New Delhi: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has decided to give a number of his stars some extra time off before they start gearing up for another season of gruelling Premier League action. Manchester City had more players at the UEFA Euro 2024 than any other as 14 of their players were representing their country while Julian Alvarez was a part of Argentina’s Copa America winning squad.
Given the quality of players in their camp, it’s not surprising a number of Manchester City’s stars were involved in the latter stages of the International tournaments that took place over the summer. Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Phil Foden, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva, and UEFA Euro 2024 winner and Player of the Tournament, Rodri were all representing their country in Germany.
Out of these players, those who were knocked out in the knockout stages of the Euros, those being Ake, De Bruyne, Doku, Akanji, Dias, and Silva, have been granted permission to miss the pre-season tour of the US. These players have been asked to return by August 5, before City’s FA Community Shield match against Manchester United on August 10, 2024.
Our #EURO2024 and #CopaAmerica finalists! 🩵 pic.twitter.com/bI3IVWjPZm
— Manchester City (@ManCity) July 14, 2024
The players that were involved in the final of UEFA Euro 2024, namely Rodri, Foden, Walker, and Stones, discussions are going on at the City Football Academy regarding giving the Euro finalists more than three weeks off after an intense tournament in Germany. The upcoming 2024/25 season is going to be even more gruesome than the ones Pep and his players have endured till now with the UEFA Champions League expanding, which adds at the very least two extra games for the Citizens.
Apart from the UCL increasing the load on players, a revamped edition of the FIFA Club World Cup will also see Manchester City take part in the tournament as the winners of the 2023 UEFA Champions League at the end of the season. That will eat into the player’s fitness and drain their energy even more and City know they have to be well prepared for the season and manage the fitness of their squad better than they’ve had till now.
The Croatian duo of Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol are going to be the only senior players who were involved at the UEFA Euro 2024 and will still head off for the pre-season tour on Friday as Croatia were knocked out early in the tournament as they failed to make it out of their group.
Other senior team players who could accompany the Croatian pair in the US are Erling Haaland, whose Norway side failed to qualify for the Euros and the English duo of Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips, who didn’t make it to Gareth Southgate’s chosen 26 for the tournament. Oscar Bobb and James McAtee will be leading the youngsters who will fill out the rest of the squad.
Pep Guardiola has handed an extended break to some of his Manchester City star players who were involved in the final stages of the Copa America and the UEFA Euro 2024. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
