England international likely to depart this summer after a decade at The Etihad
The 2025/26 Premier League campaign is coming to an end and although manager Pep Guardiola would have hoped for more success in our European Champions League adventure this term, the 55 year old Spaniard will be very pleased with the progress his new look side have made on a domestic front.
The Etihad Stadium faithful can probably expect another summer of big changes in the transfer market as we get stage two of the rebuild, and there will be no better way to enter the off season than by potentially adding another League title to our name, as well as the FA Cup, given that silverware was already achieved in the League Cup campaign.
For football bettors especially, clothing is a big deal. Many will wear the same shirt every time they place a bet on a big game. Some won't wash it during a winning run. The smell is a small price to pay for continued success, of course!
This kind of thinking is particularly common among those who bet on football. If you tend to look up football free bets before a Premier League weekend, and start to get into the world of betting, you might notice you've developed a routine around it without even realising.
Whatever arrivals we may end up with when it comes to adding fresh faces to the group after the January captures of Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, the City fanbase already know that there will be a number of departures given those players that find themselves out of contract come the end of the season, and those players currently out on loan who clearly have no future at the club. There are also those on the fringes who could be moved on for a variety of reasons including their age, and as well as Nathan Ake coming to mind there, so does John Stones.
The 31 year old centre half has enjoyed a good spell at the club since first signing on from Everton back in the summer of 2016, but injuries have certainly taken their toll on his game time across the years. The England international remains a key part of manager Thomas Tuchel's thoughts for the upcoming World Cup despite injury again hitting and seeing him withdraw from the latest squad, but he is out of contract come the summer and with only four Premier League starts so far, it feels very unlikely indeed that a new extension will be agreed to his existing deal.
If he departs as expected, he will go with six League titles, three League Cups, two FA Cups and the Champions League as his major wins, and there would be a certain poetic cycle to him now returning to Everton to see out the remainder of his career, given that they are already being quite heavily linked with having an interest in him when he becomes a free agent.
Given his contractual status, it is slightly disappointing that we will not even be able to command a nominal fee for him when he moves on, but Guardiola's budgets will be improved by him falling off the weekly wage count as we move forward with the Squad Cost Ratio rules.
Whether or not Everton do return for him remains to be seen, but it is a safe bet that he will be one of those to move on.