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Club World Cup provides the perfect reset for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City
For the first time since the 2016/17 season, manager Pep Guardiola has not been able to win a trophy with Manchester City.
After years of dominance, which included four successive Premier League titles and the club’s first ever Champions League triumph, the wheels well and truly came off during the 2024/25 campaign.
While City did have one of the best squads in recent memory, there will have come a point where Guardiola’s philosophy would flatline as rivals found the correct tactics needed to nullify the threat City posed. What no one saw coming was how drastic this flatline would be.
Yes, a lot of the problems can be pointed towards the absence of star midfielder and Ballon d’Or winner Rodri who injured his ACL against Arsenal in September, but Guardiola has often found solutions. Instead, it felt more like the same old was not going to cut it anymore.
In order to keep the squad on their toes, new faces needed to be brought in last summer. However, last summer's transfer window was a quiet one for City with just Savinho and the returning Ilkay Gundogan walking through the doors at the Etihad Stadium.
It’s no secret Guardiola prefers a small squad, but with City looking to find success on multiple footballing fronts, relying on stalwarts such as Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker was not going to be enough.
With one win in a 13-match run that stretched from the end of October to Boxing Day, panic stations were manned at the Etihad and in came a flurry of signings in an attempt to bulk up the squad.
New faces but no big impact...yet
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In the aftermath, club chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak admitted in an interview with City’s in-house media team that the club failed to complete the right business and promised that this would not happen again with incoming Director of Football Hugo Viana.
“This year is another year where I think when I look back, last summer, we probably should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed to do,” Khaldoon said.
“We didn’t do that and that ended up costing us this year.
“We already started that rebuild of this team in January. 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.”
The rebuild begins
It’s safe to say that City have been more aggressive this summer. For an approximately combined total of £109 million, the Blues have signed AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, Wolves left back Rayan Ait-Nouri and electric Lyon winger Rayan Cherki. Goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli has also joined City from Chelsea for a nominal fee.
These new faces have been met with positivity and filled in worrying gaps if City are to challenge for major silverware this season. The fact these new players get to spend a whole two months learning the ways of Guardiola will be of huge benefit, along with hopefully minimising the period where players adapt to his systems.
It’s around this time of the year when City usually are preparing for a far flung pre season tour which have become glorified marketing expeditions instead of actual training.
However, City this summer are instead involved in the FIFA Club World Cup with their opening game set for Wednesday against Wydad AC of Morocco in the opening round of fixtures in Group G live and free on DAZN.
In a group where the only real threat comes from Juventus, City are expected to cruise through to the knockout stages, but being part of a major tournament may just be the perfect setting manager Guardiola needs to re-ignite the hunger in his players ahead of a new era of success.
Fans are often taken aback by how intense Guardiola can be both in training and on matchday with many of his antics going viral, and it looked like last season he had the energy sapped out of him.
The major tournament feel of the Club World Cup should hopefully unlock that winning mentality from Guardiola which helped bring plenty of trophies to the Etihad Stadium, but he is someone who often leaves those outside of his inner circle guessing with his team selection and intentions on the pitch.
A new host of faces, a rebuild underway and a chance to add another trophy to the cabinet, this year’s Club World Cup in the United States is the start of a fresh slate for City.
Guardiola will be out to prove a point after failing to deliver last season and going far, or even lifting the new-look trophy in New Jersey on July 13th would be the perfect start heading into the start of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign in August.
But, if there is no trophy lift, then the secondary objective is to ensure that City are in a good position to replicate the success of the past. Some established faces such as Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish have exited or appear to be preparing for a move away from East Manchester, meaning new players will have to step up.
As a result, a new competitive spirit should emerge within the squad and then reflect on the pitch. If players are to get the best out of each other, sometimes a set of new ideas, new teammates, can inspire the classic ‘go again’ mentality.
Now on the eve of their opening game of the Club World Cup, the football world waits with bated breath for the Manchester City reset and how it could shape the sport once more.
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The winger has revealed that new coaches Pepijn Lijnders and James French have created a very intense environment in training as they look to get the squad back up to speed for this competition.
Doku has also praised the new signings Rayan Ait Nouri, Rayan Chekri, Marcus Bettinelli and Tijjani Reijnders, saying all have added something to the squad helped raise the level in training.
Watch every game of the 2025 Club World Cup live and free on DAZN. More information and to sign up to a free account here
