Kaoru Mitoma, Jeremy Doku or homegrown Cole Palmer? Seven options for Man City to replace Riyad Mahrez

Michael Olise has a number of similarities with Mahrez, especially his remarkable control and a penchant for cutting inside from the right and on to his left foot. The French forward also has 'pausa', an ability to slow the play down while keeping a move flowing, which Guardiola values dearly.

Olise will have to improve his goal tally if he does join City, though. He scored only two goals in the Premier League last season, both of them injury-time strikes against Manchester United and West Ham, respectively. He did provide 11 assists, however, several of them from set-plays.

City have already declared their interest in Olise and are willing to pay up to £50 million ($63m) to get the France Under-21 international. However, they may have to wait until January to make their move, as Olise is still recovering from surgery he underwent to treat a torn hamstring sustained during the U21 European Championship in June.

Kaoru Mitoma was one of many Brighton players who had escaped top clubs' radars until last season, but had a stunning debut campaign in the Premier League. The Japan international is one of the most exciting dribblers in the league and has plenty of end product too, scoring 10 times and providing eight assists to help the Seagulls finish sixth and qualify for Europe for the very first time.

The 26-year-old is a strong candidate to replace Mahrez as he has already posted similar figures to the Algerian in just one season in England, and he would not be prohibitively expensive. Around £50m ($63m) would be enough to persuade Brighton to part ways with Mitoma, who they paid just £2.7m ($3.4m) for in 2021.

Rennes winger Jeremy Doku is of a slightly different profile to Mahrez and is a player most suited to teams that counter-attack due to his pace and dribbling ability. However, at the age of only 21, he could be moulded into a City player and master the art of possession football.

City are reportedly considering him as an option with little more than three weeks left of the transfer window. Doku would certainly be one of the cheaper players to replace Mahrez, costing less than £30m ($38m), although he would also be a gamble as he is not yet as productive as the likes of Mitoma, posting just six goals and two assists in Ligue 1 last season.

Ansu Fati took world football by storm in 2019 by becoming the youngest player to score for Barcelona, the youngest to score in the Champions League and then the youngest to score for the Spain national team.

A thrilling start to his career was then seriously disrupted by knee injuries, but last season he managed to play in almost every Barcelona game in La Liga, hopefully demonstrating that his fitness troubles are behind him.

Barca's severe financial problems mean they would likely accept an offer in the region of £40m ($51m) for the forward, who inherited the No.10 jersey from Lionel Messi. That would be a great deal for City, considering Ansu is only 20 years old and already has four years experience of elite football in his legs.

Rather like Ansu, Florian Wirtz has been causing a stir since he was a teenager. The German winger became Bayer Leverkusen's youngest-ever player in 2020 at the age of 17 years and 16 days, and contributed to 27 goals in his first two full seasons in the Bundesliga.

A serious knee injury in 2022 derailed his progress, but he has come back stronger and reasserted himself in Xabi Alonso's side, getting four goals and eight assists since returning. Signing him this summer would mean City beat what is likely to be quite the fight in the summer of 2024 if Wirtz remains a Leverkusen player until then.

Federico Chiesa would be a hugely exciting signing for City, and the time is ripe for him to leave Juventus, who are banned from competing in European football this season due to breaching UEFA's financial fair play rules.

Chiesa has also struggled to hold down a starting berth in Massimiliano Allegri's side since returning from a knee injury which kept him out of action for 14 months. City would need to pay over £50m to sign him, however, which might be too much for a squad player when there are cheaper alternatives around.

Palmer is a ready-made Mahrez replacement that City already know all about. The England U21 forward was given surprisingly few first-team opportunities (just two Premier League starts and both after the title was already won) last season, and according to Guardiola he wanted more.

He usually impressed when he did play, and in the Community Shield he did his best Mahrez impression, coming off the bench and breaking the deadlock by curling in a left-footed strike after twisting his way past a defender from the right wing.

The concern from City's point of view is that Palmer is not yet good enough to start around 20 games per season, while the youngster is also fearful of playing a cameo role when he could get regular game time on loan elsewhere in the Premier League.

But City fans would love to see one of their own become a key player, and from the club's point of view it would be nice for their academy to become more than just a money-printing machine and be seen as a genuine pathway into the first team.