BOCA RATON, Florida — After winning the FIFA Club World Cup in December 2023, Pep Guardiola walked into the media theatre at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Saudi Arabia and insisted he had “closed a chapter.” Everything was done, he said, and the last remaining piece of silverware was safely tucked away in Manchester CIty’s trophy cabinet.
It’s been 18 months since Guardiola’s emotional speech in Jeddah. But having arrived in Florida on Thursday evening ahead of the latest version of the Club World Cup, he delivered another.
The players had dinner — chicken, lamb and fish were all on the menu — and a stretch outside at the team hotel before the City boss gathered everyone together. Guardiola told them the tournament in the U.S. was a fresh start; it was drummed in that this isn’t a competition being tagged onto the end of the 2024-25 season, City’s worst campaign for a decade. Rather, it’s the start of the 2025-26 season and it should be treated as such.
It’s a small, but important, distinction: New season, new cycle, new chapter.
“As the defending champions coming into this new format, of course we’re very excited. We’re very excited to come in as champions,” said chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in his annual message to fans last month. “This is a very, very serious competition. We’re going there to win it. This is the beginning of the new season, not the continuation of last season.”
City have done as much as they can to make this feel like a clean slate. Players who aren’t part of Guardiola’s plans — Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips — have been left at home. And instead of taking their time bringing in fresh faces, new director of football Hugo Viana (helped by predecessor, Txiki Begiristain) has pushed through deals for Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Marcus Bettinelli at a cost of more than £100 million in transfer fees.
These were long-term targets City would have been happy to wait for, but the idea was to get as many new players as possible through the door during FIFA’s specially created Club World Cup transfer window, which ran from June 1-10. The hope is that being away with the squad — socialising as well as training — will help them settle quicker. By the time the new Premier League season kicks off in August, they should be fully up to speed.
City sources have told ESPN that the club’s transfer business might not be over and that Guardiola will “see how it goes” at the Club World Cup before pushing for more additions. With Walker on his way out, possibly to Fenerbahce though with late interest from Everton, there’s room in the squad for another right-back. There is adequate cover in the shape of Rico Lewis, Matheus Nunes and Manuel Akanji, but no concrete first choice. There was interest in Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso in January, though it’s cooled slightly since.
For Guardiola, this summer’s been just as important to start moving players on. He’s named a squad of 27 for the Club World Cup, though it would have been 28 had Mateo Kovacic not been ruled out with an Achilles injury. Guardiola has threatened to “quit” if he’s forced to work with a bloated squad next season, which means some players who have travelled to the U.S. for this competition might still end up departing this summer.
Vitor Reis, the 19-year-old Brazilian centre-back signed for nearly £30m in January, could leave on loan. There are also nagging question marks over John Stones, only fit enough to make 11 Premier League appearances last season, and Ilkay Gündogan, who is wanted by Galatasaray. Guardiola has said he wants a more durable group after being decimated by injuries last season.
Stones and Gundogan are two of a group of senior players who are entering the final year of their contracts, which also includes Éderson, Stefan Ortega and Bernardo Silva. Overall, the rebuild that began in January with Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Reis, and continued with Reijnders, Cherki and Ait-Nouri in June, is likely to carry on next summer.
The changes this summer are not restricted to players, either. Trusted staff members Juanma Lillo, Inigo Dominguez and Carlos Vicens have left, replaced by Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant at Liverpool, Pepijn Lijnders, and James French, who arrives from Anfield as set piece coach. The appointment of Lijnders is most eye-catching. The Dutchman was at the centre of the Liverpool team under Klopp, which Guardiola considers to be one of the fiercest rivals of his managerial career.
Kolo Touré, who has been working with the youth team, is also in the U.S. as part of Guardiola’s backroom team — City haven’t yet ruled out the former City and Liverpool defender taking on a permanent role in the future.
Sources have told ESPN one of Guardiola’s aims this season is to get his players to move the ball more quickly. It’s been inspired, in part, by Paris Saint-Germain‘s performance against Inter in the Champions League final, and it was noticeable during training at Lynn University on Saturday that Lijnders was constantly walking between the drills shouting “speed, speed.”
Fans may well see a quicker City team next season, with Saturday’s session in the humid Florida heat a long one. It started at 10 a.m. with quick passing drills, and ended with shape work nearly two hours later.
Nothing has been left to chance in terms of preparation for this Club World Cup either. City staff went on their first training ground site visits in October and returned twice more in December and March. On Saturday, as soon as the players had finished training on one field and moved to another, City’s own ground staff — who travelled from Manchester — were on mowers to repair the pitch.
Each game at the Club World Cup is being treated like a Champions League fixture. The only difference to the schedule is that players and staff will return to their Boca Raton base the night after games, rather than staying overnight in other cities for rest and recovery.
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Hislop changes view on the Club World Cup
Shaka Hislop say he was “wrong” about his early scepticism of the Club World Cup after the first few games of the tournament.
There has been some skepticism about the new tournament from within the squad, particularly the extra matches crammed into a packed calendar. Silva and Rúben Dias were playing in the Nations League final for Portugal as recently as June 8. However, now that they’re in the U.S. with the City squad, sources have told ESPN that the drive and competitiveness has taken over. Phil Foden says there’s a determination to become the first team to win the new trophy.
“It’s definitely a bit of that, yeah,” said Foden. “Obviously, speaking to a few of the lads, we’ve spoken about that, being the first on the trophy would be nice. So that’s definitely the aim, and with the players that we have and the quality we have in the team, I am pretty sure we’re more than capable of doing that.”
Ahead of the first game against Moroccan side Wydad AC in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Guardiola has been described by City sources as “happy and relaxed.” He greeted reporters at one open training session with a smile and a handshake, even saying how much he was enjoying the weather, which has been mostly 80 degrees and sunshine except for the odd tropical rain shower.
For the first time during Guardiola’s incredible City reign, the storm clouds gathered over the Etihad last season. He’s hoping to use the Club World Cup and his time away in the U.S. to start blowing them away before setting his team on course for brighter days ahead.
