Where ten Man City legends including Guardiola would have moved without rule breaches

As we await the Manchester City appeal and supposedly inevitable severe punishment for their breaches of Premier League financial rules, there’s a question on the lips of many rival fans: If they hadn’t cheated, what might have been?

The trophies have already been reallocated and the current squad has been reassigned, but what about the individuals who most significantly altered City’s now questionable, even invalid, history (from 2008 onwards), whom they signed through what we’re going to assume were illicit means? Would any of them have joined if Roberto Mancini hadn’t signed a “double contract” before getting the trophy ball rolling?

Here are the shafted clubs that the ten most crucial Manchester City signings in the 18 years since they started breaking the rules probably would have joined.

N.B. Ederson not included as, incredibly, literally no-one else wanted him.

Pep Guardiola – Manchester United Perhaps Sir Alex Ferguson was a few too many glasses of red deep, because Guardiola claims he has no memory of the legendary United boss tapping him up at a New York dinner in 2012 during the Spaniard’s sabbatical.

“If he suggested to me something like I go to Old Trafford, I don’t remember,” he said. “I know he has said that but I don’t remember.

“We spoke about life, about football, the Premier League but he never sent me a message under the table to say, ‘you know maybe United…’ or something like that.

“It was just two friends, good friends, colleagues in football, talking about many things.”

Ferguson claims he told Guardiola to speak to him before agreeing to move elsewhere, but – apparently oblivious to that request – Guardiola accepted an offer from Bayern in January 2013 to take charge six months later, when David Moyes became ‘The Chosen One’ at the theatre of his nightmares.

Three years later, when seeking a replacement for dead man walking Louis van Gaal, United officials made another push to hire Guardiola, only to be left in “genuine shock” at him choosing City instead.

David Silva – Chelsea “We’re weighing up offers from three clubs and one is Chelsea,” Silva’s agent, Julio Llorente, said in the summer of 2010 before Silva himself publicly flirted with a move to Stamford Bridge while on international duty at the World Cup: “Chelsea is where I could fulfil my ambition.”

The Blues had the lure of Champions League football as the reigning Premier League champions, but City flexed their financial muscles and outbid Chelsea.

Roman Abramovich was supposedly hesitant to match what he saw as an exorbitant £30m fee and the law-abiding wallet for Vladimir Putin wasn’t about to use underhanded means to get his man.

Sergio Aguero – Tottenham In January 2011 – just six months before he moved to City – Tottenham actually triggered Aguero’s £38.5million release clause.

Spurs pushed hard for the marquee signing, but Atletico Madrid blocked the transfer due to tax on the buyout clause – supposedly running to tens of millions of pounds – not being paid.

Renowned miser Daniel Levy wasn’t about to raise the offer beyond the set fee and while Aguero could have paid the tax himself to force through a move to North London, he’s presumably been counting his lucky stars that he didn’t ever since. Although he will soon have to acknowledge that all 260 of his City goals – including that one against QPR – are null and void.

Yaya Toure – Chelsea “My agent had to tell me it was the team in the blue shirt,” Toure revealed in 2016, six years after joining ‘the noisy neighbours’ over Manchester United, the side he assumed he was signing for.

But it was Chelsea who actually rivalled City for his signature in the summer of 2010, when Toure enjoyed the World Cup shop window to get his move from Barcelona.

Erling Haaland – Manchester United “Erling was with me at Molde for two seasons, more or less,” said former Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. “The summer before I came, I rang the club and said: ‘You have to sign this boy, he is going to be absolutely top class.’ That was in June or July and they said they didn’t have enough reports.

“By the time I came in as caretaker, we [Molde] had sold him to Salzburg. I tell the club straight away: ‘Buy him.’ He had a release clause. No-one else then would have paid that money. It was 20m euros and it would have been a bargain. It was the club’s decision to not go for him then.

“We didn’t go for him until he started scoring for Salzburg but then Dortmund, Juventus, everyone was there.”

And then City were there. Had they not been, United might finally have got their man, with Solskjaer believing that infamous bad blood between the player’s father Alf-Inge, and former United skipper Roy Keane, wouldn’t have been a significant factor in getting the deal done.

In the same summer as Haaland joined City for £51m, United signed Antony for £85m.

Kevin De Bruyne – Paris Saint-Germain De Bruyne reached a personal agreement with Bayern Munich but the German giants couldn’t agree a fee with Wolfsburg, while there were also what turned out to be hugely ironic reports that Guardiola – the Bayern boss at the time – wasn’t fully convinced the Belgian fit his tactical system.

De Bruyne later admitted that there were two offers on the table and he picked City.

“There were contacts with PSG. We have talked a bit, but afterwards I decided to join Manchester City, as they were a better option,” said De Bruyne.

“I’m really happy that I’ve taken the right decision. My family are happy here, I’m happy. All goes well. It was a personal choice.”

John Stones – Chelsea Led by Jose Mourinho, Chelsea viewed Stones as the long-term successor to John Terry. They submitted a series of escalating bids – starting at £20 million and rising as high as £38 million – but Everton rejected the Blues’ approaches even after Stones handed in a transfer request.

Chelsea were expected to come in again in the summer of 2016, but Guardiola prioritised the signing of Stones upon his arrival at the Etihad, viewing him as the prototypical ball-playing centre-back essential to his system.

Bernardo Silva – Manchester United United held extensive discussions in the months leading up to Silva’s move to City over how he might fit into Mourinho’s squad.

When asked just after winning the Europa League final with United, Mourinho publicly played down reports linking Silva with a move to Old Trafford. “Will Bernardo Silva be with us next season? I don’t think so, honestly. But you never know, good players are always welcome here,” he said.

But reports claimed his compatriot was very high on his summer wishlist, and the Red Devils boss had to grin and bear City swooping in just two days after those comments to secure his £47.5m signing.

Riyad Mahrez – Arsenal One of the 427 players on Arsene Wenger’s “almost signed” list along with Gianluigi Buffon, Gareth Bale, Lionel Messi, Marco van Basten and Pele.

Rodri – Bayern Munich The German side are said to have ‘aggressively pursued’ Rodri and were willing to trigger his £62.8m release clause, but the Spaniard was apparently persuaded to join City – despite having to compete with club legend Fernandinho for a place in the team upon his arrival – by compatriot Sergio Busquets, who waxed lyrical over Guardiola’s influence on him at Barcelona.

“The way coaches make you improve is, for me, very important,” sad Rodri.

“That is one of the things I like most about this coach. They told me in Spanish national team – and Sergio told me – he likes improving you all the time.

“He doesn’t stop, so for me it is very important. It is one of the reasons I came here.”