Manchester City head coach Enzo Maresca will face the media today ahead of Sunday's trip to Cardiff to face Arsenal in the Community Shield. The traditional season curtain-raiser will be Maresca's first competitive match in charge of City.
Team News and Injury Updates
Maresca will provide team news updates today after Savinho and Rodri missed Thursday's open training session. Savinho was ill, making him a doubt for Sunday, while Rodri is not expected to return to training until today. Rodri will be on the agenda after Barcelona stepped up their interest in the World Cup winner this week. After the tournament, the 30-year-old underwent a minor back operation so is unlikely to play this weekend.
Tijjani Reijnders trained this week despite closing in on a move to Al Qadsiah. Meanwhile, Jack Grealish also featured after missing the pre-season tour of Asia.
Transfer Speculation and Training Observations
Reijnders is in advanced talks with Saudi Pro League club Al Qadsiah as a £50million deal advances. Reijnders was present at City’s open training session on Thursday but is in talks over a move to the Middle East and looks set to depart the Etihad just a year after arriving from AC Milan. He didn't take part in the session as those talks accelerate. Reijnders had attracted interest from Nottingham Forest this summer but it's Al Qadsiah who are set to secure the 28-year-old’s signature.
City's first team players were put through their paces in front of a large crowd during an open training session on Thursday afternoon at the Joie Stadium. The Blues held a City Are Back event with entertainment, interviews and activities on the eve of the new season, with plenty of kids and families watching on in the sweltering summer holiday heat. City welcomed back all their World Cup stars to training on Wednesday, aside from Rodri, who is due back on Friday. The likes of Erling Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku - fresh from signing his new contract - were among those to train in the heat under the watchful eye of boss Enzo Maresca, who addressed the crowd after the session along with record signing Elliot Anderson.
Competitive football is back this weekend but it feels almost secondary to what is happening off the pitch. A number of players have been linked with exits this week. On Thursday, Reijnders closed in on a permanent departure to Al Qadsiah. Meanwhile, Barcelona were informed by City they would need to bid £70m for Rodri this summer. Savinho missed open training on Thursday amid speculation he could leave for Spurs. However, the club confirmed he was absent due to illness.
With all that going on, we can expect transfer business to dominate the press conference. However, we should also receive team news updates ahead of the Community Shield. Haaland and Anderson were among the World Cup stars returning to Manchester this week and they trained on Thursday. How their minutes are managed this weekend remains to be seen.
