"GOODBYE OSCAR": FANS REACT TO OSCAR BOBB’S IMMINENT £35M FULHAM TRANSFER
Manchester City prepare for Oscar Bobb's £35m exit to Fulham as Marc Guehi prepares for his debut against Wolves this Saturday.
Looks like Oscar Bobb’s time at Manchester City is almost up. Reports say he’s on his way out in January, with Borussia Dortmund and Fulham both pushing hard for the 22-year-old forward.
Things just haven’t worked out for Bobb under Pep Guardiola this season. Recurring injuries since the start of 2025-26 haven’t helped, and now City are ready to let him leave in these final weeks of the transfer window. It’s tough, especially since Bobb came through the club’s academy, but that’s football.
Meanwhile, City have already moved to boost their attack. Antoine Semenyo just joined from Bournemouth, and they’ll need every bit of help to chase down Arsenal. Right now, they’re seven points back and fighting on four fronts. The squad’s in a bit of a rut—only two wins in their last seven matches. If they want to have any shot at catching Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, something has to change. Their last Premier League win was a scrappy one at Nottingham Forest back on December 27, and it’s been rough since.
Tuesday night didn’t help either. City lost 3-1 to Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League, which only raised more questions. To their credit, City leadership group stepped up, spending over £10,000 to pay back 374 fans who travelled all the way to the Arctic Circle for that match.
Looking ahead, Guardiola is hoping the club’s January signings make a real difference. Marc Guehi just arrived from Crystal Palace for £20 million and is set to make his debut soon. Sure, City still has a long injury list, but there’s enough quality left to take on Wolves this weekend. Semenyo should be back in the starting lineup after missing the midweek trip to Scandinavia.
Don’t expect any more big signings at the Etihad before the window closes. The club might bring in Feyenoord’s teenage right-back Givairo Read, but that’s about it. The real action is on the departure side.
Fulham are now strong favourites to land Bobb, with manager Marco Silva leading the charge. City’s asking for £30 million, and it looks likely Bobb will be gone by deadline day. Dortmund are still interested, but the price tag’s a problem for them. They might try for a loan with a view to buying later, but nothing’s certain there.
City’s attack hasn’t exactly been firing this month. Sure, they hit Exeter City for 10 in the FA Cup, but that’s not really the same as performing against tougher sides. Guardiola needs his team back to their ruthless best—starting Saturday against Wolves.
PEP GUARDIOLA REFUSES TO GUARANTEE RODRI’S RETURN FOR MONDAY’S PREMIER LEAGUE CLASH
Pep Guardiola provides the latest injury news on Rodri, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol ahead of a crucial title race clash at Everton.
Pep Guardiola has shared the latest on Manchester City's injury situation ahead of Monday’s Premier League match against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
City is in good form right now. They came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend, making it six wins in a row across all competitions.
But they’ve had to do it without Rodri. He's missed their last two matches, including a tight 1-0 win at Burnley, after hurting his groin against Arsenal a couple of weeks back. Guardiola recently told reporters that Rodri is getting better, but the team’s been cautious and isn’t rushing him back.
At his latest press conference on Friday, Guardiola said Rodri still hasn’t returned to training, so they’re just taking it day by day. There's hope, but Guardiola wouldn’t give any guarantees about Rodri’s chances of playing against Everton. "He’s getting better. Still, he didn't train with us, so we’ll see in the next few days,” he said. When pressed about his confidence, Pep just replied, “I am always confident.”
With Rodri still not training, it sounds like a last-minute decision on whether he’ll play. A start against Everton seems unlikely. That probably means Nico González, who scored the winner against Southampton, will keep his spot in midfield next to Bernardo Silva. Maybe Nico O’Reilly slides into central midfield, too, if he isn’t covering at left-back.
It’s not all good news in defence either. Ruben Dias is still out with the ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined for the last six games, and Josko Gvardiol is recovering from the tibial fracture he picked up in January. Both are working their way back, and Guardiola says they’re improving, but there’s no sign of a return just yet.
Turning to the Everton game, City could head into it trailing Arsenal by six points if the Gunners beat Fulham on Saturday. With the title race this tight, City can’t afford to slip up.
Guardiola knows Monday will be tough. “Everton have always been tough,” he said. “Old Everton was so cool and so British, and I loved to go there, but in the new stadium, they are defending really well, and it has always been tough." He’s not taking recent Everton results lightly, adding, 'They're fighting for a place in Europe. We won with two or three actions here, but we were not good at that moment. We can’t have any result but win, win, win.”
Everton won’t be easy, especially away, but City can at least take confidence from their strong record of 17 league games unbeaten against the Toffees. They won the reverse fixture 2-0, with Haaland scoring both goals. Still, Guardiola isn’t expecting it to be straightforward.
MANCHESTER CITY’S REQUEST TO RESCHEDULE PIVOTAL PREMIER LEAGUE TIES BRUTALLY DENIED
The Premier League has rejected Man City’s plea to swap Palace and Bournemouth matches. See City's brutal end-of-season schedule.
Manchester City are on the hunt for another domestic treble just seven years after the last one. Pep Guardiola pulled it off in 2018/19 with wins in the Premier League, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup. Now he's got his sights set on doing it again.
City’s deep run in the cups has created a mess for their league schedule. Their home game against Crystal Palace, which was supposed to happen during the Carabao Cup final weekend on March 22, got bumped. Same thing with their trip to Bournemouth, originally set for the day after the FA Cup final.
There’s a hold-up with rescheduling Palace; the Eagles’ Conference League semi-final run means they’ve got barely any free midweek dates. The match was pencilled in for Wednesday, May 13, but things got complicated when City reached the FA Cup Final, and Bournemouth got postponed too. The city asked the Premier League if they could play Bournemouth on Tuesday, May 12, then face Palace a week later, to squeeze in an extra recovery day before the Wembley showdown. Plus, that would give them the bonus of finishing their last two league games at home. But the Premier League usually insists that the fixture that was originally scheduled first in this case, Palace, gets played first.
According to The Mirror, City’s request was shot down. So now Guardiola’s team has to cram their last four matches into just 12 days: Palace visits on May 13, then the FA Cup Final, Bournemouth away on May 19, and finally wrapping things up at home to Aston Villa on May 24.
They couldn't play Bournemouth on May 20 because that’s the Europa League final night, and UEFA didn’t want any Premier League games stealing the spotlight when Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest could be involved.
The Mirror says the revised fixture dates and kick-off times are coming out today. Chelsea, also FA Cup finalists, will play their rescheduled match against Tottenham on May 19.
City still has to travel to Everton next Monday and host Brentford on Saturday, May 9. Then comes their jam-packed finish, starting with Palace.
Meanwhile, title rivals Arsenal will be hoping City’s crowded schedule works in their favour. Though Arsenal has its own challenge, a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid is spread across the next two midweeks.
Arsenal closes out its league campaign with home games against Fulham and Burnley and trips to West Ham and Palace.
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