This €180m-worth midfield maestro is all Pep desire ahead of next season

City boss Pep Guardiola has led the club to the Premier League title this season, but speculation suggests planning is already underway to ensure that they stay top of the pile. The Spanish tactician and his stars have secured the league crown with five games to spare, while they picked up the League Cup too as he put a difficult first campaign in charge behind him.

The bigger challenge now though will be to maintain that level of success and dominate both in England and in Europe, and in order to do that, he may well need reinforcements in certain areas given their shortcomings in the FA Cup and Champions League.

According to Sky Sports, not only do they claim that Guardiola will have around £200m to spend on three signings, but Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe and Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara are specifically named as priority targets.

Mbappe joined PSG on loan from Monaco last summer, with the Ligue 1 champions having an option to secure his permanent signing for €180m at the end of the season, as per BBC Sport.

As for Thiago, Guardiola knows him well having worked together previously at Bayern during the Spaniard’s stint in charge of the Bavarian giants prior to joining City, and with a lack of midfield depth particularly in the holding role to offer competition for stalwart Fernandinho, it could be a sensible addition for the Citizens. It remains to be seen if they can pull off such an ambitious spree though, as both players in question are currently very important to their current sides.

Mbappe, 19, has scored 19 goals and provided 17 assists in 40 appearances so far this season, while Alcantara, 27, has been key in Bayern’s pursuit of trophies too. Both would be quality signings, but time will tell if Guardiola gets his wish this summer to strengthen the champions of England further which will be a real concern to their rivals.