s squad needs some major surgery this summer. With David Silva on his way, Sane expected to join Bayern Munich and a number of other squad members failing to impress this term, there are several positions that need strengthening.
One, if not two centre-halves, a left-back, winger, potentially even a striker, are said to be on Guardiola’s wish list if he is to launch an assault to reclaim the Premier League title next year.
However, attracting the targets they had in mind this summer will now become extremely difficult.
City, of course, have the financial muscle to offer players bumper money but would a top player, for example, sign a four year-deal knowing that for half of it they would not be playing Champions League football?
The club could be forced to shell out even more in wages to persuade them, or shop on their ‘B list’ of targets, both of which would have consequences moving forward.