Liverpool get MASSIVE Martin Zubimendi transfer boost

Manchester City are finished. By all basic standards, they are a team in disarray.

Their latest loss against Aston Villa was their ninth this season, making it one win in their last 12 matches.

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As a result, they are sitting in sixth place in the Premier League, 22nd in the Champions League and they exited the EFL Cup in round four.

Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly having the worst run of form in his entire career and the solution to their problems continues to escape him.

Injuries have begun to take a significant effect, with players sidelined as soon as others return from spells off the pitch, but overall the team is in decline, with too many players failing to meet the standards they set for themselves.

As such, you'd expect that the Manchester Blues would be projected to have a busy transfer window in January. Well, you'd be mistaken.

City set for a quiet winter

The main absentee that Citizen loyalists will claim is the source of their misfortune is Rodri, who won the Ballon d'Or earlier this year.

He is set to miss the entire season with an ACL tear, and the hole left in their midfield has been gaping for some time now.

However, according to Sam Lee, the Athletic's Manchester City correspondent, the club is not looking at bringing Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes or Real Soceidad's Martin Zubimendi.

Both players have been closely linked to Manchester City as potential additions to their midfield, playing a hybrid role not too dissimilar to that of Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch.

Of course, neither would be a direct replacement for Rodri, but they would certainly add a more defensive feel to City, while their current setup looks destined to concede a goal every time they take to the field.

Inside the disastrous 12-game run, they have conceded 27 goals, scoring just 14.

Liverpool fans can take a sigh of relief

As many fans of Arne Slot's Reds know only too well, Martin Zubimendi is a long-term target of the club.

This summer, he declined the club's offer to pay his release clause, but current reports suggest that he is increasingly likely to leave Real Sociedad this season.

If Man City were to have secured his services, Liverpool would have been left reeling after putting in so much hard work across the summer.

Most recently, Zubimendi made clear that his decision to decline Liverpool was because he selfishly wanted to stay in Spain and help his boyhood club. On the basis that he didn't feel ready to move elsewhere, it was a decision that Liverpool fans could respect.

However, while Gravenberch is excelling in his next role in defensive midfield, it is clear that he needs some help to balance his workload. By such reasoning, it seems likely that if Zubimendi were to have a change of heart this summer, then the club would consider trying again.

Were Manchester City to reignite their interest in the midfielder, it would be difficult to work out who he would choose. Working under such a great Spanish coach in Pep would be a massive drawing factor, but it cannot be denied that Liverpool are the better prospect for success, as Arne Slot's side sit on a 20-game unbeaten run across all competitions.

Whether the Reds go back in for Zubimendi is yet to be seen, but the knowledge that Man City are unlikely to go for him in January can only be a boost to Liverpool's ambition to win the Premier League this season.

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