By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-09-01 13:41:58 | Updated at 2026-09-04 23:37:43
3 days ago
Manchester City are loading up on players known for their dribbling ability, with Iliman Ndiaye seemingly their next new face.
For a while, a fairly popular theory suggested Manchester City was a place that suffocated individual creativity in favour of focus on positional football and “the system”.
It was a theory (myth?) that led to some believing Pep Guardiola simply didn’t value dribblers. Of course, the reality was almost certainly never quite as black and white as that, but there was a notable moment a few years ago.
When City signed Jérémy Doku in 2023, the Belgian was not thought of as the type of winger Guardiola would typically go for, in that his primary strength was beating his man and tallying a high volume of dribbles.
He didn’t score lots, his end product was called into question, and there were questions about how he’d fit into a team built around passing ability and possession retention.
But he steadily developed into one of the Premier League’s best and most effective one-v-one wingers, and 2025-26 suggested his level was only continuing to rise.
Whereas there’s a perception some players had certain individualistic qualities limited by Guardiola, with Jack Grealish the most common example, Doku feels very similar – just more mature – to the player they signed from Rennes.
Last year, City then added Rayan Cherki, arguably even more of a maverick than Doku, and the Frenchman enjoyed a brilliant first season in the Premier League.
Antoine Semenyo was another frequent dribbler who joined City in January from Bournemouth, and now they appear to be adding Iliman Ndiaye to form a formidable foursome of dribble-first attackers – and that’s ignoring the fact Phil Foden is pretty handy on the ball, and new signing Allan is highly regarded for his ball carrying.
Guardiola may have gone, replaced by Enzo Maresca, but the club’s thinking has apparently been unchanged.
Assuming Ndiaye’s reported £65 million move from Everton is completed, City will have the Premier League’s top three players from 2025-26 for dribble attempts: Doku (162), Semenyo (144) and Ndiaye (136).
Similarly, they’ll have four of last season’s top eight for most dribbles completed: Doku (84), Ndiaye (65), Semenyo (59) and Cherki (51). And it’s worth saying that Elliot Anderson, another of City’s summer recruits, was only just behind Cherki on 50 (though admittedly from almost twice as many minutes).
This seems far too deliberate for it to be a coincidence.
Guardiola did say in the past that he felt the “future of football” would steer away from his possession dominance ideology and instead be defined by more transitional styles – and there’s certainly an argument these players can help City make that transition, or at least be more unpredictable.
Dribblers bring chaos, and City are a team who’ll frequently be tasked with breaking through compact defences and low blocks; in fact, they spent 23.4% of their build-up time last season against a low block, the third-greatest proportion in the Premier League.
Sure, maybe you can find a way through with an extra five or 10 passes; or perhaps someone like Ndiaye can slice the opposition open in a fraction of the time with a mere swivel of the hips.
It seems highly unlikely City will completely abandon Guardiola’s possession-oriented principles, but some of their signings in recent years suggest an attempt to diversify their threat, and Ndiaye would be a continuation of that.
In fairness to Guardiola, the story goes that when he first joined City, his initial instruction to the club’s recruitment team was to “find me players who can dribble”.
And actually, several of his title-winning teams were full of players willing to attempt taking on their marker.
In 2021-22 (782), 2020-21 (845), 2018-19 (801) and 2017-18 (797), City ranked in the top six for dribble attempts in the Premier League while also winning the title – otherwise, though, there’s been little correlation between the two elements.
City obviously aren’t alone in valuing ball carriers or dribblers, but you’d do well to find a squad with a greater concentration of such talent in the Premier League if they can add Ndiaye to their ranks.
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