Since Pep Guardiola was appointed Manchester City manager in 2016, the club have spent around £1.276bn on more than 50 new recruits.
Some have, of course, been a massive success, none more so than Erling Braut Håland, arriving from Borussia Dortmund for £51m in the summer of 2022, so far scoring 143 goals in 164 appearances for the Sky Blues, which isn’t bad.
However, others have not lived up to the expectations set upon their arrival, disappearing into the proverbial wilderness without a trace.
So, is one of Man City’s summer signings, not so long ago labelled one of the best players in the Premier League, in danger of becoming the latest man to follow this path?
Kalvin Phillips' Manchester City career
When Kalvin Phillips joined Manchester City from Leeds United for £42m in the summer of 2022, he was a first-choice starter for England and widely considered to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League.
However, to date, he has made just 32 appearances for the Sky Blues, totalling a miserly 921, accumulating only six starts, while 12 of his outings have lasted ten minutes or fewer.
After unsuccessful loan spells at both West Ham and then Ipswich, Phillips is back at Manchester City now, featuring in the Carabao Cup in September, entrusted with a seven-minute cameo towards the end of the victory over Huddersfield Town.
This was his first appearance for the Citizens for 645 days, his last before that coming against Urawa Red Diamonds in Jeddah in the Club World Cup semi-finals of 2023.
Having not represented England for over two years, fair to say this move has wrecked Phillips’ career, going from international star to complete obscurity, yet to even appear on a Man City bench in the Premier League or Champions League this season – including in Saturday’s 3-2 win over his former club.
So, which of Guardiola’s summer recruits is in danger of repeating this trajectory?
Manchester City's next Kalvin Phillips
For the majority of Guardiola’s tenure at the Etihad, the left-back spot has been up for grabs.
First, Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko were deployed as midfielders in that role while, more recently, a rotating cast of centre-backs have filled the position, including Joško Gvardiol and Nathan Aké.
So, when Rayan Aït-Nouri arrived from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported fee of £31.8m in June, supporters were delighted as the left-back conundrum appeared to have been solved.
The Algerian international joined Wolves from Angers in 2020, making 157 appearances for the club, and becoming one of their most outstanding players.
In the Premier League last season, the 24-year-old registered seven assists, a tally only bettered by 16 players and just one defender, namely Antonee Robinson.
As a result, Sky Sports’ Dougie Critchley described him as “one of the Premier League’s best players” last season, while Manchester City director of football Hugo Viana praised his “quality” upon his arrival.
Having switched allegiance from France, Aït-Nouri will be looking forward to representing Algeria at both next month’s Africa Cup of Nations, the Desert Foxes among the favourites to triumph in Morocco, as well as the World Cup in the summer, but he may not be going into those competitions all guns blazing.
Despite earning rave reviews for his performances in old gold, the full-back has made very little impact in sky blue thus far, as the table below documents.
Minutes
315
22nd
Appearances
7
21st
Starts
5
20th
Completed passes
153
20th
Tackles
10
10th
Ball recoveries
10
20th
Touches
222
19th
As the table documents, Aït-Nouri is yet to make his mark since joining Manchester City.
Since starting two of three Premier League matches in August, he has seen just one minute of action in the competition, partially as a result of an ankle injury.
He was handed his full Champions League debut against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday, but was hooked at half-time as Guardiola made a triple substitution, with his team a goal down, ultimately beaten 2-0 by the Bundesliga side.
Aït-Nouri’s performance in that one did not earn rave reviews.
Richard Martin of Goal noted that he lacked ‘awareness defensively or creativity going forward’, awarding him a 4/10, while Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News believes he was at fault for die Werkself’s opening goal, criticising his ‘heavy touches and poor passes’.
The Algerian was replaced by Nico O’Reilly at the interval, and the form of the 20-year-old is also a problem for him.
The youngster has been outstanding this season, thereby starting both England World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania earlier this month, and will not be an easy man to displace at left-back, for club or country.
Thus, unlikely to be given regular starting opportunities any time soon, Aït-Nouri is in danger of slipping into the Phillips vortex of being forgotten and cast aside by Guardiola.
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