Jordan Belfort in 'The Wolf of Wall Street' urged his employees to deal with their problems by becoming rich. Manchester City, however, are already rich - now they must solve their many problems by spending their money in the January transfer window.
City have been reluctant to make big moves in the winter in the past, with Aymeric Laporte in 2018 being the only major signing they have made in the mid-season window during Pep Guardiola's nine years in charge. Just two weeks ago, the coach was ambivalent about new arrivals and said what he wanted most of all was for his many injured players to return, but he has since changed his tune amid a relentless run of injuries and has declared that City will be active when the transfer market opens on January 1.
Who can blame them? City's season was derailed when Rodri tore his knee ligaments in September, and since then the injuries have kept coming and results have spiralled out of control. Only Brentford currently have more players unavailable than City, who were missing eight first-team regulars for their 1-1 draw with Everton on Boxing Day.
The injuries go some way to explaining why Guardiola is in the worst run of results in his 17-year career as a manager, but the coach is also paying a price for insisting on having a small squad and a quiet summer in which the club brought in just two players despite only narrowly winning the Premier League title.
Even forgetting the injuries, City's squad is in desperate need of a refresh as they are edging towards failing to finish in the Premier League's top four for the first time since 2010, as well as staring at a potentially humiliating exit from the Champions League league phase.
GOAL, then, sets out the key areas City must address when the transfer window opens...