I'm glad we've been in for Lavia even though I gather that's slipping away a bit currently. Even though I'd like Partey to be gone, I feel we're short of a defensively minded midfielder if he does depart.
We have some guys like Zinchenko who can probably play there at a pinch, but it would be good to have someone coming through who could either partner Rice* in a double pivot, or allow Rice to play Xhaka's role. And I'm assuming Lokonga is a long way out the door.
My expectation is we show the same level of committed football we saw in the league last season, but without such a marked post-Christmas slump—but also without a slow start as in 21–22—based on a wiser disposition of intensity and greater rotation through the season. And that we get out of our group with some merit in Europe.
My outermost hope is that we win the league, it seems unlikely but we should be improving and maturing, and I think it may be possible now that City has achieved Guardiola's great objective there and won the Champions League. That our recruitment is making the club's ambition clear will be important psychologically, but it takes near perfection.
* Assuming that is all finalised
