Manchester City aims at Rafina, Paris joins the 60 million euro battle

Manchester City, which beat Wolves 4-0 in the opening game of the Premier League, exposed the problem of weak forward line in the second round of away game loss to Tottenham - only three shots were directed, and Haaland only completed one shot. According to Spanish media Fichajes, Manchester City has decided to activate the termination clause of La Coruna winger Jeremy Hernandez 60 million euros (about £51.99 million), but will face fierce competition from Paris Saint-Germain. Since this winter window, the Blue Moon has invested more than 300 million pounds to sign, including the introduction of attackers such as Malmush and Serki. However, last season's wingers Doku and Savignho only contributed 4 Premier League goals in total (Opta statistics), forcing Guardiola to continue to seek forward upgrades.

22-year-old Hernandez contributed 15 goals and 5 assists on the left wing last season (data source LaLiga official website). His expected assist value (xA) when dribbling is as high as 0.28 attempts/90 minutes, which just makes up for the shortcomings of Manchester City's lack of direct finishing ability on the wing. It is worth noting that Manchester City currently has 9 attackers including Foden and Doku, but Guardiola still put half of the attacking line players on the bench against Tottenham, reflecting the hidden worries of the imbalance in the lineup structure. This is a subtle contrast with the situation where Real Madrid's "Galaxy Battleship Phase II" over-stacked stars in 2009 - when the lineup thickness fails to translate into tactical synergy, the difficulty of locker room management often increases exponentially.

Against the backdrop of continued strengthening of competitors - Liverpool continued to strengthen its lineup after winning the championship with 13 points last season, while Arsenal just signed creative midfielder Eze - Manchester City's path to defending the title has shown a crisis. Data shows that the team's expected goal conceded (xGA) last season increased by 0.35 goals/game compared with the previous year, while the high-pressing success rate (PPDA) dropped to 12.3 times/defensive action against Tottenham, which both reveal the systemic risks on both offense and defense. If targeted reinforcement cannot be completed before the transfer window is closed, or existing players are activated through tactical adjustments, this giant team that has won the Premier League five years in the past seven years may face more severe challenges.