Khaldoon Al Mubarak Pep Guardiola, Man City
(Credit: Hasan Karim - Breaking Media / Getty Images)
Stefan Borson
Thu 19 June 2025 7:00, UK
Manchester City have accelerated their rebuild following several new arrivals at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola‘s side finished third in the Premier League table in the 2024-25 campaign, with Liverpool claiming the title.
Man City have now confirmed the appointments of Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant Pep Lijnders and James French, who worked as an analyst at Liverpool for 13 years.
It comes after Guardiola’s former assistants Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez have left the club, while Carlos Vicens has taken over at Portuguese side Braga.
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider there appears to be a strategy to draw a line under the previous chapter and start a new one at the Etihad.
Man City have already spent around £115million on new additions after signing Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders this summer.
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It comes after the 10-time English champions spent around £180million on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez in the January transfer window.
Pep Guardiola Man City
Pep Guardiola is looking to rebuild his Man City squad (Credit: Imago)
Man City to sell first-team stars
Borson insisted some of the more experienced players are likely to leave this summer as Man City look to freshen things up.
He told Football Insider: “It’s a lot of change at the club.
“You look at the number of people that have left this summer from the coaching side and Lijnders coming in as well.
“I don’t think you should ignore the sort of player that City have got, not just in this window, but also over the last couple of windows.
“There are quite a lot of players that would not be perceived to be traditional Pep-style players, so they’ve obviously got some kind of ideas around changing things and mixing it up.
“But I think also in any organisation after a long time, particularly a long period of success, then you do need to at some point start to make changes and just freshen it up a little bit.
“I think last season was clearly a trigger for them accelerating that process and starting a new chapter, so I would think you’ll see more change because certainly what we’re going to see over the rest of the summer is, as well as all the people that have come in so far and I still think there may well be one or two more players coming in, I think there’ll be a lot of players going out.
“A lot of the older players, a lot of the established players. I think you are going to see generally a rebuild almost top to bottom, not just in the first team, but also behind the scenes as we’ve seen with these recent hires.
“I definitely think it’s a strategy as opposed to kind of just sort of stumbling upon these people or replacing one by one that there’s a strategy to draw a line under that chapter and start a new chapter.”
Premier League table top six
Man City finished third in the Premier League (Credit: Imago)
Jack Grealish to quit Man City
In terms of a potential exit, Football Insider revealed on 13 June Jack Grealish is set to leave Man City following interest from the likes of Tottenham, Newcastle United, Everton and Aston Villa.
However, the winger’s £350,000-a-week wages are set to make a permanent move difficult unless Guardiola’s side are willing to take a “massive hit” on their investment.
Man City could be forced to accept loan offers for Grealish due to his hefty pay packet.
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