Chairman: We want to make signings before the FIFA Club World Cup! | OneFootball

Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says Manchester City are targeting several new signings this summer – with the aim of revamping Pep Guardiola’s squad before the start of the FIFA Club World Cup on 14 June.

City’s 2024/25 Premier League campaign ended with victory at Fulham on Sunday, a result that saw us qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League.

But focus has immediately turned to improving the squad in time for our opening game at the Club World Cup.

The new tournament, which will see 32 teams from across the globe compete in a brand-new format played across 11 US cities, means there will be two transfer windows this summer.

The first runs from Sunday 1 June to Tuesday 10 June, allowing qualified clubs to add players to their squad before the tournament begins, with a second window running from Monday 16 June to Monday 1 September.

And the Chairman says City have been planning our moves in the market for some time in preparation to maximise the first opportunity to make additions.

“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,” he explained.

“And we'll go about our business, and it will be very clear, very swift.

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“Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”

Indeed, City’s squad rebuild has already begun, with the Club having made four significant signings in the January transfer window, bringing in Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez.

It was an unusual flurry of January activity for us, with City historically doing the majority of incoming deals in the summer transfer period.

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But despite that change of approach, the Chairman says he is happy with how the new players have settled at City during their first five months in English football.

“We already started that rebuild of this team in January,” the Chairman said.

“Normally we like to do our business in the summer and only in case of emergency, a special need that comes up, do we actually go and do business in January. That's been our MO, 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.

“I think, with Omar Marmoush, excellent player. And I think it’s very clear he's been on our radar for a while and would have been a target for this summer but the need was clear. He's come in and you can see, he's made an immediate impact.

“Then you have Khusanov. Khusanov is another very, very talented central defender that we've been, again, watching for a while. And again, in the winter, would have been a player that we probably would have made the move on this summer. But we needed to move early.

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“At that moment, if you remember, there was a lot of injuries in that very specific position, which is in central defence. And Khusanov is the type of young, versatile, very talented, central defender that I think would fit perfectly within our group.

“Vitor Reis, very talented central defender, very versatile. 19, young, but has all the attributes of what we think will be a tremendous player for this club.

“And then finally, Nico González, very talented player again, has been on our radar for a while.  We had very specific needs in that holding midfielder position in January.

“Never easy to move for players in the January window, never easy for them to come in and immediately perform in the Premier League to start with, in our team which is again, quite a team.

“But credit to all these four players. They all came in and immediately, added to the club and to the team.”