Elliot Anderson, Foden, Bernardo Silva replacement - your Man City questions answered

This week's Q&A takes a look at the World Cup and any impact it could have on Manchester City's summer transfer business

Manchester City are champions again. A 2-0 win over Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final did a lot to make up for what had been a disappointing March and Pep Guardiola's side will now look to kick on in the final weeks of the season.

They are back in action against Liverpool this weekend in an FA Cup quarter-final and then have to try and hunt down Arsenal in the Premier League title race. With so much going on at the club, we'll be hosting weekly Q&A sessions with our chief City writer Simon Bajkowski.

The day of the week it comes out on may change depending on what City's schedule looks like, but essentially this is your chance to get an answer on anything you want - simply pop your question here at any time of the week and Simon will pick them all up and wrap everything up in one place.

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This week we are looking at the summer transfer window as well as the state of play ahead of the World Cup and the impact that could have on City. After three transfer windows that have transformed the squad, it looks like there will be more change ahead.

Where do you think Eliot Anderson will ends up? Mark Grayson

I heard Elliot Anderson is on the midfield recruitment list, but I'm wondering if Sandro Tonali is also on the transfer target list and if the possibility of signing both of them is practically zero. Considering the potential departures of Kovacic and Bernardo Silva, I’m curious if signing these two would be feasible, and if the likelihood of their arrival would increase should Rodri also leave the team. yjj

Let's start with the big one, then. As things stand, I think Elliot Anderson will end up at City this summer. They are in the best position to get him, can show him a clear path for getting regular minutes in a team that will be challenging for everything and likely winning at least something.

That doesn't mean that things can't change - this time last year City were in pole position to sign Morgan Gibbs-White - and of course there are other clubs interested. The fact that one of those is United means there will be plenty of talk around any transfer, especially if United get into the Champions League.

Sandro Tonali has been talked up for a move for months and the sounds coming out of Newcastle are not promising in terms of Eddie Howe being able to hang on to his best players. United look to have more chance of getting Tonali, although the Italian did get a lot of attention from Pep Guardiola after at least one of the games City played against them this season.

City are planning for next season with Rodri, so while they would have to change those plans if they were to sell him I'd be very surprised to see them go for both Anderson and Tonali. I think it will be one, and I think it will be Anderson.

What's happened to Phil Foden? Alex

A very good question, Alex, and not one that anyone has the answer to yet. He was so good between September and December, back toward the levels of the 2023/24 campaign when he was the best player in the entire league, and yet it disappeared quickly and dramatically.

I wouldn't write anything into the England performances, because while it was painful to see him in the No.9 role against Japan that was more because of the number of times he put himself in an excellent position and either Cole Palmer or Morgan Rogers failed to pass him the ball.

I have a feeling he may sneak into the England squad because from what I know Thomas Tuchel does rate him, but I'm not sure if a break would be better for him. He's tried to play his way back into form for so long now but something is still missing and it is hard to remember when his last good game was.

Also interesting was the fact that he stopped to speak to journalists after the Carabao Cup final win where he had made a brief appearance as a substitute. Not many players tend to stop, and nobody would have batted an eyelid if Foden hadn't, but he had this to say.

"Football sometimes is not straightforward. There are ups and downs and sometimes you can't be the best version of yourself and that's the way it is. It's just about how you pick yourself back up. I'm still keeping my head down, trying to train as well as I can every day and hopefully I come back after the internationals a lot sharper and hopefully I can get more minutes and be back to where I was at the start of the season."

That is what City hope, but if it doesn't happen then a complete rest is surely better than a summer in the heat carrying Harry Kane's bags.

Hi Simon, last summer’s transfer window began in mid-June. Will there be any changes to the schedule this summer because of the World Cup? Also, do you expect City to complete any outgoing or incoming deals before the World Cup begins? For example, players unlikely to feature at the World Cup such as Rico Lewis, Jack Grealish, and some academy players, as well as City’s top target, Elliot Anderson. TJ.Lee

Hi TJ, the remit from City is always that they want to do business quickly. Last summer was more of a necessity though because they wanted to make a statement before the Club World Cup and treat that as the start of the new campaign rather than the end of an old, disappointing one.

The World Cup makes it difficult in the sense that some players simply won't want to think about transfers before or during the tournament because all of their focus will be on that - and their international managers certainly won't want them to be. However, there is still about a month between the end of the tournament and the start of the Premier League so I think July and August will be much busier for deals.

In terms of Anderson, if City are able to win the race for him then they will try to strike whatever the best deal is for him at the World Cup and those discussions will be had with Forest and with his representatives. Whatever allows Anderson to give the most focus on England and have the least distractions will win out, but City and every other interested party will want as much of the deal done before the World Cup as can be.

Who is your opinion will become the man city first captain once Bernardo leaves and how badly it will all end if it's Dias? Harry

I'm not sure if I'm addressing Harry or not, given it isn't the first question we've had in moaning about the idea of Ruben Dias being captain. Bernardo Silva will likely leave at the end of this season and when he does go Ruben Dias will be front and centre in the list of candidates to replace him. Rodri will be a strong candidate as well but Dias has earned it and I don't really see why people have a problem with him.

His performances have not all been as amazing as he can be this season, but then Guardiola has taken some accountability for that and said that he has used him more often than he should. And why has he done that? Because of the leadership that Dias brings to the team, meaning Guardiola thinks it is worth the risk on the player's fitness for the extra that he adds to the team.

"I would have loved to put Khusa in more games and not Ruben, but if Rodri is not there I want characters on the pitch and Ruben is an incredible leader," he said in January. "Having Nico there and the moment we have new players, Ruben gave us stability."