Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has said that he is amazed by the fact that Manchester City decided against pursuing a new centre-back during the summer transfer window. The Citizens saw the departure of long-term captain Vincent Kompany on a free transfer after the FA Cup final and that left them with just Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi as the central defensive options.

Among those, Laporte is expected to miss most of the campaign after a knee surgery while Stones has recently been on the sidelines with a thigh problem. As such, Guardiola has been forced to utilise Fernandinho as the makeshift centre-back alongside Otamendi and that has already cost them with a surprise 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Wolves.