Man City transfer priority now crystal clear after Champions League failings and Ederson reminder
Manchester City will learn whether they face Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in their Champions League play-off later this week.
The good news is Manchester City scraped through in the Champions League. The bad news is what awaits in the knockout stage.
Even if City can beat Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the play-off round, their route to a potential final looks perilous. It will be Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen or Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid in the last-16, with possible quarter-final opponents including Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan or Arsenal.
If City got through those extremely difficult games, a semi-final could potentially set up a showdown with Liverpool or Barcelona. The new-look Champions League format will be box office for the neutral, but will test the limits of City's injury-hit squad this season.
Pep Guardiola admitted that Real and Bayern are currently better than City, but hopes that a better injury picture and the ability to register his January signings will close that gap ahead of the play-offs in a fortnight.
"Going to Bayern Munich or Real Madrid will be really tough," Guardiola admitted. "But it's in two weeks, and in two weeks we have a few players back, the new signings back, so hopefully we can do two good games. They are better than us right now, both of them, but I don't know what's going to happen in the next two weeks.
"Ruben [Dias] and Nathan [Ake] are back, Jeremy [Doku], Oscar [Bobb], new signings. If everybody comes back, we can compete."
Guardiola was most likely referring to his three January additions to date when talking about 'new signings'. Yet the draw perhaps exposes the need to act in the final days of the transfer window to further strengthen.
Brugge were the latest club to exploit City's weaknesses in defence with Matheus Nunes at fault for the visitors' opening goal which at one stage looked to be sending his side out. Mateo Kovacic scored, but the first half system saw Brugge race through City's midfield time and again.
The prospect of Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe or Leroy Sane against Nunes does not bear contemplating, while Jude Bellingham would have a field day against a Rodri-less midfield.
Signing a defensive midfielder before Monday's deadline remains unlikely. City like Ederson of Atalanta, but know a deal will be difficult in this window. He showed his value to the Italian side as he scored at Barcelona to secure a point as Atalanta narrowly missed out on a top eight finish, while time is also running out for Serie A side to sign a replacement if needed.
Atalanta face a play-off against Brugge or Sporting and are firmly in the hunt for Champions League football next season. Wednesday's developments might have just made any transfer even more difficult.
But with a fixture list that reads Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest in the next eight games including those two play-off fixtures, City may be jolted into action in the final days of the window.