Club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak wants “very swift” and “aggressive” summer spending
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has warned Premier League rivals that Pep Guardiola’s squad are hungry for another league campaign after the disappointing end to the 2024-25 season. Other clubs should expect a reinvigorated and determined City next season.
Pep Guardiola’s side struggled through a campaign that failed to secure a major trophy, marking the first time since 2016-17 that the club has ended a season empty-handed. But rather than dwell on disappointment, the City squad are planning a return to the top of the Premier League.
“They want to come back, and they want to come back hungry,” Khaldoon said. “I can see the hunger in these players. They want to come back to pre-season. Normally these players are off and they’re starting to think about vacation time and so on.
“Honestly, every player I spoke to was telling me, ‘we’re coming back.’ We’re ready to come back in three weeks’ time. I was speaking to Rodri as an example, he’s looking for games. Erling didn’t want to go on vacation. He wanted to stay with the physios and prepare for next season.
“That’s the attitude you want and that’s exactly why you see me so positive. We’re going to come back strong, with a lot of positivity.”
Khaldoon praised Rodri specially for his discipline during recovery from injury late in the season. The Spanish midfielder missed most of the season due to an ACL injury, which played a big part in City’s drop-off.
“He trained hard, recovered hard, was very disciplined,” said the chairman. “He wanted to be on the pitch as soon as physically possible.
“But we have to also be careful, the doctors and the physios, they have to be comfortable, for him. We’re thinking of Rodri for the long term. We’re thinking of Rodri for his career and we wanted to make sure that we play it safe.
“He’s now fully fit and he’s ready. I have no doubt Rodri is going to come back to the heights of the Ballon d’Or year and more. I’m so excited about him coming back.”
Khaldoon also said that City’s quiet summer window in 2024 affected the team and promised an active and aggressive window this summer.
“Last summer, we probably should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed to do,” he said. “We didn’t do that and that ended up costing us this year.”
“Normally we like to do our business in the summer, but this January, we had to act. We signed four players in January, and that gives you an idea of what’s coming this summer because we will continue.
“We have clearly identified who exactly are the targets, in what positions, and we have our clear number one option, our clear number two option.
“And we’ll go about our business and it will be very clear, very swift. And our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”
