Man City had to 'accelerate' squad overhaul, says chief Soriano

Manchester City chief Ferran Soriano revealed the club have "accelerated" their recruitment drive after a slow start to last summer's window. 

The lack of arrivals contributed to their poor start to their title defence, as a poor stretch over November and December saw them fall way behind leaders Liverpool. 

Indeed, across those aforementioned months, Pep Guardiola's side managed just one win in 13 games across all competitions (D3 L9), seeing an overhaul of arrivals in January. 

The Citizens welcomed Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov in the mid-season window at a reported cost of £180 million ($241.67 million).

City ended the Premier League season with a 10-game unbeaten run, their longest of the season and the longest streak without defeat by any side to end the 2024-25 campaign.

That culminated in a 2-0 away win over Fulham, securing Champions League football and the ability to attract some of the best talent to the Etihad Stadium. 

Ahead of their Club World Cup campaign, City welcomed Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Marcus Bettinelli for a reported £100 million ($134.26 million).

"We are very happy, I'm happy with the work that we did," said CEO Soriano.

"This is part of multi-annual planning. Last summer we only bought one new player but this year between the winter and the summer it will be eight new ones.

"It's part of the annual cycle, the renewal of the squad. We accelerated some of it and now we are very happy with the squad we have."

The club have not ruled out more potential arrivals in the window, while the likes of Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker have both been linked with moves away. 

Kevin De Bruyne also called time on his stellar stint with the Citizens and has since joined Napoli, with midfielder Kalvin Phillips also keen to secure first-team football. 

"It's part of the game," added Soriano. "We look for stability. The fact that Pep is going to be with us for 10 years shows that we are a stable club.

"But the squad needs to be renewed. It's something that happens naturally.

"We've had fantastic players like Kevin De Bruyne who spent a decade with us. That's a testament to his quality but also our stability."

Next up for City is a clash with Al Ain in Atlanta as they look to build on their 2-0 victory over Wydad AC in their first group game of the competition. 

The Citizens have won all three of their matches at the Club World Cup (including all formats), outscoring opponents, 9-0, in those matches.

The only team to win their first four Club World Cup matches is Bayern Munich (first five through matchday 1 in 2025). And Soriano insisted Guardiola and his players are targeting the trophy and the crown of world champions.

"We are very excited by it," he said. I think it's something that was very much needed, soccer is a global sport and we have to make it global.

"I think it's a great initiative and we are very happy to be here. The ambition for City in any competition is to win it. That's the status of the club.

"Obviously it's not possible to win always so we want to go as far as we can. But the ambition of Manchester City always is to win."