(Football news) A new era has begun at the Etihad Stadium where new sporting director Hugo Viana is working alongside outgoing chief Txiki Begiristain during a transition period, with their focus primarily on a much-anticipated squad rebuild.

Manchester City endured a disappointing 2024-25 campaign by their incredibly high standards, failing to win a major trophy for the first time in eight years and leaving it until the final weekend of the Premier League season to secure a top-five finish and Champion League football for next season.

After winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive English top-flight title last season, the Citizens only made two signings last summer in the form of Savinho and Ilkay Gundogan – the former joined from Troyes for an initial £21m and the latter returned on a free transfer from Barcelona – while Julian Alvarez was sold for a club-record fee to Atletico Madrid.

On reflection, Al Mubarak believes that Manchester City “should have been more aggressive” in the transfer market, and ultimately, it “ended up costing us this year.”

Man City “will be very clear, very swift” in transfer market

Al Mubarak has now confirmed that Manchester City’s immediate focus has turned to improving Guardiola’s squad in time for their opening group game at the newly-expanded Club World Cup, held in the United States, against Wydad AC on June 18.

FIFA recently announced that there will be two transfer windows this summer; the first runs from June 1 to June 10 June, allowing qualified teams for the Club World Cup to add players to their squad before the tournament begins, and the second will run from June 16 to September 1.

Manchester City, the current holders of the Club World Cup, are one of the favourites to win the trophy once again and have been given a huge incentive to build a strong squad for the tournament, as the winner will receive a £97m prize.

Speaking to mancity.com as part of his end-of-season review, Al Mubarak said: “I can tell you today, 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. Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”

Al Mubarak explains why Manchester City “had to act” in January window

Al Mubarak has acknowledged that Man City’s rebuild began in January when they spend in the region of £180m on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez – an unusual flurry of mid-season transfer activity by the club.

“We already started that rebuild of this team in January,” Al Mubarak said. “Normally we like to do our business in the summer and only in case of emergency, a special need that that comes up, do we actually go and do business in January.

“That’s been our MO (main objective), at least for the last seven or eight years. But this January, we had to act.

“We feel very good about these players. That’s four players in January, and that gives you an idea of what’s coming this summer because we will continue this summer with this, you know, serving the needs of the club.”

Who could Man City sign this summer?

With club legend Kevin De Bruyne departing upon the expiration of his contract at the end of June, Man City have been linked with several midfielders ahead of next season.

Recent reports claims that the Citizens are in talks to sign AC Milan’s Tijjani Reijnders, while they have also been credited with an interest in Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White and Club Brugge’s Ardon Jashari.

With Florian Wirtz seemingly favouring a move to Liverpool, Man City are understood to have turned their attention to a cheaper alternative in Lyon’s Rayan Cherki, with initial talks said to have started over a summer deal.

Man City have also been tipped to strengthen in the full-back department, with Newcastle United’s Valentino Livramento, Flamengo’s Wesley and Wolves’ Rayan Ait-Nouri having all been linked with move to the Etihad.

A move for a new goalkeeper has also been mooted amidst uncertain over the future of Saudi-linked Ederson, with Porto’s Diogo Costa and Espanyol’s Joan Garcia both believed to be high on their list of targets.

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