Manchester City’s US tour: teenage stars and a chance for Jack Grealish to shine
Pre-season will see some unfamiliar starting lineups as Pep Guardiola wrangles with a host of absent first-team regulars
The starting point for this summer sojourn to the US is to review the group available to Pep Guardiola to face Celtic, Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea because it shapes the planning. The major international tournament participants Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Rúben Dias, Matheus Nunes, Jérémy Doku, Nathan Aké, Manuel Akanji, Phil Foden, Rodri, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Julián Álvarez are absent, and the Croatian duo Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol will join up partway through. City have made only one acquisition, bringing in Savinho from City Football Group’s Troyes after time on loan at CFG’s Girona – you get the idea. He was part of Brazil’s Copa América squad so is unavailable, leaving fans to wait to get a glimpse of the right winger.