Manchester City 'break Premier League record for player sales in summer window'

After clinching their fourth top-flight title in five seasons in 2021-22, Pep Guardiola's side have experienced a busy summer of incomings and outgoings at the Etihad Stadium.

Following the January arrival of Julian Alvarez for around £14.2m from River Plate, Erling Braut Haaland became City's first summer signing after they activated the striker's £51m release clause in his Borussia Dortmund contract.

Goalkeeper Stefan Ortega then followed on a free transfer from Arminia Bielefeld, before midfielder Kalvin Phillips completed his switch from Leeds United for an initial fee worth around £42m.

Despite spending close to £100m this summer, and with at least one more signing potentially still to come amid interest in left-back Marc Cucurella, City are expected to end the window with a significant net profit.

According to The Sun, City have recouped £174m from the sales of 10 players, which has broken a Premier League record for the summer window, previously set by Chelsea five years ago when they raised £166m.

The three standout departures from the Etihad Stadium have been Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, with the latter two both joining Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.

Jesus became City's first big-money sale for £45m, before Zinchenko followed the Brazilian to North London in a deal worth up to £32m.

Sterling, meanwhile, ended his seven-year trophy-laden spell with the Citizens to join Chelsea for an initial fee of £47.5m.

City have also recouped £29m from the sales of highly-rated youngsters Gavin Bazunu and Romeo Lavia, who have both joined Southampton.

Spanish right-back Pedro Porro was one of the first sales completed by City this summer, with the 22-year-old deciding to join Sporting Lisbon on a permanent deal worth £7m following a successful loan spell with the Portuguese giants last season.

Eighteen-year-old midfielder Darko Gyabi and Japan international Ko Itakura have joined Leeds and Borussia Monchengladbach respectively for £5m each, while Vincent Kompany's Burnley have recruited Arijanet Muric and CJ Egan Riley for a combined fee of £3.5m.

Despite all of these departures, there is seemingly no sign of City's transfer business slowing down as The Sun adds that a number of other first-team and youth players could be heading for the exit door this summer.

Teenage winger Samuel Edozie is believed to be close to joining Bayer Leverkusen for around £10m, although Southampton are allegedly hoping to hijack the deal.

Full-back Issa Kabore, who spent last season on loan at French outfit Troyes, has attracted interest from Nottingham Forest, with the newly-promoted Premier League club allegedly seeing an £8m bid rejected for the 21-year-old earlier in the window.

Meanwhile, City could receive up to £8m from the potential sales of Leeds winger Jack Harrison and Hellas Verona midfielder Ivan Ilic - who have been linked with Newcastle United and Lazio respectively - due to sell-on clauses that the Citizens have for both players.

Including the £55m sale of Ferran Torres to Barcelona back in January, City have also broken the record for the most money generated from player sales in a calendar year, again beating Chelsea's record from 2017.

Despite a major squad overhaul overseen by City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the Premier League champions are still considered the bookmakers' favourites to retain their top-flight crown, while they are also one of the favourites to lift the Champions League, a competition which still eludes them.