Pep Guardiola is set to revamp his Manchester City midfield this summer as club targets return to the top having ended a season without any silverware for the first time in eight years
Manchester City will hold fresh talks with AC Milan over a £55m move for midfielder Tijjani Reijnders as Pep Guardiola looks to refresh his squad ahead of a renewed assault on all fronts next season.
Netherlands international Reijnders has become one of Serie A’s highest-rated midfield players and City are keen to seal a deal early in the window, while the club retain a firm interest in Rayan Cherki, who is eager to move from Lyon.
Kevin De Bruyne is unhappily leaving City and is fancied to join Napoli, while the futures of experienced figures Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva are unclear with Guardiola expected to revamp his midfield.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak last week said City would come back stronger next season having finished 13 points behind champions Liverpool. It was the first campaign in eight that City did not win a single piece of silverware, while the club’s legal battle with the Premier League rumbles on in the background.
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And Al Mubarak said: “We will be back. This season is a season that’s now behind us. Today is a new day. We start working and preparing for next season. And by the way, we’ve been doing that since January.
“And we will take all the good things and the not so good things from this season, and learn from it, improve from it and get better.
“I can assure you, this club will do everything possible to come back to the standards that we know we all can achieve – and that we know we will achieve.
“Because really, if there’s one thing I’d like right now, it’s to turn that page from last season and just immediately start focusing on next season. All the players, they’re excited about coming back. Nobody feels good about how we finished the season.
“They want to come back, and they want to come back hungry. And I can see the hunger. Normally these players are off and they’re starting to think about vacation time etc. Honestly, every player I spoke to was telling me, ‘we’re coming back’.
“That’s the attitude you want – and that’s exactly why you see me so positive. We’re going to come back strong, with a lot of positivity.”
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