re: Is City in big trouble the next few years

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Sell Yaya, Dzeko, Jovetic AT LEAST and that will net City probably close to 90 million.

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As confirmed in Sunday’s derby debacle, something has to give at Manchester City, be it the manager, some players or even the men in suits charged with recruitment. You cannot go from champions to also-rans within the space of 12 months without serious repercussions. David Moyes found that out across town at Old Trafford. Others will surely feel the thud of rejection at the home of some neighbours no longer sounding quite so noisy.But of those three options aimed at bringing about improvement, changing the playing staff is always the most difficult. Manuel Pellegrini can be replaced. The process is fairly straightforward, assuming the club can get the right man.
The same goes for replacing the chief executive Ferran Soriano and the director of football Txiki Begiristain, the former Barcelona men who were recruited to great fanfare. If the City owner Sheikh Mansour thinks the blame lies with this pair, he may well decide to dispense of both of them.

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Yet doing the same with underperforming players can be notoriously difficult, especially if those concerned are earning vast amounts of money on lengthy contracts. And let’s face it, City have their fair share of them.
It was not so long ago that Samir Nasri was awarded a lucrative extension. Aleksandar Kolarov accepted another deal only last summer, as did Edin Dzeko.Then you have recent signings such as Fernando and Eliaquim Mangala who are less than one year into their agreements. Not that I am advocating the sale of this pair. While neither has impressed in their debut season, both deserve a chance to learn in this league. As for the others, well, you could easily make a case for their departure.

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Nasri had his run-ins with Roberto Mancini and it seems that he might have also upset the Italian’s successor when he completely lost his discipline and lashed out wildly at Barcelona’s Neymar. Nasri has since been used only sporadically. The Frenchman is undoubtedly very talented but he can be a complete liability when City lose the ball.
Dzeko’s future could also be questioned. With only four league goals to show for his efforts this term, the centre-forward looks stale, as if he could do with a move, especially now that Wilfried Bony has arrived at the club. Stevan Jovetic looks to be halfway out the door having been omitted from City’s Champions League squad.


Then you have Jesús Navas. How Pellegrini retains faith in him is something of a mystery to many observers. Picked week after week, the speedy Spaniard rarely grabs a game by the scruff of the neck. Whoever is in charge, that trend surely cannot be allowed to continue much longer.If City are to move forward under the captaincy of Vincent Kompany an overhaul is badly needed. Fresh blood is required, young players, to add more legs and intensity to a group who visibly suffered when United turned up the gas. This is a squad who have been allowed to grow old together.
Major surgery, however, is far from easy these days, not when Financial Fair Play rules restrict ambition. No longer can Mansour simply write cheques to sign players. It means that this summer will require some very clever manoeuvring for the reigning champions to mount a comeback. That requires gently coaxing a few players into taking their custom elsewhere.

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One can point to Pellegrini being stubborn with the midfield vacant 4-4-2 but it seems as though he replaced Mancini in part due to someone's belief that it could be a band aid over the problems with playing Toure, Silva and Aguero together. In his last season, Mancini was blasted for experimental formations like the three man backline trying to resolve this issue and
I recall Mancini having a huge problem with how many moves were forced on him or rejected by the previous sporting director.

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This is their issue in selling players for anything near what they paid initially before the players were on massive wages.
Roma, just for example, wanted Kolarov last summer (when they ended up with Cole) but City gave him a huge raise to convince him to stay.

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