Russia burn-out will give Pep a headache
CITY’S marketing suits will have been delighted to see so many of the club’s star names contesting the later stages of the World Cup.
The Blues set a new record by having 11 players in the quarter-finals of the Fifa tournament, all helping to boost the club’s profile.
But the downside is that City have planned to give their star names a minimum of three weeks’ holiday each to recharge their batteries after a punishing domestic season followed by a tough World Cup.
And having so many players in the last eight of the tournament means that most of them are not scheduled back until the opening week of the season.
Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Fabian Delph and Benjamin Mendy are almost certain to miss the Community Shield as they are not due to report back until the weekend of the Wembley showpiece against Chelsea.
They also have to be early doubts for the trip to the Emirates for a glamorous opening fixture – although you can be sure they will all be intent on proving themselves fit and ready to go, with a week in which to prepare to face the Gunners.
Brazil quartet Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Ederson and Danilo are scheduled to be back at the City Football Academy a couple of days before the Wembley date.
They could be involved, depending on their initial fitness readings, but are more likely to be focussed on being ready for the Premier League opener at Arsenal the following week.
None of the City World Cup stars will go on the USA tour, which means it will be a very young squad – plus Riyad Mahrez, Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane – which flies out to Chicago today.
There are also no plans for any of the returning players to join the later stages of that tour, even though David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Nicolas Otamendi, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan all exited the tournament early.
They are likely to return to the CFA for fitness work over the course of the next two weeks.
Gundogan is the first of the World Cup players scheduled for return – his three-week holiday would take him to Wednesday, just the day after the squad departs.
But even the Germany international is expected to remain behind in Manchester rather than try to play catch-up with players who began their preparations a week ago. So Guardiola will have some big selection decisions to take ahead of the Gunners’ match – and with no recognised leftback in his squad if, as expected, Aleks Zinchenko leaves, could even be forced to switch to three at the back. Most likely is that he will waive the norms of not rushing players back too early by ensuring De Bruyne and Co are ready for August 12. But if none of the players from the last four are ready, he will struggle to put out a viable team. CITY passed on United midfielder Fred because they were so confident they would sign Jorginho before they lost the Italian to Chelsea.
United had considered Jorginho as a potential replacement for Michael Carrick but opted for Fred in the wake of City’s unsuccessful offers for the Brazilian in January. City and United’s decision-making had seemingly given each other a free run at their first choice targets yet the domino effect has left City empty-handed.
Shakhtar Donetsk rejected two bids for Fred in the January transfer window from City, who switched their focus to a £57m deal for Aymeric Laporte.
United had no intention of intervening but began talks with Shakhtar Donetsk in March, by which time City had settled on Jorginho and Riyad Mahrez as their prime summer targets.
Mahrez completed a club record £60m transfer last week yet City’s decision to overlook Fred, who joined United for £52.7m last month, has ultimately backfired. Jorginho joined Chelsea for £57m as part of the agreement which involved his former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri becoming the club’s new manager.
The M.E.N. understands Jorginho had absolutely no preference to live in London, contrary to what Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis said, and was eager to join City.
The eventful saga ended on Saturday as the Stamford Bridge club paraded the 26-year-old Italy international with Sarri.
City believe Napoli bullied Jorginho into a Chelsea switch after they had agreed personal terms and verbally agreed on a £44m deal with the Serie A club.
They are also unhappy with the player’s agent, Joao Santos, who had tried to organise a medical in Manchester but refused to stand up to Napoli’s tactics.
Senior City sources have suggested the champions might not seek an alternative for Jorginho, despite interest in Real Madrid’s Croatia international Mateo Kovacic.