Manchester City will be busy this summer in the transfer window as they seek to bounce back from a difficult campaign
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Khaldoon Al Mubarak of Manchester City gives his annual chairman's interview in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Lexy Ilsley/Manchester City FC)
Khaldoon Al Mubarak has conducted his annual interview with Manchester City club media
Manchester City may have ended the season without a trophy for the first time in eight years, but behind the scenes there was a composed belief that the Blues would bounce back from a troubled campaign.
City finished third in the Premier League and were beaten in the FA Cup final by Crystal Palace having made early exits from the Champions League and Carabao Cup. But Pep Guardiola's side rallied in the closing weeks of the campaign to secure a return to the Champions League for next season and, ahead of a crucial summer transfer window, hopes are high at the Etihad that the Blues can enjoy success next term.
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has spoken of his desire to conduct transfer business swiftly this summer ahead of the Club World Cup, and said there was no 'finger pointing' internally as the Blues sought to correct their campaign.
Speaking to club media, Al Mubarak said: “In a tough season like the one we've had, to end up where we've ended up, not at all anywhere near the aspirations that we've had and not anywhere near the high bar we've set upon ourselves. But listen, it's okay. It's a lot of lessons learned, a lot of experiences that we will never forget.
"A lot of challenges that we've, I've never dealt with personally, professionally, over these last 17 years combined. And the culmination of that is an experience that I believe will be invaluable for us going forward.
“The beauty about football is there's always a new season. And today we get to turn this page. The season that just passed, 24/25 is behind us. The records are there. What we have achieved and what we haven't. And it's basically black and white. What went into it, in terms of that journey, the emotions, from day one to yesterday is the experience that you learn from, and in life, particularly in the most challenging times, that's really where you learn about yourself, how you handle that stress, that pressure, when things get thrown at you that you don't expect, things from left field.
“Many circumstances just didn't work our way. And by the way, that happens in life, it happens. You're going to have injuries. You're going to have things that don't go your way. You're going to win games that you don't deserve, and you're going to lose games that you deserve to win. It just happens.
"There's just a lot of these things happened to us this season at the same time. And, we had to deal with it, and we had to stay strong. We had to stay focused. We had to stay, I would say, composed.
"I'm particularly proud of how we didn't overreact in the hardest times. So, dealing with that challenge was important for us to stay cool, understand the issues that we're dealing with. And I think we managed that. We managed it and we handled it as a group.
"There was no finger pointing. There was no quitting. There was persistence and there was perseverance. And at the end of the day, achieving what we had set ourselves to achieve in the midst of the hardest times. And I think we achieved it, which was at the end of the day, we needed to finish as high as possible.”
City will hope to reclaim the Premier League title next term and Guardiola is set to bolster his squad this summer. The Blues are keen on AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Nottingham Forest playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White while they have an interest in Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa. Wolves left back Rayan Ait-Nouri has also been linked.
And Al Mubarak said supporters can expect to see signings sooner rather than later.
"We have clearly identified who exactly are the targets, in what positions, and we have our clear number one option, our clear number two option," he said.
"And we'll go about our business, and it will be very clear, very swift. And our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”
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