Transfer Time! Manchester City Should Look to the Continent for New Blood

Transfer season is upon us and

One position of need that I noticed is another solid, preferably young, centerback to eventually take over for Martin Demichelis, who is solid but he is aging and Eliaquim Mangala hasn't, in my opinion, proven that he deserves a starting spot yet despite his hefty price tag.A good potential target would be 20 year-old French international centerback Ayremic Laporte from Spanish side Athletic Bilbao. He is a pretty solid marking back with outstanding tackling skills, while they still need some development I think he would fit well and grow to be very good, solid centerback in the future.

Two other centerbacks, that would, in my opinion, be solid and fit right in are Dante, the 31 year old Brazilian international and former City man, 26 year old German international Jerome Boateng, both from Bayern Munich. Both are solid on the ball with great marking and tackling skills and would be great to strengthen the heart of our back-line. Boateng's previous stint at Eastlands was cut short when Bayern came in for him, but perhaps he would be able to settle more quickly this time around.

Two more positions of need are a younger, solid CAM and CDM. Some potential candidates are 24 year-old Belgian international Kevin De Bruyne, which has been a back and forth tale as of late, yet looks like City are the leaders to sign him. Also a target is 22 year-old French international midfielder Paul Pogba, he is being looked at by what seems to be most of the giants of world football such as Spanish giants Barcelona as well as PSG, Chelsea and (of course) City. He is already really skilled, and at 22, has lots of football ahead of him to grow and become even more skilled. After having helped lead Juventus to the UEFA Champions League Final, he is a target that City needs to try and secure.

Barcelona has recently had a bid for Paul Pogba of 80 million pounds rejected by Juventus, even though they would not be able to register him as a roster player and use him until January of 2016, as reported by ESPN FC in a recent article

"Juventus turned down an offer from Barcelona for Paul Pogba of 80 million pounds, Bianconeri managing director Giuseppe Marotta confirmed as he reiterated that the young France star is not for sale

Pogba, 22, is one of the most coveted targets in the upcoming transfer window, and there has been much speculation about the 22-year-old's future at Barcelona, despite the fact that the club are banned from registering any new players until January 2016."

Another possible need is a young speedy winger and 20 year old English international Raheem Sterling, currently under contract at Liverpool perfectly fits that role. This is interesting because we have already made multiple bids for him which have been rejected.

This all recently came full circle when, as reported by Chris Wheeler of MailOnline, it was announced that UEFA has lifted the Financial Fair Play spending caps held against City, setting the stage for what will surely be a summer spending spree.

"Manchester City have been cleared to embark on a huge summer spending spree after UEFA confirmed that Financial Fair Play restrictions on the club are being lifted.

City's transfer budget was capped at £49million last summer and their Champions League squad cut to 21 players for breaching FFP regulations, both of which were blamed for their disappointing performance in the Premier League and Europe last season.

But the announcement by UEFA's club financial control body on Friday has given City the green light to pursue their top summer transfer targets Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Pogba, who will cost up to £150m if the club are successful in bringing them to the Etihad Stadium."

Now for the Starting XI: