“What you always search for…” – Pepijn Lijnders reviews Manchester City’s January transfer business

Manchester City assistant coach Pepijn Lijnders has hailed the club’s January acquisitions of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi.

Semenyo joined forces with Pep Guardiola from Bournemouth for £64 million following Jeremy Doku’s fitness troubles of late and a growing over-reliance on Erling Haaland in the final third for a City side vying for silverware on multiple fronts.

The 26-year-old has made a blistering start to life in Manchester, scoring thrice in his first fortnight in Manchester City colours to help steer City out of a slump in form that saw them begin 2026 with three successive Premier League draws – against Sunderland, Chelsea and Brighton.

Guehi was brought in as an emergency signing to bolster Guardiola’s options in central defence after Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias went off with injury against Chelsea on January 4 – a personnel issue that also saw the Blues recall academy star Max Alleyne from loan at Watford.

City were expected to be in the running to sign the 25-year-old on a free transfer at the end of the season, when Guehi would have come to the end of his Crystal Palace contract after his expected transfer to Liverpool broke down at the eleventh hour of the 2025 summer transfer window.

However, club bosses saw an opportunity in January and agreed a £20 million deal for the England international with Crystal Palace, who have recouped some money and evaded an event wherein they would lose their club captain for free in the summer.

Guehi starred on his own Manchester City debut in a 2-0 Premier League win over Wolves last week and after him and Semenyo were ineligible to play against Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, the pair are expected to start against Tottenham in north London on Sunday evening.

City are not expected to make any further signings in January, with departures beginning with Oscar Bobb, who completed a £27 million transfer to Fulham on Friday after putting pen to paper on a five-and-a-half year deal at Craven Cottage.

With Guardiola absent from pre-match media duties, Manchester City assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders faced the media to preview his side’s upcoming Premier League clash and was quizzed on the club’s January transfer business.

“I think we did excellent business with Antoine (Semenyo), Marc (Guehi), Oscar (Bobb) leaving of course, but I think we added strength,” Lijnders said on Friday afternoon.

“What you always search for is to add somebody who can improve your first 11. If you can find players who can – and that’s not easy for Man City – improve your first 11, you do good business. I feel we’ve succeeded.”

On Bobb’s move to Fulham , Lijnders added: “At this age, to make a transfer like that, for that amount of money in the Premier League – I’m really happy for him!

“I think it’s a great step to go to Marco (Silva’s) team and the way they set-up, they play with outside triangles, being flexible, they’ll feed him a lot of balls.

“I’m really happy for him and it’s a big compliment for our academy, because another player making a big step, who has quality to play in the Premier League.”

City must win against Tottenham on Sunday to maintain the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal, who saw their lead at the top of the table cut to four points after a defeat to Manchester United last weekend.

Stefan Ortega Moreno is set to complete a five-month move to Nottingham Forest from City, with the clubs reaching a full agreement over the transfer of the 33-year-old German goalkeeper on Saturday morning.