5 central defenders Pep Guardiola should target in the January transfer window

Someone, please help Pep Guardiola?

Pep Guardiola needs help. He might not admit it when asked face to face but he needs a few top-quality players if he’s to bring Manchester City up to a level he experienced and controlled over at Bayern Munich and Barcelona. 

Manchester City might still be in the UEFA Champions League slots on the table but their performances on the pitch have been laughable – especially one under the stewardship of the Catalan manager. Their back-to-back losses to Chelsea and Leicester City highlight an obvious weakness in their team: squad depth and they need to fix it before it curtails their current campaign. 

And they need to add more central defenders if they’re to keep the heat on the title rivals. Nicolas Otamendi has proven to be very useful under Pep Guardiola but the experiment of John Stones looks like it’ll take more time than expected. 

So, here’s looking at five central defenders who could be targeted by Pep Guardiola in the upcoming winter transfer window: (In no particular order whatsoever) 

#5 Jose Fonte

Experienced and solid: Jose Fonte

Perhaps one of the easiest transfers Manchester City could pull off in the winter transfer window is signing Southampton contract-rebel Jose Fonte. The Portuguese defender has been with the Saints through two promotions and has proven his worth to both his club and country – with whom he won the recently concluded UEFA European Championships. 

Fonte is an established defender in the Premier League and knows all the teams well enough to deal with specialised threats. Pep could use a more mature defender at the back of his line and Fonte could prove to be a steal: both in terms of experience and price. 

The Portuguese man will also prove to be the kind of signing capable of bringing John Stones unscathed through this rough patch he’s going through.