Pep Guardiola lauds Manchester City’s Premier League debutants after Wolves win | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise for the club’s summer signings after his side’s 4-0 win over Wolves in their opening game of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign.

A brace from Erling Haaland and debut strikes from Rayan Cherki and man-of-the-moment Tijjani Reijnders completed a convincing Manchester City victory at the Molineux Stadium on Saturday evening.

James Trafford also kept a clean sheet on his Premier League debut for Manchester City. The 22-year-old returned to his boyhood club from Burnley for £27 million this summer, starting against Wolves as Ederson didn’t travel with the squad owing to fitness concerns, as laid out by Guardiola.

Having started on the bench, Cherki came on for Haaland in the second half and less than eight minutes into his Premier League debut, the 21-year-old France international found the bottom corner with his weaker foot from outside the box to put the icing on the cake for the Manchester City faithful.

City have made six new additions to their first-team squad this summer, with the departures of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, James McAtee, Scott Carson and Jack Grealish (loan) marking a major summer overhaul of the first-team squad.

Hugo Viana replaced Txiki Begiristain as the club’s director of football earlier in the summer and the Portuguese executive has spearheaded a period of transition for the club after the disappointing 2024-25 campaign.

Hailing the club’s dealings in the transfer window after the opening day thrashing of Wolves, Guardiola paid a tribute to the Manchester City board after witnessing the likes of Reijnders, Trafford and Cherki impress on their respective Premier League debuts.

“The club always makes good signings. I never, never found a player that is not good in the Premier League, not just Manchester City – never. You are a football player playing in the Premier League, it’s because you are good,” Guardiola said after the win.

‘Tijji (Reijnders) gives us something that we missed; he has incredible pace to the box. And the talent from (Rayan) Cherki is unbelievable, in small spaces, the creativity in the final third is extraordinary.”

Guardiola was also pleased with the performance of Oscar Bobb, who is staking a claim to be Manchester City’s first-choice right winger amid Tottenham’s interest in Savinho, who could be heading to north London before the September 1 transfer deadline.

“Many things I liked (against Wolves), (the) second half was a little better; we punished them on transitions,” the Manchester City manager added.

“We have incredible pace with Tijjani (Reijnders), Oscar (Bobb), Erling (Haaland), Omar (Marmoush) at the end – we have good pace. It’s a weapon we want to use this season. Regain the ball and attack quicker.”