Manchester City moved onto Korea this week for the second part of their summer tour to Asia. Having spent a week in Hong Kong, the Blues play two matches in Seoul and were 3-1 winners over a K-League XI on Wednesday and face Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
Transfer Window Questions
Away from the pitch, transfers continue to dominate the conversation. Both incomings and outgoings remain a possibility as we creep towards deadline day at the beginning of September.
There are plenty of questions to be answered on the transfer window and so much more, so we'll be hosting a weekly Q&A session with our chief City writer Simon Bajkowski. This is your chance to get an answer on anything you want - simply pop your question here and Simon will pick them all up and wrap everything up in one place.
Take a look at the latest batch of answers, below.
Is This Hugo Viana's Most Important Summer?
Do you think this is Hugo Viana's most important summer? He needs to get new midfield construction spot on. We have seen him operate for more than 1 window, while his talent spotting for Khusa, Vitor Reis has been spot on, he has missed mark on Nico G, Marmoush, Tijjani, (these all were heavy commitments as well). All I have read online (& heard on podcasts) is that he is more proactive than Txiki and might be less conservative in terms of deals signing but nothing beyond that. Ashu
We will start with transfers, and I think this is a very good question so thanks Ashu. Someone in football once said that you can only judge a manager after three transfer windows and I think the same applies to a sporting director. We are effectively approaching the end of Hugo Viana's third transfer window so I think it will be fair to judge him at the end of it - even if the jury will remain out on players signed.
It's also arguably the most important summer for him because Pep Guardiola has left. The Catalan loomed large over everybody and everything - one of Begiristain's motifs used to be that as long as targets could play Guardiola could teach them the rest - but now that he has gone Viana's role becomes more important. He has to get the recruitment right to give Maresca the best possible chance.
There is still plenty of time left over the next four weeks, but it is also fair to say that City haven't made the progress that people at the club thought they would since the World Cup ended and that a lot still needs to be done.
How Are Players Coping with the Heat?
It’s ******* hot. Are the players alright? Kim
Never mind the players, what about the journalists?! I did feel slightly happier to see the locals moaning about the heat and bringing fans to the game as they sweated profusely, but that was cancelled out by the amount of sweat coming out of me and the fact that I didn't have a fan.
But enough about that, it's going to be very difficult for them. Phil Foden said that they would likely have to play a slower tempo because of the heat and instead we saw them start quickly and then do nothing after getting knackered after 20 minutes. There is an open training session on Saturday that is supposed to last an hour on top of the match and Maresca seems firm on wanting to get proper sessions done but you just can't in this heat.
Haaland's Captaincy Chances
Does Haaland have a chance to be the first captain? Kay
He does. Erling Haaland was one of the leaders last season and with Bernardo Silva having left and Rodri potentially following him out the door, that doesn't leave many leaders left. Haaland could get the captaincy but I think it will still be too early - when he was first given it 18 months ago it was more a reflection of the long contract that he had signed rather than he was ready to step up.
Haaland did become more of a leader last season but the expectation is still that Ruben Dias will get it. Dias thought he might be the next captain after Kyle Walker left but Guardiola chose Bernardo Silva. With Silva now moved on, it would be a real surprise if Dias wasn't given the nod this time.
Why Not Bruno Guimaraes?
If Rodri leaves and we replace him with Bouaddi, I think our squad will massively lack experience in the midfield. Why didn't City go after Bruno G when we have been linked to him in other transfer windows? He would have been good because of his experience and quality. Chima
Bruno Guimaraes is certainly an interesting one. City have liked him for ages, but as far ago as two years ago he was seen as too old to be spending the kind of money that would be needed to sign him from Newcastle - you were not going to get much resale value, and that is even more true now.
The case could be made that the Premier League has changed in two years and that City are more in need of leaders and midfielders now than they were, and I think both points are valid - but it is still very understandable to see why they haven't moved for him. Our colleagues in the north-east described the Guimaraes transfer as a world record fee for a midfielder in his age bracket, and City have always preferred to spend those sums on much younger players such as Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi.
Academy Players and World Cup Stars
Can we expect major playtime from all academy players brought to Asia during friendlies? Will any World Cup players come join the crew during rest of the Asian Tour？Nick
First things first, there won't be any more players joining up with the City squad. Anybody who reached the quarter-finals or later of the World Cup is only returning to Manchester next week when the touring party gets back, so there will be no Haaland or anyone else in Korea.
On to young players and while Maresca did include a lot of youngsters in the squad it was noticeable in the first friendly that he didn't really use many of them - in the starting XI, there was only Stephen Mfuni in defence and Divin Mubama in attack. The lineup for the second friendly was even stronger, with only Mubama starting.
It feels like given Maresca really doesn't have long to sort his plans for the new season he is trying to get together a team that can face Arsenal in the Community Shield and Bournemouth in the Premier League as quickly as possible. The backline is fairly sorted and several attacking spots as well, with others having the chance to play their way in; that doesn't mean that youngsters can't impress on tour but they're not the immediate priority.
Vitor Reis: First Team or Loan?
Will Vitor Reis be part of the first team this season or will he be loaned out again? Abdalla Elsir
I don't want to cop out on this one but I think the jury is still out. He has been given pre-season to be assessed and Maresca has liked what he has seen, but at the same time he hasn't started either of the first two friendlies and that would have been a real show of faith.
City are incredibly strong at centre-back with Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, Dias and Josko Gvardiol all ahead of Reis and arguably capable of starting for any team in the Premier League, so Reis is going to have to be patient and wait for his chances if he is to stay. He has the ambition to want to stay and take on that challenge, but at the end of the tour a decision will be made on whether that is best for him or if a loan to a club where he can play every week at a high level is in fact the best option
