Enzo Maresca will welcome back six Manchester City stars from the World Cup before the team head off on their pre-season tour to Asia. The first players have already reported for duty at the City Football Academy, and more will join them before they fly to Hong Kong next Tuesday in a boost for the new manager.
World Cup Returnees Ready for Action
Maresca saw 17 of his squad represent their countries at the World Cup and some of those involvements have taken longer than others. Abdukodir Khusanov was the only one of those not to get out of the group stage, but that does mean he will have had four weeks rest and be able to fly out to Asia with the group.
He will be joined by Croatia duo Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol, Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, Algeria defender Rayan Ait-Nouri and Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo after their teams were eliminated in early July at the last-32 stage. They will have had four weeks off at the end of their involvement and so will be available to play in every pre-season fixture that City have.
Tour Schedule and Potential Late Additions
City face Inter in Hong Kong on August 1 as part of a week-long trip to the country and they will then head onto Korea for two fixtures against a K-League XI and Atletico. There is also a chance that some of the players who were eliminated in other knockout rounds, such as Ruben Dias and Omar Marmoush, could be able to join up for some part of the tour.
However, anyone who reached the final week of the World Cup will not likely be included among the late arrivals. Rayan Cherki, Rodri, James Trafford, Nico O'Reilly, Marc Guehi and Elliot Anderson will all be on holiday while City are in Asia as they rest up from a draining tournament at the end of a long season.
Early Birds Ready for Pre-Season
While it is less than ideal for Maresca to get so little of his first summer in charge with so many of his stars, the City boss will be able to call on a number of players from the start of pre-season. Phil Foden, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Nico Gonzalez are among those who have had the first part of the summer off and are ready to get preparations underway for the new campaign.
