During Manchester City’s treble-winning season, Pep Guardiola had no choice but to be ruthless in his decision-making.
Despite being known to constantly rotate his side, it was clear to see that Guardiola found his best City XI at the time.
Manchester City’s starting line-up included Ederson Moraes in between the sticks, a back four of Manuel Akanji, John Stones, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake, a midfield trio featuring Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden and a front three of Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.
Kyle Walker started in City’s 2-1 win against Manchester United in the FA Cup final but it seemed like Pep Guardiola was forced into taking that decision due to Ake being sidelined with an injury at the time.
The fact that Guardiola opted for the starting XI he did against Inter signified what he felt was his best team.
As a result, big names like Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte often had to be on the bench in important games.
- READ MORE: Aymeric Laporte shares what he was told during his time at Man City about their 115 charges
Latest Txiki Begiristain claim suggests why Laporte left Man City
Aside from Alvarez, who was only in his first season at the Etihad Stadium, the rest of the aforementioned names had played huge roles in Manchester City’s successes in the past.
However, Pep Guardiola had struck a winning formula and his persistence with the side was justified as the Sky Blues won the treble.
In Manchester City’s upcoming ‘Together: Four In A Row’ documentary, Txiki Begiristain revealed that the summer transfer window of 2023 was a difficult experience for him. One of the reasons why Begiristain felt that was the case was due to City players pushing for exits due to not playing in major finals; something Laporte in particular failed to do.
The Spaniard said via Manchester Evening News journalist Simon Bajkowski: “The transfer window was a bit awful, at least for me.”
“After winning the treble, everyone was confused.”
“The protagonists from those trophies were thinking they should get more or new contracts and take the opportunities, and the ones who didn’t play in finals were p—-d off and trying to get out from the club.”
| MAN CITY’S SUMMER BUSINESS IN 2023 | |
| INCOMINGS | OUTGOINGS |
| MATEO KOVACIC | ILKAY GUNDOGAN |
| AYMERIC LAPORTE | JOSKO GVARDIOL |
| JEREMY DOKU | RIYAD MAHREZ |
| MATHEUS NUNES | – |
Laporte discussed his exit from Manchester City in favour of a move to Al-Nassr came to a lack of playing time as well as playing as a wide centre-back, a role that is not natural to him.
The 30-year-old said in March: “I made that decision also for the moment, I think it was the right one, because of life circumstances and because of my situation at City as well. I’d been playing there for a long time, I’d achieved almost everything, and I’d been playing for two years in a place that wasn’t the position I didn’t want to play.”
“When a year or two years go by and you don’t play in the right place for you, it’s a bit frustrating because you don’t show your best. You can make any efforts. I was used to playing as a centre-back and not so much on the wing. It’s not just the ideal position for me. They also signed a lot of other centre-backs during the last three years of my time at City and it was time for me to leave and not stay.”
Notably, apart from failing to start in the Champions League or the FA Cup final like Mahrez, Laporte also started the least number of games out of all Manchester City’s outgoings that summer including Ilkay Gundogan.
| COMPETITION | GUNDOGAN’S STARTS | MAHREZ’S STARTS | LAPORTE’S STARTS |
| PREMIER LEAGUE | 27 | 22 | 11 |
| CHAMPIONS LEAGUE | 12 | 6 | 3 |
| FA CUP | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| CARABAO CUP | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 45 | 35 | 20 |
Starting a little less than half the games Mahrez did and less than 50 per cent of the matches Gundogan did in all competitions during the 2022/2023 season, the European Championship winner’s frustration would have been understandable having not started either final as well.
Both Ake and Akanji had ousted the five-time Premier League winner as Pep Guardiola’s go-to left-backs at the time.
Aymeric Laporte’s cryptic Pep Guardiola claim was telling
Earlier this year, Laporte aimed a subtle dig at Pep Guardiola for keeping players at Manchester City despite his policy of letting unsettled stars leave; hinting that his exit was far from complicated than what seemed on the surface.
When Ferran Torres was pushing for a move to Barcelona, Guardiola reiterated his and City’s openness in letting players sign for other clubs if they are unhappy.
Guardiola said via Sky Sports: “We are not a club like other clubs when players want to leave and the owner says stay. If they want to leave because they feel they will be happier in another place, they have to go. I am happy for him.”
However, Laporte’s comments suggested that he was still hung over by the fact that Pep Guardiola let him depart the club more than a year ago now.
“Guardiola usually says, ‘if someone doesn’t want to be here, let them say so…and good luck. That’s what he usually says, but for a number of players it wasn’t like that. “
“I’m not going to get into that kind of thing. I decided to leave and I was able to leave. That’s it.”
Perhaps Txiki Begiristain was referencing the difficult nature of Laporte’s departure as well when it comes to why the transfer window in the summer of 2023 was an “awful” period for him.
