Once the season is over for Manchester City, Pep Guardiola can begin planning for the 2023/24 campaign, something that his former colleague, Mikel Arteta, is arguably already doing for Arsenal.
The teams that finished first and second in the Premier League last season will still look to improve their squads this summer, in order to keep them ahead of the chasing pack who will all undoubtedly be in the market for the best players too.
With Saudi Arabian money playing a part in which elite players will become available, it may well be that even the richest clubs in England, of which Man City would be one, will have to shop around for some of the game’s brightest talents.
A paltry record of two Premier League goals in 24 appearances (per WhoScored) wouldn’t normally be anywhere close to being good enough for both City and Arsenal to be interested in a player, however, according to Calciomercato, both are tracking Leeds United’s young star, Wilfried Gnonto.
Despite the evident lack of goals, the Italian international does seem to have something about him, and it remains a mystery as to why Javi Gracia decided to only play him for 90 minutes on one occasion in his last 11 matches as Leeds manager (WhoScored).
Even Sam Allardyce only gave Gnonto 142 minutes on the pitch in the four games he took charge of.
Maybe a relegation battle isn’t the best situation in which to unleash a 19-year-old, but there’s an argument that Gnonto had that special quality that might well have helped the Elland Road outfit in their final push, had he been given more confidence to just go out there and play.
Leeds’ reticence to do just that and their subsequent relegation could let in either of City or Arsenal to get Gnonto at a bargain price.
