Manchester City Transfers: Pieces They'd Love to Add Before Deadline Passes

Telling you that Manchester City have a lot more business to do in the summer transfer window would be bad business. You are a lot smarter than that.

So I will not lie to you. City have already spent over £90 million on Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. They now have four world-class strikers and upwards of eight world-class midfielders.

City's intrasquad scrimmages feature more talent than most Serie A matches.

All this is to say that City really do not need to add any more depth at the tip of the spear or in the middle of the pitch. That is all set for now.

If you have been paying attention (and I know you have) then you know that City have only one area of need: at the back.

Matija Nastasic is still recovering from the injury he sustained in Hong Kong, though bbc.co.uk reports that he might return ahead of schedule.

Those sorts of injuries have tendencies to recur, though, and Nastasic's status has to be considered uncertain until he plays a few matches in a row without complaining of pain or needing to come off.

With Nastasic hurting, the last thing City fans wanted to see was an injury to Vincent Kompany. But there was the captain, walking off gingerly with a tweaked groin against Newcastle in the Sky Blues' Premier League opener. Per Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail, Kompany could miss a month.

Even if Kompany comes back sooner, the awful truth is that Kompany missed a good portion of last season dealing with three-to-four week injuries that healed and then cropped up again with annoying frequency.

And your eyes were not deceiving you: incredibly, City's answer to seeing Kompany leave his post against Newcastle was to put midfielder Javi Garcia in at centre-back.

Haven't we seen this movie before? Letting Kolo Toure walk on a free transfer suddenly looks a bit short-sighted.

With Nastasic and Kompany currently down and always at risk, City needs reinforcement at centre-back, sooner than later.

City may survive their matches with Cardiff City and Hull City with Joleon Lescott and Garcia at centre-back, but good luck trying that against better league sides or in Europe.

Real Madrid are reportedly steadfast in their refusal to sell Pepe to City. If they turn down Sheikh Mansour's £20 million bid for Pepe, they are either nobly determined to keep him or they are insane.

Another name recently bandied about by the press in City's search for centre-back help was Martin Demichelis, per Jack De Menezes of The Independent.

City's urgency to sign a centre-back may be short-lived. Kompany, Nastasic and Micah Richards are all projected to be healthy soon. They could all come back fully fit, and this perceived need for reinforcement at centre-back will become only an unpleasant late summer memory.

But if City have proven anything during this summer transfer window, it is that too much is never enough.

So no one should be surprised if Pellegrini lands one more central defender before the window closes.