Among the massive star arrivals that Manchester City have been linked within the last two weeks, the latest one comes as a surprise as the Citizen are now linked with a Serie A’s 16-year-old starlet Pietro Pellegri. The youngster has definitely been brilliant last season but he is surely not an immediate addition to the starting eleven unless Guardiola sees something exceptional in him.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager’s debut season in the Premier League wasn’t a success as not only did he go trophyless the last term but managed to secure their place in the Champions League only on the last day of the season. City finished below Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the league table with 78 points in 38 games.
Although Guardiola is known to bring up some of the best players across Europe like Bojan Krkic and Thiago Alcantara in Barcelona and Joshua Kimmich in Bayern Munich, his first season at City hasn’t seen any such revelations. Except for Gabriel Jesus, who did have an immediate impact arriving in January, but was soon sidelined with an injury.
While Wilfred Bony was pretty much non-existent last season, the only other option for City was young Kelechi Iheanacho. But, even the 20-year-old Nigerian international could only manage seven goals and provide three assists in 29 appearances. The likes of Pellegri coming to City has an advantage because they know Guardiola would surely give them chances to make an impact and at the top most levels.
An academy product of Genoa, Pellegri has broken into their Under-19 side only last summer and has already scored nine goals in the whole season. He has been a regular in the side’s Primavera C campaign and impressive displays there have also led him to participate in the club’s Serie A matches. Pellegri’s hard work finally paid off when he netted his first senior goal for Genoa on the last day of the Serie A season against AS Roma.
His brilliant displays have also earned him 13 caps for the Italy under-17s so far. However, City will have to compete with numerous top European clubs that include archrivals Manchester United to land the player. Serie A champions Juventus will be another huge block, who are interested in bringing the player to Turin and partner with their young sensation Moise Kean up front.
Manchester City will be challenging on four fronts next season and Pellegri might fancy chances in the EFL Cups and early stages of the FA Cup.
