Ranking the 5 best transfer windows of all time: Manchester City

#3: Summer 2015

Since arriving at Eastlands Kevin de Bruyne has been phenomenal

In a similar sense to how Mark Hughes’s final transfer window allowed him to buy players who benefited his successor far more than him, so Manuel Pellegrini’s penultimate transfer window ended up bringing in a handful of players who seem to be benefiting Pep Guardiola massively today.

Pellegrini’s League Cup win in his final season is actually the last piece of silverwear that City have claimed, but it seems ever more likely that Guardiola will win something this season and a couple of Pellegrini’s players may help him do so.

Most notable? Undoubtedly Belgian attacking midfielder Kevin de Bruyne. The Belgian may not have been considered good enough for Chelsea, but hindsight has proven that a terrible error in judgment.

He might’ve cost City £55m, but he was absolutely fantastic in his first season at Eastlands, scoring some spectacular goals including a winner against Paris St. Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals, taking City into the semis for the first ever time. And his form didn’t dip under Guardiola last season – he was arguably City’s best player in fact.

Raheem Sterling meanwhile was largely considered a flop despite featuring in 31 league games under Pellegrini. Since the arrival of Guardiola though he has improved immeasurably and seems to be reaching his best form again – he won the Premier League Player of the Month award in August 2016 and generally had a solid season, and he’s started 2017/18 on fire, scoring five league goals in as many appearances.

The signings of Fabian Delph and Nicolas Otamendi haven’t panned out quite so well, although Otamendi has at least played a lot of games for City, but despite that, the signings of de Bruyne and Sterling – signings that could allow Guardiola to reach success soon – make this one a good transfer window.