Where are they now? The last 7 Man City players signed by Manuel Pellegrini
Manuel Pellegrini has almost been airbrushed from Manchester City’s history due to their unprecedented success under his successor Pep Guardiola – but he did sign some future City legends during his final summer transfer window.
After finishing a distant second the previous year, Pellegrini attempted to shake up his squad with some major signings that would bear fruit years down the line but only led City to fourth in 2015-16.
We’ve dug into the careers of the seven players Pellegrini signed during his last season as City’s manager to discover how they are faring almost a decade later.
Raheem Sterling
Costing City an eye-watering £49million at the time in 2015, Sterling’s move to the Eithad was both protracted and controversial, but he shone brightly for the remainder of the 2010s before fading thereafter.
Key to them winning back-to-back league titles from 2017 to 2019, he eventually left for Chelsea in 2022 in search of more regular game time.
The former England international was squeezed out of Stamford Bridge two years later due to his sky-high wages and indifferent form and can now be found warming Arsenal’s bench.
Fabian Delph
After flip-flopping over whether to stay with a visibly decaying Aston Villa or join City, Delph eventually took the plunge and joined Pellegrini’s squad for a fee of £8million.
The midfielder played 22 times in City’s Premier League-winning season of 2017-18 but struggled for first-team opportunities the following campaign and joined Everton in 2019.
His time at Goodison Park was marred by injuries and he announced his retirement in September 2022.
Patrick Roberts
City’s scouts had seen enough in Roberts’ form at Fulham and for England’s youth teams to sign him for £12million, but it was a familiar story of frequent loans away and fleeting opportunities at his parent club.
After more loans away than matches for City, Roberts signed for League One Sunderland in January 2o22. He played a major role in their promotion that year, scoring in the play-offs, and now appears fairly settled on Wearside.
Nicolas Otamendi
Signed from Valencia for £28.4million, Otamendi made his fair share of calamitous mistakes at City but was also weirdly effective and you could never take your eyes off him.
The centre-back left for Benfica in 2020 where he remains to this day – while also forming part of Argentina’s backline that has won successive Copa Americas and the 2022 World Cup.
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Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne’s £56million transfer from Wolfsburg was heavily criticised due to the Belgian failing to make the grade at Chelsea. We’re not naming names, but how wrong they were.
Under Guardiola, De Bruyne has continually unlocked new levels of creativity, influence and ability, with his peak now probably eclipsing that of David Silva’s before him.
Now in his mid-30s, the playmaker has stepped up in importance tremendously during his peak and was vital to City’s treble-winning campaign in 2022-23.
His contract is due to expire at the end of the 2024-25 season and it’s thought De Bruyne is open to an MLS move.
READ: The 3 Man City players who are out of contract at the end of 2024-25
Luke Brattan
“There was someone [from City] watching a game in Melbourne, when I played for Brisbane,” Brattan told Fox Sports in October 2015.
“I must have had a good game and it sort of developed from there.”
The surprise wasn’t so much that City had taken a punt on an overseas player, but that Brattan, unproven in Europe, was already 25 years old.
Loans with Bolton and Melbourne City didn’t reveal any hidden Premier League aptitude and Brattan returned Down Under for good in 2019. He now plays for Macarthur FC.
Anthony Caceres
While Man City had signed Brattan on a free transfer, they paid around £300,000 to buy Caceres from Central Coast Mariners.
“What a great opportunity for Caceres to go and try and reach the potential we all think he’s got,” said his proud Mariners boss, Tony Walmsley.
Walmsley was either in on the plan, or else a good actor, because it soon became clear that Cacereces wasn’t about to fulfil his potential in the Premier League either.
A succession of loans in Australia and the United Arab Emirates followed by Cacerecas joined Sydney FC in 2019 without having played a game for City.
Very strange.