City just don’t seem to be themselves at the moment.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace came after City had gone 2-0 up; how many times do you see Pep Guardiola’s men throw that kind of lead away?
City are now five points behind league leaders Arsenal and their Premier League domination is in real danger of ending this season.
Guardiola may need to strengthen his squad in January and another midfielder now appears to be on the wish list…
Manchester City join race for Joao Palhinha
The Daily Star now claim that City are interested in signing Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha.
It’s stated that City are expecting Kalvin Phillips to leave the club in January having barely made an impact since joining from Leeds United 18 months ago.
City would still want to replace Phillips if he does move on though, which means another defensive midfielder will be on Guardiola’s wish list.
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Fulham star Palhinha is the man City allegedly want and a £50million January bid could now be in the pipeline.
City always miss Rodri when he is injured or suspended and Palhinha seems like more of a like-for-like competitor than Phillips.
The 28-year-old – hailed as ‘absolutely phenomenal’ by pundit Danny Murphy – is defensively superb and has the presence in the middle of the park that we expect from Rodri.
The Mirror reported earlier this month that Arsenal like Palhinha but he is expected to be out of their price range.
That may leave the door open for City to pounce with a move for Palhinha despite Fulham being expected to put up a fight to keep their star midfielder.
You have to question whether Palhinha would look at the struggles of Phillips and second-guess a move to City, but it would be difficult to snub the Premier League and European champions.
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