Pep Guardiola has crafted some of the most dominant club teams of the modern era and has left Barcelona and Bayern Munich with the bulging trophy cabinets to prove it. But as well as piecing together these all conquering sides, the Catalan isn't afraid to shunt world class players from his squads in order to complete his masterpieces.
The Manchester City manager was presented with a blank cheque upon arriving at Eastlands in order to turn the Citizens into the Premier League's Barca or Bayern, as well as bringing Champions League success to the Etihad Stadium for the first time. Guardiola wasted no time in spending £165m on John Stones, Leroy Sane, Claudio Bravo, Ilkay Gundogan, Gabriel Jesus, Nolito, Marlos Moreno, Geronimo Rulli and Oleksandr Zinchenko. However, with so many incomings, a few outgoings were inevitable, with the axe being wielded on Wilfried Bony, Samir Nasri, Elaquim Mangala and, most notably, Joe Hart, who have all left the club on loans which will likely be turned into more permanent exits at the end of the season.
The likes of Hart and Nasri are not the first high profile casualties of Pep's philosophy, as Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto'o will gladly tell you. In fact, an entire XI of players Guardiola has been axed has been put together in the aftermath of transfer deadline day and, although it includes Yaya Toure as a centre half, it's a team that would be nearly impossible to stop.
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Of course, recently loaned out Elaqium Mangala could replace Toure at centre-half, although given the Frenchman's form since arriving in England, you might be safer playing an out of position Toure in defence, instead. Another option would also be Martin Caceres, whom Pep loaned to Juventus and Sevilla and then permanently sold to Juve, during his time at Barcelona.
As if this first XI isn't strong enough, a subs bench of Pepe Reina, Mario Mandzukic, Mario Gomez, Xherdan Shaquiri, Luiz Gustavo, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Bojan could be named.
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Topics: Manchester City, Football, Pep Guardiola