Early-Season Defeats Show Man City’s Rebuild Isn’t Complete

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 31: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, reacts following the team’s defeat during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester City at Amex Stadium on August 31, 2025 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

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When Manchester City welcomes Manchester United to the Etihad Stadium for the Manchester Derby after the September international break, it will do so below Ruben Amorim’s crisis-hit team in the Premier League table. City has suffered a challenging start to the 2025/26 season.

Sunday’s defeat to Brighton highlighted some of the issues in Pep Guardiola’s team. The hope was that Rodri’s return to the starting lineup after injury would give Manchester City control in the centre of the pitch, but the Seagulls played in quick transition and were well worth their 2-1 victory.

“We forgot to play,” said Guardiola after the loss to Brighton. “We decided to play long, more direct. It’s fine, but we have to be ready for that. We were not ready to win the second (balls) when it happened. Of course the momentum in the Premier League always changes after a goal, it can do that, but in that moment we forgot to start to play like we had done brilliantly the first hour against a tough opponent.”

2025 has been a transformational year for Manchester City. It became clear last midway through last season that Guardiola needed to rebuild his squad and that process started in the January transfer window with the addition of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

This summer, Tijani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri came into the squad and there have been signs that these players will contribute over the course of the season. However, City’s last two performances in defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton suggest Guardiola’s rebuild is not yet complete.

The 2025/26 campaign can still be a positive one for City. Liverpool is once again setting the pace at the top of the table with nine points from a possible nine, but there’s a sense that many of the elite-level teams are flawed. There will be opportunities to make up some ground on rivals.

Nonetheless, it’s possible Manchester City didn’t do enough in this summer’s transfer window to ensure it would challenge for the Premier League title this season. Guardiola’s midfield remains vulnerable even after the return of Rodri. At the back, there’s still too much space behind the defensive line.

City wouldn’t want anyone else leading its rebuild than Guardiola, but it’s clear this is shaping up to be one of the biggest challenges of his managerial career to date. Manchester City will almost certainly be title challengers again at some point in the future. It just won’t be this season.