Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will lose some of his trusted assistants this summer but there will be fresh help for the Club World Cup
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Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, gestures prior to the FA Cup Final match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
Manchester City will use Under-21 coach Ben Wilkinson and his assistant Craig Mudd at the Club World Cup. The pair will help to prepare Pep Guardiola’s squad for matches as the manager looks set to oversee a large group in the United States amid a coaching reshuffle in the first team.
City’s participation in the revamped FIFA tournament has thrown up a number of complications for the summer and next season. Starting on June 14, it gives the players less than three weeks off from the end of their campaign - with many of them involved in international fixtures in that time as well.
FIFA have taken steps to ensure that each team in the tournament fields its strongest side, threatening sanctions against perceived signs of weakness. However, the Premier League have refused requests from City and Chelsea to delay their opening games of next season that would have protected the health of players.
With that in mind, Guardiola is expected to take a large group to the United States in order to spread the workload and give City the best chance of going deep in the tournament without harming their Premier League prospects before it has already begun. This will include a sizeable number of academy players alongside the first team stars.
Wilkinson and Munn have been drafted in to help the youngsters with everything they have to do in the squad, including acting as opposition teams in training for match preparation and filling out the group for recovery sessions. They will support the academy players to make sure they carry out the manager’s instructions as best as possible.
It is unclear which other coaches Guardiola will have with him at the tournament amid a summer of change. Braga are confident of appointing Carlos Vicens as their new head coach, while Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez are both expected to depart and more could follow.
That will see one of the biggest ever shake-ups to Guardiola’s backroom staff after nine years in charge. There have been a number of assistants that have left in that time, but never so many at the same time.
Wilkinson has impressed during his time in charge of the academy. He won the FA Youth Cup last year in charge of the Under-18s and lifted the Under-21 national title last week in his first season leading that age group, as well as guiding the Under-19s to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League - his best result since 2018.
Defenders Kaden Braithwaite and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey made their senior debuts this season, and a handful of others made matchday squads. Plenty are hoping for their chance during the Club World Cup in what may be a bigger opportunity than usual to catch Guardiola's eye.
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