CITY Champions Blues are back in training
PRE-SEASON training is officially underway at the City Football Academy.
Pep Guardiola was at the Blues’ training ground yesterday as the first batch of players were put through their paces ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.
That includes any first-team players that have not been involved in the World Cup, such as Aleks Zinchenko, Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz, while those who were out on loan last season – including Jason Denayer, Bersant Celina, Patrick Roberts, and Joe Hart – are also back.
Filling out the sessions are a number of academy players, with young defender Cameron Humphreys - a surprise pick by Manuel Pellegrini for the 2015 pre-season tour to Australia - back on the pitch after a serious injury last season.
Roberts and Zinchenko are among the players linked with moves away from the Blues before the end of the transfer window, but barring any departures this group will form the bulk of the squad Guardiola takes to the States for pre-season friendlies with Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.
The City coach is keen for all of his players participating in the World Cup to have three weeks of rest before committing to another long slog in four competitions, meaning the return of first-team players will be staggered across July and August.
That means Ilkay Gundogan, knocked out in the group stage with Germany, will be expected back in the third week of July, with last-16 exiters Bernardo Silva (Portugal), David Silva (Spain), Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Otamendi (both Argentina) a week later.
Brazilian quartet Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Ederson and Danilo are pencilled in to return in the week preceding the Community Shield with Chelsea at Wembley, when the rest of the squad will have returned from the States.
And the seven players involved in the final week of the World Cup England’s John Stones, Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Kyle Walker, Belgium duo Kevin de Bruyne and Vincent Kompany along with France’s Benjamin Mendy - will have until the week before the season begins to rest up after their efforts on international duty.
“I’m pretty sure the guys that are going to go to the World Cup - maybe 80pc like all the big clubs - they will have a minimum three weeks off,” Guardiola said when asked about the subject last season.
“They are not going to come back [for friendlies].
“If we cannot play good games in pre-season in the States or China or wherever we are going to be, I’m sorry. They deserve it going to the World Cup after a tough season. They need to breathe and refresh.”