Man City may have pulled off Chelsea transfer trick in three months

Manchester City have had an eventful 2025 in the transfer market and the impact on the first team could be striking

Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Ait-Nouri could all play in the same Manchester City team

Manchester City have spent big in 2025. A rebuild was blocked by Pep Guardiola last summer, and when results took an alarming turn for the worse the Blues went into first the winter market and then the summer one with big ambitions.

In splurging £175m in January when they would not normally go into the market at all, the club insisted that this still sat within their wider view of the squad. In other words, they weren't just spending for the here and now but for the future.

That could be seen in deals for young defenders Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov, with Reis expected to spend this season on loan at Girona. Nevertheless, Khusanov was needed to play soon after arriving and Nico Gonzalez and Omar Marmoush were both treated as players for the present.

The summer has seen more of the same. Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders are all seen as players that can instantly come into the starting XI while James Trafford has taken the No.1 shirt as he expects to take over from Ederson within the next year.

How much more youthful City are and seem will come down to Guardiola and his team selections. They brought in younger players in January and yet the oldest average age for a starting XI came in the home game against Bournemouth in May with 29.2.

That figure was only beaten by three clubs - Everton, West Ham and Fulham - over the course of the campaign, and to take another snapshot of City's age it was 27.9 when they lost to United in that dismal December derby.

If City wanted to line up with all of their 2025 signings (assuming Reis goes on loan) on the opening day of the Premier League season, that would drop dramatically. Trafford in goal with a back four of Rico Lewis, Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol and Ait-Nouri, a midfield of Gonzalez, Reijnders and Cherki with an attack of Marmoush, Savinho and Erling Haaland and your average age is 22.8

That was only bettered once last season - when United were giving up on their campaign - and is well clear of the 23.3 that was the youngest Enzo Maresca's Chelsea managed.

Throw in Ruben Dias (28), Rodri (29), Bernardo Silva (30) or Ederson (31) and the number will tick up, but City should still look a much younger side. Chelsea have become the benchmark for that in recent years, signing young players on long contracts in a quirky business model that aims to make them stand out from the rest.

City have gone about things in their own way, but if they can have done that and managed to bring the average age of their team down to compete with Chelsea that will be a big achievement considering the team Guardiola was putting out in May.

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