With Aymeric Laporte spending a large portion of last season sidelined with injury, John Stones finding himself on the periphery due to poor form, Eric Garcia only being used sparingly and Fernandinho being preferred at centre-back to Nicolas Otamendi, Manchester City stepped up their pursuit for a defender this summer.
One player they showed the most interest in was Kalidou Koulibaly, but the Sky Blues failed to agree a deal with Napoli to bring him to the Etihad and ended up signing Ruben Dias from Benfica in September.