Pep Guardiola burst through one wing of an aristocratic villa that was in danger of becoming a little claustrophobic. A hoodie on, the guy sweltered in Sicilian heat at gone 9pm.
A seemingly never-ending day still had some embers left. He looked frazzled and the season, a season that could define the final acts of Guardiola’s time in England, hadn’t even started yet.
Manchester City were in Palermo last weekend for their final pre-season friendly. The travel was hectic to say the least, the team caught up in air traffic problems at Manchester Airport on the way out. Stuck at the terminal, with Canadian rapper Drake – who had played in front of Erling Haaland at the Co-op Arena over the road from the Etihad Stadium earlier in the week – also knocking around.
City were delayed so long that Guardiola, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders all had to hotfoot it over to a gala dinner for dignitaries at a fabled 16th century residence rather than first check in to their Grand Hotel et des Palmes.
En route there, a casualty on the motorway saw it ground to a standstill. In the end, City – through no fault of their own – were almost three hours late to their various engagements.
The whirlwind hasn’t subsided since, either. Guardiola’s assertion that night had been that City were done for incoming transfers – and focusing on shifting ‘a lot’ out the other way. Seventy-two hours after, it was emerging that Gianluigi Donnarumma and Real Madrid’s electric winger Rodrygo stood as very real possibilities, were Ederson and Tottenham target Savinho to leave.
Pep Guardiola has got back the ‘fire in the belly’ this summer, with huge pressure on Manchester City to perform after a spending spree in 2025
Ederson and Savinho could be on their way out of the Etihad Stadium in the final weeks of the window, to Galatasaray and Tottenham respectively
Rodrygo, who caused City fans so much pain in 2022 with his late brace to knock them out of the Champions League, is now being targeted to replace compatriot Savinho on the wings
City go to Wolves on Saturday, beginning a very tricky opening to this campaign – Tottenham, Brighton, Arsenal and the Manchester derby either side of the international break – without knowing what their team looks like come the end of the transfer window.
Both the aforementioned targets, household names, are a departure from the normal profile of signing City look at and perhaps a sign of which direction new director of football Hugo Viana is taking them in.
Outside the club there will be theories and question marks around who takes the gloves long term. City have made it plain this week that they want Ederson to stay, and only when that looks inconceivable will they look for a new goalkeeper. But other sources have suggested different.
In fact, they say Ederson is actually waiting on City finalising a move for Donnarumma before joining Galatasaray. For two summers running, Guardiola has asked the Brazilian to stay and claimed that ‘right now’ he is the No 1. ‘If he is fit, he starts (at Wolves),’ Guardiola said.
Where does James Trafford, the £27million signing from Burnley just over a fortnight ago, fit into the equation? Guardiola has this and more to answer in the coming days.
The team selection at Molineux will offer clarity, although it’s highly unlikely the manager is fully aware of his preferred XI at the moment. He named an unfit Rodri, the injured Mateo Kovacic and £50m January signing Nico Gonzalez as his No 6 options, so the latter is struggling if not starting at Wolves. The back four needs to settle. The technical wingers or the speedsters?
One of the latter, Savinho, seems intent on leaving. Spurs are going back in for Brazilian, with City expecting somewhere closer to £70m for a player that only signed 12 months ago for around £31m.
‘He has he has to improve in final positions but he is an extraordinary player,’ Guardiola said before adding pointedly: ‘Otherwise, he would not have played more than 3,000 minutes last season.’
Publicly Guardiola is stating that Ederson remains his No 1, but moves to sign Champions League winner Gianluigi Donnarumma are afoot
Nico Gonzalez has failed to make an impression since joining in January for £50million – and if he can’t make the side with Rodri and Mateo Kovacic injured tomorrow, he’s in trouble
Erling Haaland noted during an event for the City’s community arm that Guardiola seems very ‘serious’ about correcting last season’s ills
Guardiola publicly manoeuvred around the thorny issues of Ederson and Savinho – saying the latter is now injured – on the eve of a season that City have to get right. Much like Liverpool, they have spent too much money in recent months to go backwards.
There is an embarrassment of options, more than ever before in a numbers sense, and once they navigate this period of the window, the prospects ought to become clearer.
Reijnders, for example, is giving the vibe of Ilkay Gundogan before he joined Barcelona, that ghosting into the box and timing runs in a way that should make him a back-post menace. The Dutchman’s brace in Palermo offered encouragement that City can make sure more players register more than 10 goals and assists in the league – numbers that were way down last year.
Guardiola is up for this. During an event raising tens of thousands of pounds for City’s community arm on Wednesday night, Haaland remarked how ‘serious’ the manager was about correcting the ills of last season.
‘Hungrier than ever,’ was delivered with real feeling. Haaland also gently claimed he wants to win the Carabao Cup to complete his personal set, although the goals ought to be somewhat grander.
Guardiola, sources say, bounded through their first friendly – a behind-closed-doors afternoon against Preston North End. He enthusiastically discussed how no tour abroad allowed more time on the training ground and, while after that long day last Friday he intimated they are underprepared, is known to be ‘back’ in the sense of enjoying coaching and trying new things. ‘Fire in the belly,’ has been mentioned by one source.
Pep Lijnders is a significant contributor here, as detailed by Daily Mail Sport during the Club World Cup. Long after training sessions, the pair scurry around talking concepts through. Lijnders is challenging him and it would be no surprise to see tactical alterations in the coming weeks.
Ex-Wolves boss Gary O’Neil, invited inside to watch for a day last week despite some prickly comments about Big Six bias after defeat by City last year, was afforded a front row seat to their constant back and forth.
Tijjani Reijnders has made a serious impact already, scoring twice against Palermo and showing flashes of Ilkay Gundogan in his playing style
Jurgen Klopp’s old No 2 Pep Lijnders is constantly talking to and challenging Guardiola
Haaland is aiming to complete the trophy set with the Carabao Cup – though City will want more than just that
Leant up against a wall beside the dressing room at the bottom of the enchanting Renzo Barbera Stadium in Italy, Guardiola, Lijnders, Kolo Toure and set-piece coach James French were deep in conversation.
There were aspects of the 3-0 victory that were pleasing but moments of defensive shakiness, which were the hallmarks of their shock defeat by Al Hilal in America, that need correcting.
Once the backroom staff headed for the bus, teenage academy product Divine Mukasa – composed during his half an hour cameo up front – sought out the manager. They shared a moment, Mukasa looking chuffed as Guardiola affectionately congratulated him.
A content Catalan boarded the Ascend Airways flight out of Palermo the next morning, arriving home 25 minutes early. Ascending, early – it’s what Guardiola wants but the beauty of City’s transition is that none of us can really predict how it ends with any great certainty anymore.
