Manchester City dared to dream of adding Declan Rice to their world-beating midfield, but ultimately decided they could not justify spending £105 million ($133m) to get their man, with Arsenal set to win the race for one of the most sought-after players on the market this summer.
City are one of the shrewdest operators in the transfer market and part of the reason they have build such a formidable team and won the treble last season is their ability to walk away from deals they are not comfortable making.
But with Ilkay Gundogan having already left for Barcelona and with Pep Guardiola still unconvinced by Kalvin Phillips, not to mention the threat of Bernardo Silva leaving, City are still very much on the hunt for a new midfielder even after Mateo Kovacic's arrival from Chelsea. GOAL assesses their potential options...