Manchester City's defender Josko Gvardiol (C) plays during the open training ahead of their friendly football match against Inter Milan for the Asahi Super Dry Trophy at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong on July 31, 2026 (Photo by May JAMES / AFP via Getty Images)
Josko Gvardiol ahead of the first Manchester City friendly
View 3 Images
Josko Gvardiol is such a thrill-seeker that he spent a morning this summer getting rolled round in a plane by a stunt pilot. Even that wasn't as dizzying as the final few weeks of Manchester City's season.
Gvardiol had defied diagnoses to return two months early from a broken leg suffered in January, and was handed a shock start by Pep Guardiola at home to Crystal Palace with ten days left of the campaign.
Then they went down to London to win the FA Cup, came back to Manchester, went back down to Bournemouth where they lost the Premier League title to Arsenal, came back up to Manchester where Guardiola told them all he was leaving after ten years in charge, and then had the mother of all send-offs for the manager with a parade and party in the city centre.