Manchester City’s players who participated in the FIFA World Cup have decided to return to training early and help manager Pep Guardiola’s attempt to defend the Premier League title.
The English champions have 16 players who played in Russia, with the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling not due back until next weekend.
All were given three weeks off from the moment their involvement in the tournament ended.
However, Guardiola on Friday said that only two of his squad would not be available for the Football Association Community Shield season opener against Chelsea on Aug. 5.
“Most of them are coming back. We have just four or five days to prepare for the first final, so we have to adapt,” Guardiola said, speaking ahead of City’s final match of a US tour against Bayern Munich in Miami yesterday. “Some of them are coming back before, some are coming back after the final.”
“We need players for the final, but if they are not coming back, we’ll play with the guys who are here,” he said. “It is not an ideal situation, we prefer to be together, but it is the same for [Bayern manager] Niko Kovac or for the other managers — the calendar is the calendar so we have to adapt.”
Guardiola stressed that there would be no major moves to improve his squad before the transfer window closes, with the summer arrival of Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City his only piece of business so far.
“If we do, we sign one more, but in this moment we stay with what we’ve got,” he said. “It’s so expensive and we spent a lot last year, because we had an old squad. Maybe one, maybe not.”
Guardiola spent three years at Bayern and insisted his spell in Germany was like a “dream” — even if he failed to win the UEFA Champions League.
“I have a better perspective now that I am looking back at my time there and it’s always positive,” Guardiola said. “In three years there are good and bad moments. The dream is to win the Champions League. We were close. I still have friends and an apartment there.”
“I will never have a bad word to say about Bayern,” he said. “It was a dream, an important part of my life and I have no regrets about what happened there.”
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