Manchester City handed major Club World Cup advantage as Premier League introduce newfound transfer window | OneFootball

Manchester City and Chelsea will be allowed to sign players before the Club World Cup begins in mid-June, the Premier League have confirmed.

City and Chelsea will represent the Premier League in the FIFA Club World Cup – which will be held in the months of June and July – before the start of pre-season ahead of the commencement of the 2025-26 campaign.

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are fighting to secure a place in the Premier League top four and finish what has been a disappointing campaign on a high by securing UEFA Champions League qualification for next season.

The Blues return to action after the recent international break on Sunday, when they face fellow Premier League side Bournemouth in the FA Cup quarter-final, representing a must-win for Guardiola’s men to secure some form of silverware this term.

City have failed to win the Premier League title for a fifth consecutive year and exited the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage after suffering a 6-2 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid in February.

Guardiola signed a two-year extension in November and will be backed in the upcoming transfer window by newly-appointed sporting director Hugo Viana to strengthen City’s first-team squad and challenge on all fronts next season.

Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish and Ederson could all leave in the summer and City have been linked with the likes of Florian Wirtz, Andrea Cambiaso and Ederson Silva to launch a new era at the Etihad Stadium.

In a statement released on Friday, the Premier League announced that Manchester City and Chelsea will be allowed to sign players in a transfer window running between 1-10 June.

The transfer window will then remain shut for five days and subsequently re-open on 16 June, running till 1 September.

City spent £181.5 million in January to sign the quartet of Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Nico Gonzalez and Omar Marmoush – and the upcoming window will give Guardiola a much-needed opportunity to ruthlessly conduct a overhaul within his ranks.