Yes Man. city will not got champion league this year at least pep need a time to make man.city becoming a strong team coz not much player pep buy for this season and aguero,silva,de brunne easy to get injury.
I think Man City current squad is quite strong, no need to buy more if you still have good players in the squad. Look at Mourinho, he spent hundred millions but Man United still doesnt play good enough. And actually Aguero rarely get injury, he is one of the strongest players in Europe.
Actually if Pep is serious about winning the CL he should get a player that could take De Bruyne's spot. Thinking about it more De Bruyne's current for is making him almost essential to be on every match. But that would be impossible as we have recently seen.
Could Gundongan be trained and possibly take De Bruyne's spot in the future if De Bruyne is injured? Or maybe acquire someone else this January, I could imagine the fatigue of the teams by that time. But who should Pep acquire?
Gundoegan is good, but his best position is center midfielder imo, not like De Bruyne as attacking midfielder. If De Bruyne is injured, then Pep just need to maximize his wingers like Navas, Sterling, Leroy, and Nolito. But yeah I think you re right, Pep must seek another player who has same typical with De Bruyne.