2021–22 Manchester City F.C. season

Manchester City 2021–22
Club information
Manager	Pep Guardiola
Stadium	City of Manchester Stadium
League Season information
Final League position	Premier League, 1st
Highest position	1st
lowest position	13th
Cup placements
FA Cup	Semi-finals
EFL Cup	Fourth round
UEFA Champions League	Semi-finals
FA Community Shield	Runners-up
Season statistics
Top goalscorer	Kevin De Bruyne (11)
← 2020–21	2022–23 →

The 2021–22 season is the 127th season in the existence of Manchester City Football Club and the club's 20th consecutive season in the top-flight of English football. In addition to the domestic league, Manchester City is participating in this season's editions of the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. The club kicked off the season by losing the Community Shield to Leicester City and was later knocked out of the EFL Cup by West Ham United in the fourth round, ending their unbeaten streak in the competition that stretched to nearly five years.

The season is the club's first since 2010–11 not to feature City's all-time record goalscorer Sergio Agüero who had left the club for Barcelona at the end of the previous season, and who then went onto retire from football following cardiac problems in November 2021.

Season summary

Pre-season

Euro 2020 began with 15 Manchester City first team players selected in the qualified squads, which was the joint-most representatives from a single club (shared with Chelsea). However, Joao Cancelo was forced to withdraw days after the tournament began due to a positive SARS‑CoV‑2 test result, and Eric Garcia joined Barcelona while the tournament was in progress. Out of these City players, all their squads reached the knock-out stages, seven reached the semi-finals and four England players reached the final, but ended up as runners-up.

City also had three representatives selected at the 2021 Copa América, Sergio Aguero joining Barcelona while the tournament was in progress. All three reached the final, but the two remaining Brazilian players ended up as runners-up.

As a result of having many players involved deep into these tournaments and with City's involvement in the 2021 Champions League final, City began their pre-season with all but eight of their first team rested on holiday. Only Zack Steffen, Benjamin Mendy, Riyad Mahrez and Fernandinho from the regular starters in 2020–21 were able to participate in a full pre-season. However, this gave an opportunity for several EDS players to showcase their talents for a possible first team place.

Most of the pre-season transfer speculation concerned the potential replacements for Sergio Aguero, who had left at the end of the 2020–21 season after 10 years and as the club's all-time leading goalscorer. Of the potential targets, Harry Kane was seen as the leading candidate, but was expected to command a significant and possibly record breaking transfer fee from Tottenham. There was also speculation that Jack Grealish would be signed from Aston Villa on a similarly record fee to strengthen City's creative midfield and provide additional cover for Kevin De Bruyne who had experienced several extended periods of injury absence during the previous seasons.

Grealish completed his transfer to City on 5 August 2021, signing a 6-year contract, for what at the time was a reported record British transfer fee of £100 million. He was allocated the iconic number 10 shirt, previously worn by Aguero between 2015 and 2021.

Start of season

On 7 August, in the traditional season curtain raiser of the FA Community Shield, played between the previous season's league champions and FA Cup winners. This was Manchester City's first FA Community Shield since 2019 when they beat Liverpool 5–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw. On this occasion, an understrength City were beaten 1–0 at Wembley by Leicester City with an 89th-minute penalty won and scored by former City academy graduate Kelechi Iheanacho.

The Premier League season began with all restrictions on stadium attendances lifted for the first time since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

City began their league season on 15 August with a third consecutive competitive 1–0 defeat, this time against Tottenham at their north London stadium. This was the first time in 10 years that City had failed to win their opening league game of the season; coincidentally the last time being a 0–0 away draw at White Hart Lane in the 2010–11 season. It was also City's fourth consecutive defeat at Tottenham since the new stadium was opened and meant that City had yet to score a goal at this ground.

On 25 August, Harry Kane announced he would be staying at Tottenham "this summer", ending the speculation that City would be able to negotiate an acceptable transfer fee with Tottenham's chairman Daniel Levy. On the same day it was reported that Pep Guardiola had revealed that he would leave the club when his current contract ends in summer 2023. However, Guardiola later retracted this and said he was talking about whenever his contract at City ended he would be considering an opportunity to manage a national side.

On 26 August, Benjamin Mendy was charged by Cheshire Constabulary with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. Mendy was immediately suspended by City and remanded in custody with a trial date set for 24 January 2022.

On 8 September it was announced that Brazil and three other South American nations had invoked a five-day FIFA ban on Premier League players who had been called up for international duty for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers during the September international window, but who had been refused permission to travel by their clubs to avoid a 10-day quarantine period required by UK Government public health regulations when they returned from so called "Red list" countries with high levels of COVID-19 infection. This would've prevented City from including Ederson and Gabriel Jesus in their squad to play Leicester City on 11 September. However, the ban was rescinded on the morning of the fixture, and City went on to win the game 1–0 with both Brazilian players in the starting XI.

On 15 September, City beat RB Leipzig 6–3 in their first UEFA Champions League group game of the season. At the time this was Pep Guardiola's 300th game as City manager and 750th overall. City became the fastest English team to register 50 Champions League wins (in 91 games) and the second fastest of all time behind Real Madrid (88 games).

Autumn period

On 21 September, City beat League One side Wycombe Wanderers 6–1 at home in the third round of the Carabao Cup. This win was Pep Guardiola's 220th as City manager, equalling the club record previously held by Les McDowell between 1950 and 1963. Guardiola had achieved this in only 302 games compared to 592 games managed by McDowell. The game was also noteworthy in that six academy graduates made their City first team debuts that night, the most in the modern history of the club academy.

On 25 September, City defeated Chelsea, one of their main title rivals, who at the time were on a streak of three consecutive wins against City, including the Champions League final. The Blues recorded a 1–0 away win at Stamford Bridge to mark Guardiola's 221st City win and make him the most successful manager in the club's history.

On 12 October, five City players started for England versus Hungary in their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier 1–1 draw at Wembley Stadium. This set a new club record for representatives starting in a national team XI.

On 27 October, City were beaten 5–3 on penalties after a goalless draw at West Ham United in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, thus ending their 4-year domination of the competition, in which they hadn't lost a competitive fixture in 21 games since the 2016–17 season.

City's early season league form was variable, and by the time of the final autumn international break in early November they had two defeats and two draws from their first 11 league fixtures and only two points more than in the 2020–21 season (where they had also started off slowly, but then had embarked on a record-breaking mid season winning streak to secure their league title). However, City had by then played all of the previous season's other top 5 clubs away from home, remaining undefeated and only dropping points in their 2–2 draw against Liverpool at Anfield. The other favourites for the league title had also dropped points; so that by 7 November City were in second place, just 3 points behind the early league leaders Chelsea, and equal on points with surprise form team West Ham. With 2 group games remaining City were also just a point from qualifying for the knockout stage of that season's Champions League.

On 24 November, City duly qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League as Group A winners when they beat Paris Saint Germain 2–1 at home.

City's 2–1 away victory against Aston Villa on 1 December was Guardiola's 150th win in the Premier League. He became only the 4th manager to achieve this at a single club and the fastest to achieve the milestone (in only 204 games).

On 4 December (gameweek 15), City beat Watford 3–1 away to notch up 5 consecutive league victories and reach the top of the Premier League for the first time that season.

City's 1–0 win against Wolves in their following league game was notable as Raheem Sterling scored his 100th Premier League goal and Ederson kept his 100th clean sheet for the club in all competitions.

Christmas and New Year

On 14 December, City beat Leeds United 7–0 at home to record their biggest victory of the season so far. The first goal, scored by Phil Foden, marked the 500th scored by a Pep Guardiola team in the Premier League; he became the fastest to record this feat after only 207 games, beating the previous record by Jurgen Klopp (234 games). This win also was City's 33rd league victory of the calendar year, equalling a top flight record set by Liverpool in 1982.

On 19 December, City's 4–0 win away to Newcastle ensured they would stay top of the table at Christmas. It also signified two new records: for the most league wins by an English top flight team in a calendar year (34) and for the most league goals scored in a calendar year by a Premier League team (106), despite still having two league games to play before the New Year.

On 28 December, City announced that Spanish forward Ferran Torres would join Barcelona in the New Year for a reported fee of €55m (£46.3m) upfront and up to €10m (£9.3m) in possible add-ons. Torres had not played for City since the League Cup victory against Wycombe in late September due to an injury picked up during the October internationals. He had been at the club for only 18 months, but City had recouped over double his transfer fee from Valencia. Barcelona needed a forward to replace Sergio Agüero who had been forced to retire early on medical grounds a few weeks beforehand.

City maintained their ten-game league winning streak into the New Year. They ended 2021 with 50 points, eight points clear of Chelsea at the top of the table and nine points ahead of Liverpool in third place, who also had a game in hand. In all, City had won 36 league games in 2021 and scored 113 goals, setting new top division and Premier League records respectively.

Another close fought game against Chelsea on 15 January, won 1–0 at home by a beautiful Kevin De Bruyne curling shot, extended their league winning run to 12 games, and put City on 56 points, thirteen points ahead of Chelsea in 2nd and fourteen points ahead of Liverpool in 3rd, who still had 2 games in hand.

However, City's winning streak was ended in the following game on 22 January when they drew 1–1 away to Southampton and their league lead was cut to nine points from Liverpool, who still had a game in hand. However, the result signified another new record as Guardiola became the fastest manager to reach 500 Premier League points earned, in only 213 games – eighteen games fewer than his closest rival.

On winter transfer deadline day, City announced that they had signed 22 year-old Argentine versatile forward Julián Álvarez for a reported £14.1 million fee from River Plate. Álvarez had subsequently been loaned back to River Plate until at least July 2022 so that he would be able to participate in the 2022 Copa Libertadores for his previous club. If River Plate qualified to the quarter-finals or beyond his loan might be extended as far as the break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. At the time, Álvarez was the current South American Footballer of the Year and the golden boot holder for the Argentine Primera Division.

Spring period

Raheem Sterling scored City's first hat-trick of the season in their 4–0 win away to Norwich City in the Premier League on 12 February 2022. It was notable as a perfect hat-trick, and took Sterling onto the list of top 10 goal-scorers in all competitions for the club

City earnt a commanding first leg lead in their Champions League round of 16 tie against Sporting Lisbon, beating the Portuguese champions 5–0 away on 15 February, including a brace from Bernardo Silva.

However, they went on to be beaten 3–2 at home by Spurs in their next league fixture; their first league defeat for four months; and a result which closed the gap at the top of the table to second placed Liverpool to only 6 points, with Liverpool still having a game in hand and still to play City at the Etihad in early April. City had equalised twice in the game, including a 92nd minute penalty from Riyad Mahrez (which was notable as City's 100th goal in all competitions that season), but the game was won by a headed goal in the 95th minute from erstwhile City transfer target Harry Kane, who had already scored Spurs second goal earlier in the second half.

An outstanding team performance against their closest rivals saw City convincingly beat Manchester United 4–1 at home on 6 March with a brace apiece from Riyad Mahrez and man of the match Kevin De Bruyne. This broke a sequence of 3 consecutive derby losses at home. Mahrez had now scored over 20 goals in a season in all competitions for the first time in his career and De Bruyne passed the milestone of fifty Premier League goals. The result still meant City led the league from Liverpool by 6 points having played a game more.

City drew 0–0 with Sporting on 9 March in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie to win 5–0 on aggregate and qualify for the quarter-finals for the fifth season in succession.

By the time of the March international break, City's lead in the league had been cut to 1 point after another frustrating 0–0 draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on 14 March and Liverpool's continued league winning streak since January.

City qualified for their fourth consecutive FA Cup semi-final when they beat Southampton 4–1 at St. Mary's on 20 March.

Season run-in

City returned from the March international break knowing they had up to 16 games of the season remaining over 8 weeks in which they could secure a treble of titles. This would start with a sequence of 5 games over 14 days in which they would play both Atlético Madrid and Liverpool twice in alternate fixtures in their two legged Champions League quarter-final; a potentially decisive league fixture at home; and a FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. It was still possible that City could also play Liverpool again in a potential Champions League final; and Chelsea thrice in a two legged Champions League semi-final and the FA Cup final before the season ended.

However, first they had to retake the top of the league from Liverpool by beating Burnley 2–0 at Turf Moor on 2 April after their rivals had beaten Watford by the same score at home earlier that day.

A 1–0 victory in the Champions League quarter-final first leg gave City a slight advantage against Atlético as they headed to Madrid. A 2–2 draw against Liverpool ensured City retained a single point advantage at the top of the league with 7 games remaining.

Kits

Supplier: Puma / Sponsor: Etihad Airways

Home

Away

Third

Transfers

Transfers in

Date	Position	No.	Player	From	Fee	Team
1 July 2021	DF		Kluiverth Aguilar	Alianza Lima	£1,500,000	Academy
1 July 2021	FW		Darío Sarmiento	Estudiantes	Undisclosed	Academy
15 July 2021	DF		Tomas Galvez	Watford	Undisclosed	Academy
15 July 2021	GK		George Murray-Jones	Southend United	Undisclosed	Academy
19 July 2021	GK	33	Scott Carson	Derby County	Free	First team
5 August 2021	MF	10	Jack Grealish	Aston Villa	£100,000,000	First team
31 August 2021	FW	37	Kayky	Fluminense	£8,640,000	Academy
31 January 2022	FW		Julián Álvarez	River Plate	£14,100,000	First team
Total					&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.000000£124,250,000

Transfers out

Date	Position	No.	Player	To	Fee	Team
1 July 2021	FW	10	Sergio Agüero	Barcelona	End of contract	First Team
1 July 2021	DF		Murphy Bennett	Forest Green Rovers	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	MF	82	Adrián Bernabé	Parma	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	MF		Henry Timi Davies	Arsenal	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	DF	50	Eric García	Barcelona	End of contract	First team
1 July 2021	GK	32	Daniel Grimshaw	Blackpool	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	MF		Dylan Helliwell	Huddersfield Town	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	GK	70	Louie Moulden	Wolverhampton Wanderers	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	MF	61	Felix Nmecha	VfL Wolfsburg	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	MF		Cian Philpott	Huddersfield Town	End of contract	Academy
1 July 2021	MF		Luca Thomas	Leeds United	End of contract	Academy
2 July 2021	MF	38	Jack Harrison	Leeds United	£13,000,000	Academy
9 July 2021	GK		James Wright	Aston Villa	Undisclosed	Academy
14 July 2021	GK		Pierce Charles	Sheffield Wednesday	End of contract	Academy
16 July 2021	FW	43	Lukas Nmecha	VfL Wolfsburg	£11,700,000	Academy
12 August 2021	MF		Ivan Ilić	Hellas Verona	£8,500,000	Academy
27 August 2021	MF	54	Joe Hodge	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Undisclosed	Academy
30 August 2021	DF	88	Alpha Dionkou	Granada	Undisclosed	Academy
31 August 2021	MF		Harvey Griffiths	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Undisclosed	Academy
1 January 2022	FW	21	Ferran Torres	Barcelona	£55,600,000	First team
21 January 2022	MF	35	Patrick Roberts	Sunderland	Undisclosed	First team
30 January 2022	MF	—	Luka Ilić	Troyes	Undisclosed	Academy
31 January 2022	DF	59	Camron Gbadebo	Colchester United	Undisclosed	Academy
31 January 2022	DF	77	Sam Robinson	Port Vale	Undisclosed	Academy
31 January 2022	MF	65	Matt Smith	MK Dons	Undisclosed	Academy
31 January 2022	MF	73	Luke Bolton	Salford City	Undisclosed	Academy
1 February 2022	DF	34	Philippe Sandler	Feyenoord	Undisclosed	First team
2 February 2022	DF	—	Erik Palmer-Brown	Troyes	Undisclosed	Academy
Total					&-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1.000000£88,800,000

Loans out

Date	Loan ends	Position	No.	Player	To	Team
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	DF		Kluiverth Aguilar	Lommel	Academy
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	GK	55	Gavin Bazunu	Portsmouth	Academy
1 July 2021	11 January 2022	DF	78	Taylor Harwood-Bellis	Anderlecht	Academy
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	DF		Issa Kaboré	Troyes	Academy
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	FW	29	Marlos Moreno	Kortrijk	Academy
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	MF	—	Ante Palaversa	Kortrijk	Academy
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	MF		Diego Rosa	Lommel	Academy
1 July 2021	30 June 2022	FW	—	Slobodan Tedić	PEC Zwolle	Academy
1 July 2021	13 January 2022	GK	85	James Trafford	Accrington Stanley	Academy
2 July 2021	30 June 2022	MF	71	Lewis Fiorini	Lincoln City	Academy
5 July 2021	30 June 2022	MF	93	Alex Robertson	Ross County	Academy
8 July 2021	30 January 2022	MF	—	Luka Ilić	Twente	Academy
9 July 2021	30 June 2022	FW	—	Filip Stevanović	SC Heerenveen	Academy
16 July 2021	30 June 2022	DF	86	Callum Doyle	Sunderland	Academy
23 July 2021	30 June 2022	MF	—	Ryotaro Meshino	Estoril	Academy
30 July 2021	30 June 2022	FW	—	Nahuel Bustos	Girona	Academy
31 July 2021	30 June 2022	FW	—	Darío Sarmiento	Girona	Academy
July 2021	30 June 2022	MF	—	Aminu Mohammed	Lommel	Academy
July 2021	30 June 2022	FW	—	Thomas Agyepong	Lommel	Academy
5 August 2021	30 June 2022	GK	49	Arijanet Muric	Adana Demirspor	First team
6 August 2021	31 January 2022	MF	65	Matt Smith	Hull City	Academy
6 August 2021	30 June 2022	DF	—	Nahuel Ferraresi	Estoril	Academy
16 August 2021	30 June 2022	FW	96	Ben Knight	Crewe Alexandra	Academy
19 August 2021	30 June 2022	MF	—	Daniel Arzani	Lommel	Academy
19 August 2021	30 June 2022	DF	—	Kō Itakura	Schalke 04	Academy
21 August 2021	30 June 2022	DF	39	Yan Couto	Braga	Academy
23 August 2021	30 June 2022	MF	72	Morgan Rogers	Bournemouth	Academy
31 August 2021	2 February 2022	DF	—	Erik Palmer-Brown	Troyes	Academy
31 August 2021	20 January 2022	MF	69	Tommy Doyle	Hamburger SV	Academy
31 August 2021	30 June 2022	MF	—	Yangel Herrera	Espanyol	Academy
31 August 2021	30 June 2022	MF	81	Claudio Gomes	Barnsley	Academy
31 August 2021	21 January 2022	MF	35	Patrick Roberts	Troyes	First team
31 August 2021	30 June 2022	MF	41	Pablo Moreno	Girona	Academy
31 August 2021	25 January 2022	DF	34	Philippe Sandler	Troyes	First team
11 January 2022	30 June 2022	DF	78	Taylor Harwood-Bellis	Stoke City	Academy
13 January 2022	30 June 2022	GK	85	James Trafford	Bolton Wanderers	Academy
20 January 2022	30 June 2022	MF	69	Tommy Doyle	Cardiff City	Academy
31 January 2022	30 June 2022	DF	94	Finley Burns	Swansea City	Academy
31 January 2022	11 July 2022	FW		Julián Álvarez	River Plate	First team
10 February 2022	30 June 2022	MF	66	Iker Pozo	HNK Rijeka	Academy

Pre-season and friendlies

On July 14, City announced they would host Preston North End at the Academy Stadium on July 27, and would travel to France to take on fellow CFG club Troyes on 31 July. The Troyes game was later postponed indefinitely after COVID-19 restrictions in France and England meant that the squad would have to quarantine and therefore miss their FA Community Shield against Leicester City. It was replaced by a game against Barnsley on 31 July 2021. It was announced on 31 July that City's final preseason friendly would be against Blackpool.

      Win       Draw       Loss       Postponed       Fixtures

Friendly 27 July 2021	Manchester City	2–0	Preston North End	Manchester, England
19:00 BST	Mahrez  25' Edozie  64'	Report		Stadium: Academy Stadium Attendance: 0 (Behind-closed-doors)

Friendly 31 July 2021	Troyes	Cancelled	Manchester City	Troyes, France
21:00 CEST (UTC+2)				Stadium: Stade de l'Aube

Friendly 31 July 2021	Manchester City	4–0	Barnsley	Manchester, England
18:00 BST	Edozie  23' Knight  30' Mahrez  34' Aké  69'	Report		Stadium: Academy Stadium Attendance: 0 (Behind-closed-doors)

Friendly 3 August 2021	Manchester City	4–1	Blackpool	Manchester, England
18:00 BST	Edozie  3' Mahrez  48' Gündoğan  58', 75'	Report	Garbutt  21' (pen.)	Stadium: Academy Stadium Attendance: 0 (Behind-closed-doors)

Charity match 25 August 2021	Barcelona	Cancelled	Manchester City	Barcelona, Spain
--:-- CEST (UTC+2)		Report		Stadium: Camp Nou