{"id":533553,"date":"2025-10-28T15:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T15:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/533553\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:53:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T15:53:18","slug":"stefan-borson-blown-away-by-exceptional-man-city-star-as-transfer-verdict-shared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/533553\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefan Borson blown away by \u2018exceptional\u2019 Man City star as transfer verdict shared"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pep<\/p>\n

(Credit: Imago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\"James <\/p>\n

Tue 28 October 2025 11:30, UK <\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola has continued to rotate his Manchester City squad in recent weeks as he looks to compete for trophies again.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Man City failed to win a trophy last season<\/a> after finishing third in the Premier League table and losing to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Guardiola<\/a>\u2019s side were in a strong run of form heading into their clash against Aston Villa<\/a> on Sunday (26 October). <\/p>\n

However,\u00a0Villa claimed a 1-0 victory over Man City<\/a>, who have slipped to fifth in the table as a result.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PepCredit: ImagoStefan Borson drops verdict on Alejandro Balde joining Man City<\/p>\n

Spanish news outlet\u00a0E-Noticies<\/a>\u00a0reported on 19 October\u00a0Man City<\/a>\u00a0are interested in signing\u00a0Barcelona<\/a>\u00a0left-back Alejandro Balde after\u00a0Rayan Ait-Nouri has been sidelined through injury<\/a>\u00a0for the past two months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson<\/a> exclusively told Football Insider<\/strong> Guardiola\u2019s side are unlikely to be looking to strengthen at left-back. <\/p>\n

Nico O\u2019Reilly<\/a> and Josko Gvardiol<\/a> have been rotating on the left-hand side of the defence in recent weeks at the Etihad Stadium. <\/p>\n

MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider<\/strong> about whether Man City could be interested in Balde, Borson said: \u201cI doubt it, to be honest. I doubt that\u2019s a priority. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know the left-back challenges have obviously been well documented over the years. It finally looks like City have got a bit of traffic at left-back now because they have Gvardiol that can play there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have Ait-Nouri that they\u2019ve bought in, but obviously he\u2019s had limited game time given the injury against Spurs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ManCredit: Imago<\/p>\n

Ait-Nouri joined Man City from Wolves<\/a>\u00a0for an initial \u00a331million in the summer transfer window.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nico O\u2019Reilly prediction emerges at Man City<\/p>\n

In terms of the other left-back options, Borson has been impressed by O\u2019Reilly and has backed the versatile 20-year-old for an extended run of games at the Etihad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Nico O\u2019Reilly is emerging as an exceptional player, who you would think will play a lot of games this season,\u201d said Borson. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think it\u2019s unlikely that City would be in the market for a left-back. Although, of course, you would imagine that there\u2019s some possibility that O\u2019Reilly would move position into midfield perhaps or elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NicoCredit: Imago<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just don\u2019t see really any possibility that left-back is going to be a priority position for them going forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Man City\u2019s next fixture sees them take on Swansea City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday (29 October). <\/p>\n

For more Man City and exclusive news, follow us on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or join our brand new\u00a0WhatsApp Channel<\/a>\u00a0for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago\/Getty Images) Tue 28 October 2025 11:30, UK Pep Guardiola has continued to rotate his Manchester City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[11679,199,94,886,39529,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-533553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alejandro-balde","9":"tag-barcelona","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-manchester-city","12":"tag-nico-oreilly","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115452603350168353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}