When do Man City normally announce summer transfers? We look at the last four windows

The transfer window officially opening on Friday means Manchester City are able to bring in further additions to their hugely talented squad.

The Blues have already announced the signings of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez, although neither have been unveiled as City players yet.

While fans will be delighted with the two arrivals, Pep Guardiola’s squad is still looking a tad on the lighter side.

Marc Cucurella and Kalvin Phillips are the two players most strongly linked with a move to the Etihad in the last few weeks, with ManchesterWorld understanding the latter is a key priority for the club.

But, should the duo, or any other transfer be announced, when are they likely to be confirmed?

To try and figure that out, we’ve had a look through City’s last four summer windows to identify any patterns to the club’s recruitment strategy.

When will signings be made?

In general, City tend to make at least one major signing early in the market - Ferran Torres (2020), Rodri (2019) and Riyad Mahrez (2018). Last year was the anomaly with City’s sole recruit, Jack Grealish, being confirmed in early August after a lengthy period of negotiation.

However, given Haaland is likely to be the marquee transfer this window, there’s a chance that early signing has already been concluded.

Oddly, City also have completed four transfers over the last four years in the period between 4-7 August.

The Blues also rarely tend to get their business wrapped up late, Ruben Dias’s transfer in September 2020 being the exception to that rule. In fact, in the 2017 summer window, Guardiola and his team managed to get all five senior signings concluded before the start of August.

How many signings will be completed?

In general, Guardiola tends to work with a small group of elite-level players, so there isn’t a huge amount of turnover. In 2021 and 2018 City made just one senior transfer, while it was three and then five in the other two summers.

However, there is perhaps an expectation that this year could be different given City are so lacking in numbers. Conversely, it’s unlikely to imagine the champions add more than two further recuits this window.

Last four transfer windows in full

2021:

• Jack Grealish- 5 August

2020*:

• Ferran Torres- 4 August
• Nathan Ake- 5 August
• Ruben Dias- 29 September

*Transfer window opened on 27 July 2020 due to the late end of the 2019/20 season.

2019:

• Zack Steffen- 11 December 2018
• Angelino- 3 July
• Rodri- 4 July
• Scott Carson- 20 July
• Joao Cancelo- 7 August

2018:

• Riyad Mahrez- 10 July