Manchester City reached their third FA Cup final in succession with a solid 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at Wembley over the weekend.
The competition is providing plenty of solace to Pep Guardiola amid a campaign of disarray, that’s for sure.
Winning the tournament for the third time would give the Spaniard a jolt heading into the summer.
With Kevin De Bruyne departing the Etihad, plus another few first-team players likely leaving to balance the books, it will be all change in Manchester ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.
Losing out on a fifth successive Premier League title will have hurt everyone at the club, but with the transfer window opening in a few weeks, Guardiola has the chance to build a team that can usher in a new era starting in August.
Man City eye move for Premier League defender
The likes of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov have settled in nicely following their January moves to England and this could work well in the club’s favour heading into a busy summer, particularly because most of them are now already settled in England.
However, Pep is unlikely to settle for just those four names and could bolster his backline further when the summer window opens for business.
Indeed, according to Football Insider, City are interested in re-signing defender Pedro Porro from Tottenham Hotspur this summer, but the North Londoners will ‘strike a hard bargain’ as per the report.
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Porro joined City back in the summer of 2019 from Girona, but he didn’t play a single first-team match for the club, eventually moving to Sporting CP.
He joined Spurs in January 2023 on loan, with the club eventually paying £39m to sign him permanently that summer.
They now value the right-back at around £50m which, as City ‘attempt’ to sign him, could prove to be a sticking point in any future negotiations.
Why Pedro Porro could be Man City's own Trent
Following Kyle Walker’s move to AC Milan, Matheus Nunes has been deputising at right-back for the club, which means they are targeting a new defender to play this role from next season onwards.
It is still early days yet, but Porro does have plenty of Premier League experience and has featured in the Champions League.
Particularly striking is that he plays similarly to Liverpool’s outgoing defender Trent Alexander-Arnold. Indeed, according to FBref, Alexander-Arnold is the most comparable player to Porro in Europe’s top five leagues.
The Englishman has registered 113 goal contributions across 351 games for his boyhood side. He loves to get forward as often as possible, often neglecting his defensive responsibilities.
Porro offers the same sort of qualities going forward, no doubt about that. Depending on the system Guardiola plays, he won’t be fazed by his right-back pushing into the final third on a regular basis, especially if someone is there to cover.
The pair have registered similar statistics over a range of metrics in domestic competitions this season, including goals and assists (eight vs nine), shots per 90 (1.35 vs 1.69), crosses (191 vs 142) and carries into the final third (40 vs 35), proving that the duo offer a major attacking threat in the opposition half.
Accurate passes per 90
39.3
33.9
Big chances created
14
8
Goals
3
2
Assists
6
6
Key passes per 90
1.8
1.7
Total duels won per 90
3.1
3.8
Will £50m be a price that Guardiola is willing to pay for another right-back this summer? Or will he be keen to spend this sort of money on improving another area of his squad?
Well, Porro may have endured an underwhelming season for Spurs, but the case could be made for basically everyone in their squad.
Ange Postecoglou has led Spurs to one of their worst seasons in recent memory, but this shouldn’t deter City from signing Porro.
The defender has played 81 times in the top flight for the club, scoring eight goals and grabbing 17 assists in the process. This works out as a goal contribution every 3.2 matches, which isn’t bad for a defender.
This season in the Premier League, the 25-year-old has even created eight big chances for his teammates, averaging 1.7 key passes and even registering 1.2 shots per game for the North London side.
Despite Spurs being poor defensively – conceding 56 league goals this term – Porro has managed to win 50% of his total duels per game while also making two tackles and recovering 4.8 balls per game.
Described as a “titanic” star by The Athletic’s former Spurs correspondent Charlie Eccleshare, Porro also shines when compared to his peers in Europe’s top five leagues.
The Spaniard ranks in the top 5% for total shots (1.49) and passes attempted (69.3) per 90, while also ranking in the top 7% for progressive passes (5.85) and in the top 2% for blocks (1.86) per 90 over the previous 365 days.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
The narrative surrounding Porro as simply an attack-minded defender is wrong. Of course, he is much better going forward than simply defending, but as evidenced, he does have a few solid defensive traits.
Walker is expected to return to the Etihad this summer once his temporary move to Milan comes to an end, but if Guardiola wishes to win another Champions League crown with City, an improvement at right-back is needed.
Should he make a few statement signings in the summer, City could enter the 2025/26 season as arguably the favourites to claim back the league title.
Will Porro be in the starting XI? Only time will tell.
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