PEP GUARDIOLA will hold crunch talks with Manchester City stars as he begins a “tough” squad cull.
The Club World Cup holders were surprisingly dumped out of the by Al Hilal on Tuesday night and now go into their summer break.
Pep Guardiola is ready to trim the fat from his bloated Man City squad[/caption]
Guardiola named a squad of 27 players to travel to the USA – but left several more high-profile Man City names at home.
But he felt that even that was too many.
Pep said: “We have a big squad and we’ll see what happens. It’s tough. I’ve no idea – we’ll see with the club which ones. We’ll talk with the players as well.
“But we’ll rest, come back in the next few days and start the Premier League. The season will be so long and many things can happen. That’s the reality.
“It’s a really good squad but I’m disappointed for many players we would have loved to let them play but it wasn’t possible. “
Director of football Txiki Begiristain will now leave his post – with his successor Hugo Viana helping to make the calls.
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Pep spent around £275million on signing eight new faces since the turn of the year – and some players will need to make way.
He has generally liked to work with a squad containing around 20 or 21 outfield players along with a group of goalkeepers.
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England trio Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips were all left at home and are likely to go.
Their Three Lions team-mate John Stones did not play a single minute in the tournament after fighting back from injury.
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Chelsea are keeping Premier League hopes alive in the big tournament which is on until the final at New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium July 13.
Though Manchester City have been knocked out by Saudi Pro side Al-Hilal after losing in a 4-3 thriller.
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He says he wants to stay but so too do Ilkay Gundogan and Ederson who are also heading into the last year of their contracts.
Mateo Kovacic is currently out injured but could also be under threat due to the number of new midfielders who have arrived.
England Under 21 skipper James McAtee is also up for grabs if a club can offer above £25m for him.
Meanwhile Guardiola must decide whether to keep youngsters like Oscar Bobb, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in the squad or send them out on loan.
City flew back from their Miami training base on Tuesday and were due to land in the early hours of Wednesday.
The players will now get a month off before returning to pre-season training – which should dispel concerns about fatigue next season.
But skipper Bernardo Silva said there were no positives to take from their early exit.
He said: “Nobody wanted to lose, nobody wanted more vacations. We’re very used to not having holidays because the schedule is crazy.
“But when we are in a competition we take it very seriously and we wanted to win it.”
Man City’s bloated squad in full
GOALIES
- Ederson
- Stefan Ortega
- Marcus Bettinelli
DEFENDERS
- Kyle Walker
- Ruben Dias
- John Stones
- Nathan Ake
- Rayan Ait-Nouri
- Vitor Reis
- Josko Gvardiol
- Manuel Akanji
- Abdukodir Khusanov
- Rico Lewis
- Josh Wilson-Esbrand
MIDFIELDERS
- Tijjani Reijnders
- Mateo Kovacic
- Nico Gonzalez
- Rodri
- Ilkay Gundogan
- Bernardo Silva
- Matheus Nunes
- Rayan Cherki
- Claudi Echeverri
- Maximo Perrone
- Phil Foden
- Oscar Bobb
- Nico O’Reilly
- James McAtee
- Kalvin Phillips
- Jack Grealish
FORWARDS
- Omar Marmoush
- Erling Haaland
- Jeremy Doku
- Savinho
TOTAL PLAYERS: 34
