Manchester City

Jordan Butler
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

"Legendary", "pure class" and "on another level" are just some of the terms used to describe Kevin de Bruyne this week.

The Belgian is enjoying one of his best starts to a season since moving to Napoli on a free transfer this summer which begs the question, did he leave Manchester City a year too early?

The exodus of senior City players in the past year has been well documented, with the likes of Ederson, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker all leaving for pastures new.

De Bruyne was also deemed surplus to requirements - despite 16 trophies and more than 400 appearances - and the midfielder, reluctant to leave, joined Napoli when his contract expired in June.

"I was a bit surprised but I just have to accept it," said De Bruyne back in April. "Honestly, I still think I can perform at this level like I'm showing, but I understand clubs have to make decisions."

It turns out the 34-year-old was correct in his self-assessment.

De Bruyne has begun 2025-26 in sparkling form and has 11 goal involvements in 12 appearances for club and country this season, with three assists and eight goals.

It represents his best goalscoring start to a campaign and only twice before has he registered more goal contributions in his opening 12 games, in 2023-24 and 2019-20.

Manchester City, meanwhile, have made a strong but not spectacular start to the campaign on all fronts, with six wins, two draws and two defeats from their opening 10 fixtures.

De Bruyne's start to 2025-26 suggests he could still have been a key figure in Pep Guardiola's squad and, when compared to City's current crop of midfielders and wingers, only his compatriot Jeremy Doku comes close to his return of goals and assists.

De Bruyne also appears to be fully fit, having struggled to maintain his fitness towards the end of his time in the Premier League.

He made only 34 league starts across the past two seasons with City but has already started five of Napoli's six Serie A matches, appearing from the bench in the other.

"I feel good," he said of his start in Italy. "I'm playing a lot and I'm in good shape."

Read more on De Bruyne's fine start to the season

Freddie Pye
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

When Rayan Ait-Nouri arrived in a big-money deal from Wolves prior to the Club World Cup, the scenario was simple: the Algeria international would immediately become Pep Guardiola's new first-choice left-back.

In 2024-25, both Josko Gvardiol and Nico O'Reilly had impressed there at various times, but the signing of a new natural option would enable the former to play at centre-back and the latter to perhaps gain more opportunities in midfield.

However, an injury to Ait-Nouri in the third game of the season presented O'Reilly with an even greater opportunity to shine at left-back, and came at a time when he was also celebrating a new long-term contract until 2030.

The 20-year-old is tactically aware, brave in possession and has the physicality to compete in shoulder-to-shoulder duels and aerial battles. Alongside this, he retains both attacking finesse and defensive awareness, having come through the academy as a box-to-box midfielder.

Perhaps the best reflection of the defensive strength that O'Reilly has brought is shown by the statistic that Pep Guardiola's side are yet to lose a single Premier League match where he has started.

Given he has now received his first call-up to Thomas Tuchel's England squad, there is certainly work to be done for Ait-Nouri to regain his place and many would say the position is the Englishman's to lose.

Given the hectic nature of Manchester City's forthcoming fixture list, both players will undoubtedly get their fair share of minutes, but the real question is who will be preferred when bigger contests arrive?

For now, my money is on O'Reilly. That challenge could bring the best out of Ait-Nouri as he builds up his fitness and tries to establish himself once more, after a promising start.

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Manchester City, Arsenal and Real Madrid are among the clubs interested in signing 22-year-old Germany defender Nathaniel Brown from Eintracht Frankfurt, but the Bundesliga club will not listen to offers until next summer. (Bild - in German), external

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Even though we are in the middle of the international break, there is still plenty to talk about at Manchester City.

The Blues are unbeaten since losing two of their first three Premier League matches and sit just three points below league leaders Arsenal. They have seven matches to play across three competitions before the next international break in November, which finishes with a match against champions Liverpool.

Do you have a burning question on tactics, player contracts, the upcoming transfer window or anything else? BBC Sport's Manchester City reporter Shamoon Hafez will be answering a selection later this week.

Get in touch with your question here

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Manchester City's Erling Haaland has taken 29 shots in the Premier League so far this season, 12 more than any other player.

That is actually not that remarkable for him - he had actually taken more non-penalty shots at this point in the past two campaigns (30 in 2023-24 and 34 in 2024-25).

However, what is unprecedented - even for him - is the quality of chances he has had this term. His shots have had a xG (expected goals) value of 0.27 on average.

What that figure means is that players have historically converted the shots he has had at a rate of 27%.

Of players to take at least 10 shots, only Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez has had easier chances to score on average - thanks to a couple of tap-ins against West Ham and Brighton.

Haaland's xG of 0.27 is much higher than the 0.17 xG per shot he had at the start of last season.

In short, the chances he has had in 2025-26 have been notably easier to score from in a reorganised City team than those at the beginning of last season.

Read more on Haaland's start to the season here

Kalvin Phillip could potentially swap Manchester City for Everton, with the Toffees are looking into a January move for the midfielder. (Football Insider, external)

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Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva is set to leave the club at the end of the season, with a number of Saudi clubs and Portugal giants Benfica interested in the 31-year-old Portugal international. (GiveMeSport), external

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Watch England and Manchester City defender John Stones explain how and why he considered retiring last season because of injuries that left him in a "very difficult place".

The 31-year-old made just 11 Premier League appearances because of foot and hamstring issues, the latter ending his season in February.

"Last season was very tough for me, to the point where I thought about stopping," Stones told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I didn't want to do it. I had had enough of being so professional and trying to do everything right in my power, to then keep breaking down and not having the answers. It was a very difficult place to be in.

"There comes a point where you don't know why it happens and it is even harder when you put in so much effort, or you are ultra professional, to be able to play and be available."

Injuries have prevented Stones from making more than 27 appearances in a single league campaign for City since joining from Everton in 2016.

Freddie Pye
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

One-touch football, dominant in possession, attacking in numbers, attacking with speed, frustrating opponents and defensively resilient - they were the traits of the original Pep Guardiola era.

Some of those fundamentals remain prevalent, but the Catalan and his coaching staff are now adapting to the tactical tweaks across the Premier League this season.

Manchester City experienced a monumental collapse last campaign - teams looked fitter, braver in their approach towards Guardiola's outfit and arguably had the quality to surpass those in sky blue - and not just on one occasion either.

Yes, City were the victims of a injury crisis for the most part of last season but they also looked lost in their approach to the game. Things were not working.

Fast forward to the latest block of matches, following the September international break, and Manchester City have found themselves again and are unbeaten in seven matches across all competitions.

They have a new-found optimism, a confidence and perhaps most importantly - given last season saw them ripped open by many opponents - a resilience of the sort we have not seen since the Treble-winning campaign of 2022-23.

There is an ugly determination to battle this time around. The 'park the bus' approach at Arsenal has been followed up by a 'bodies on the line' approach at Brentford, both bringing positive results and showing that City can take points on the road with muscle and grit.

That is showcased by everything From Erling Haaland's defensive actions in putting his own 6ft 4in frame in harm's way at the back before sprinting the length of the pitch to outmuscle two opposition defenders, to Gianluigi Donnarumma's goalkeeping traditionalism in keeping the biggest chances out of his net.

Then there is the time-wasting, individual wars with opponents and berating officials for throw-ins not being taken from precise places. This is the fight. It is resilience and it is working.

Things may not be all that pretty at the moment, but it is a combination of City's footballing mastery, perfected by Guardiola over the best part of two decades.

And the best part of it all is that Guardiola, Pep Lijnders, James French and Kolo Toure are still trying to find the best approach to guiding City back to the top of the game.

It is still a work in progress, yet it is all very impressive.

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Erling Haaland can score goals in "every way possible", says team-mate Nico Gonzalez.

Haaland scored the only goal in Manchester City's win over Brentford on Sunday to take his Premier League tally to nine goals in seven games so far and make it 18 in his last 11 games for club and country this season.

"Sometimes I have tried to defend against him [in training] but he's unstoppable - so strong and so fast," Gonzalez told BBC Radio Manchester.

"It's incredible. When you defend against it you realise it. I didn't realise he was that hard to defend before. I don't think it's the only way he can score like this - he can score in every way possible.

"He's the best striker in the world and we are so happy to have him here."

Gonzalez is likely to feature prominently for City in their games immediately following the international break after replacing the injured Rodri during the first-half at the Gtech Community Stadium.

"Rodri's really important for the team," he added.

"You can tell in the first 20, 25 minutes that he played the team was top and playing really good. I came in without warming up which is a little bit hard but it was good.

"I think I played a good match and tried to help every minute I was on the pitch.

"We have to keep the same level as these last seven games and I think we can also improve a lot because we are a top team. I hope after the international break all the players are available and I think if we can keep improving we will end the season in a really good position.

"You have to suffer every game, all the teams are really good. Every year the quality of the players and the teams are getting better but we are used to it and if you want to win the league you have to win games like this."

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Crystal Palace plan to offer Adam Wharton a new contract to try to ward off interest from Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City in the 21-year-old England midfielder. (Mail), external

Manchester City have no intention of selling Spain midfielder Rodri, 29, to Real Madrid for any price. (Teamtalk), external

Barcelona and Juventus have concrete plans to sign Manchester City's Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva, 31, while Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Ahli, Al-Qadsiah and Al-Nassr are preparing substantial offers for a player whose contract ends in 2026. (Caught Offside), external

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Spain have confirmed Rodri has been ruled out of their upcoming World Cup qualifiers after the Manchester City midfielder was forced off injured in Sunday's Premier League win over Brentford.

Rodri was substituted after just 22 minutes of City's 1-0 win, having clutched his hamstring after stretching for a ball. City are continuing to assess the extent of his injury but it is enough to rule Rodri out of Spain's fixtures against Georgia on Saturday and Bulgaria on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Spanish federation said the decision followed "medical reports" submitted to them by City.

It was the latest injury setback for last year's Ballon d'Or winner, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in September last year and missed almost the entire season.

He has been feeling his way back to full fitness early in this campaign. He was ruled out of City's win over Burnley last month after feeling pain in his knee, and was then withdraw after an hour of Wednesday's 2-2 Champions League draw with Monaco.

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport journalist

Nico O'Reilly only made his first Premier League start as recently as April, but his impressive performances mean he has earned an increasingly important role this season.

The Manchester-born youngster has played 648 minutes in all competitions this term, the fourth highest total by a Manchester City player.

He has made a valuable contribution defensively, attempting more tackles per 90 minutes in the league than any of his team-mates, while also ranking highly for possession won, blocks and interceptions.

The boyhood City fan began the win versus Wolves on the opening weekend at right-back but his six starts since then have come at left-back.

Despite operating in wide areas, he is a player who regularly looks to get on the ball, averaging 78 touches per game - a figure bettered by just four City players in the current campaign.

And while he is yet to score this season, he demonstrated an eye for goal in 2024-25, netting five times between January and the end of the season.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City's Nico O'Reilly has received his first call-up to the England senior squad.

With Chelsea's Reece James ruled out through injury, the 20-year-old moves from the England Under 21s squad for the' forthcoming fixtures against Wales and Latvia.

O'Reilly has featured for England's junior age groups from under-15s through to under-20s and has made 30 appearances for City's first team.

Thomas Tuchel's squad host Wales on Thursday, 9 October before travelling to Riga to face Latvia in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, 14 October.

We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Brentford and Manchester City.

Here are some of your comments:

Brentford fans

Anthony: As soon as I saw the line-up was a defensive back five, I knew it was the wrong approach to a side like Man City. Surely the age-old saying that attack is the best form of defence is the best way, just as Thomas Frank did against Man City more than once.

Mark: Why play five at the back? It was going to be a tough game whatever the line-up so should have gone for broke and started with the same line-up as last week. Despite playing better in the second half, we still lack quality at the front. We still need a quality striker.

Saan: Really proud of this Brentford team. We may have been under the hammer slightly in the first half but we came back so strongly, and probably deserved more than we got. Jordan Henderson just keeps on proving his worth.

Nicholas: What a disappointing display from the Bees. Five at the back, negative football and relying on long throws as your only weapon. It was like watching Stoke 15 years ago! Disappointed that Keith Andrews set up to contain rather than have a go.

Man City fans

Steve: A brilliant City away performance, against a team who have been strong at home this season. Three points…

Alan: We should have put the game to bed in the first half. Sloppy and lacklustre finishing must improve if we are to win anything this year. Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden were the worst culprits. Both need to concentrate on hitting the ball accurately and with sufficient energy to beat good keepers. either of them managed anything like what is required. Generally a poor performance in the second half.

Dave: Easing our way to another title. Cranking up very nicely with some excellent players returning from injury too.

Harry: Against a low block it's never easy. add to that a team who love long throws and were playing at home, you have a challenging game. We dominated the first half. The second half was more scruffy but we managed it when we couldn't last season.