How do Manchester City improve on winning an unprecedented four Premier League titles in a row? By winning a record-extending fifth, obviously. Anyone who has followed Pep Guardiola's coaching career even remotely will know that the Catalan will not be sated by his side's latest triumph and will already be planning his squad to retain the crown, particularly if it is to be his final season at the Etihad Stadium.
And there is plenty of planning to be done. While no one could begrudge City their triumph, it will not have escaped Guardiola's attention that his side won the title by fine margins after being pushed all the way by Arsenal, with Liverpool also challenging until the penultimate month of the season.
This was a different type of victory compared to City's previous title conquests, won mostly due to their ability to ruthlessly take care of the lower and mid-table teams rather than their record against their usual rivals. Just take the fact that they won only two out of 10 matches against the Premier League's top six, failing to beat Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Real Madrid while losing the FA Cup final to Manchester United.
Guardiola will be keen to address those small weaknesses in the transfer market and assemble another title-winning side while also looking towards going deep in the Champions League, which will be ever more draining after being expanded to 36 teams.
City have not been shy about spending big in recent windows, splashing £220 million ($281m) in 2023. They can expect a similar budget for this summer after announcing record revenues last year following their treble triumph and turning their academy into a money-printing machine, while player sales could further raise funds for their transfer raids.