Manchester City’s Massive Midfield Overhaul: Is the Haaland Backup Problem Being Ignored?

For fantasy managers like us, the eye-catching headline is one thing — what it does to our team selection over the next few gameweeks is quite another.

The Maresca midfield rebuild

Enzo Maresca, stepping in for Pep Guardiola with the backing of director of football Hugo Viana, broke City's transfer record twice in a single window. The joint-British record signing of Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea cost £125m, Elliot Anderson arrived from Nottingham Forest for £116m, and 18-year-old Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi was brought in for £86m — a combined £327m on three players who will be fighting for minutes.

The departures tell the other side of the story. Bernardo Silva, 2024 Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez all left the club. According to BBC, the midfield has been completely transformed, and with Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi already secured in January, the rebuild has been deliberate rather than reactive. Just four players remain from the starting eleven that beat Inter Milan in the 2023 Champions League final in Istanbul.

City have also been sharp on the sell side. They brought in £334m from fringe departures since the turn of the year — including £75m for Savinho, £65m for Rodri and £52m for Reijnders — giving them a net spend of £208m in 2026.

The Haaland cover question

Here is the bit that should worry us as much as it worries the club. Despite the eyewatering outlay, BBC flags a genuine concern: have City actually left themselves without a back-up for Erling Haaland? With Nico O'Reilly tipped to shift into midfield to fill the Gonzalez gap, the options behind Haaland look thin.

In FPL terms, this is the kind of gap that bites you in a blank gameweek, or when your premium suddenly looks like a rotation risk. Haaland rarely drops in price, and right now there is no obvious City forward to slot in if he is rested. That variance alone is enough to make us pause before locking in the captaincy.

What to watch before the next deadline

City have won their opening two Premier League matches, so Maresca's selection headache is only going to deepen. A few things worth tracking on your watchlist:

• Whether O'Reilly ends up in midfield or further forward
• Any late business on a striker — BBC notes City's January plans were brought forward, but the cover question remains live
• The Marmoush situation — Tottenham reportedly have an obligation to buy him for £60m next summer, which could reshape City's forward line later down the line

Senior figures at the club are said to be pleased with the window, and the wider context is striking. A recent Athletic report, picked up by The New York Times, puts "Big Six" spending on Premier League players at £1.2bn over 14 months, with the wealth gap between the top and bottom of the table widening fast. For anyone trying to grasp the kind of currency swings behind transfers of this scale, live FX market sessions make for an interesting parallel.

For our FPL teams, the verdict is straightforward: City's assets look tempting given their form, but the Haaland cover question is the one to answer before we hand over the armband week after week.