Club World Cup 2025: Manchester City winning trophy won’t make up for last season, says Pep Guardiola

Guardiola has reiterated a need for a smaller squad heading into the new season, having joked at the end of the last campaign he would “quit” unless the playing staff was cut.

City have a 27-man touring party for the Club World Cup; out-of-favour Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips have been left at home, James McAtee was not selected and Mateo Kovacic is injured.

Meanwhile, German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has been linked with a move to Turkish champions Galatasaray.

“We have – right now – a long squad, too many players, so we cannot go with 26, 27 players this season because there would be more [not] playing and step by step maybe a few players are going to move. But right now, Ilkay is absolutely part of my mind and the team.

“I would love to have the players that we have now all season. I would love it. I don’t have any complaints about the players, how they behave.”

He added: “The problem is they will be unhappy during the season. They will be sad, they will be disappointed. I don’t want that. For me it’s not a problem.

“I have more [players to select] and I don’t [want] six, seven players, if no injuries, being at home. So I do it that way. I do that for them.

“So that’s why we have to see what happens. We still have a long time, I would say, until the transfer window will be closed.”