Premier League: Decoding Manchester City's 2026 summer transfer window
What's the story
Manchester City embarked on a major squad transformation, spending an eye-watering £460-plus million on nine new signings in the 2026 summer transfer window. The spending spree comes after Pep Guardiola's departure and is seen as the start of the Enzo Maresca project. Maresca, who was appointed as Guardiola's successor, has already led City to two wins at the start of the Premier League season. We decode City's summer transfer window.
Incomings
Record-breaking signings headline City's summer
City made headlines with their record-breaking signings, including Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea for a whopping £125m on deadline day.
Earlier in the window, they also roped in Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116m.
City also signed young midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille for £85.6m.
City also got winger Iliman Ndiaye on deadline day from Everton for £65m.
Allan Elias came from Brazilian Palmeiras for £34m.
City also signed players such Jeremy Monga from Leicester City for £10m (loaned to Swansea), Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday for £3m and Geronimo Rulli from Marseille for £1.7m.
As per L'Equipe, Mathys Detourbet arrived from Troyes for £21.4m and was loaned to AS Monaco.
Squad transformation
A look at City's major departures
City sold midfielder Rodri to Barcelona for £65.4m.
Tijjani Reijnders was shipped to Al-Qadsiah for £51m and Nico Gonzalez joined Newcastle United for £50m.
Goalkeeper James Trafford switched to Leeds United for £40m.
Winger Savio made a big-money move to Tottenham Hotspur for £85m.
Nathan Ake joined Fenerbahce for £8.5m whereas young guns Reigan Heskey and Issa Kabore joined Cologne and Wrexham for £6m and £2m respectively, as per Sky Sports News.
John Stones and Bernardo Silva left as free agents and joined Inter and Real Madrid.
Do you know?
City's massive Omar Marmoush deal as Grealish departs on loan
Forward Omar Marmoush joined Spurs on an initial loan deal with a £60 million obligation to buy. The fee is divided into a guaranteed payment of £50 million and an additional £10 million in add-ons. Meanwhile, Jack Grealish joined Everton on loan.
Summary
City's massive transfer window: Key takeaways
City were clever and enjoyed a superb transfer window.
City's net spending came down significantly with massive player sales especially in midfield.
Savio's move to Spurs was the iciing on the cake.
In terms of incomings, City were the only club to spend £100m-plus on two different players (Fernandez and Anderson).
City outspent everyone but also managed to recover a significant amount through player sales, giving Maresca one of the most expensive rebuilds ever in a single transfer window.