Man City make pre-season decision as Pep Guardiola finalises plans

Manchester City are back in pre-season training on Monday and they are finalising plans for the three-week block before the start of the new season.

City aren't expected to add another friendly to their schedule this summer

Manchester City are unlikely to add another pre-season friendly to their calendar ahead of the start of the Premier League season in August.

Pep Guardiola's squad return to pre-season training on Monday (July 28) after being given four weeks off at the end of the Club World Cup, where they lost to Al Hilal in the last-16.

That means City will have three weeks of training before they begin their attempts to bring the Premier League title back to the Etihad against Wolves at Molineux on Saturday, August 16.

City will spend the first couple of weeks training at the CFA as Guardiola and his coaching staff try to get the players back up to fitness. They will then play Palermo in a friendly on Saturday, August 9.

That fixture is against a fellow club in the City Football Group ownership structure and will be played at the Serie B club's Renzo Barbera Stadium at 8pm UK time.

The two teams will also be competing for the Anglo Palermitan Trophy, named in honour of the Sicilian club’s maiden fixture against a team of British sailors in 1900.

City had considered arranging another friendly ahead of the start of the domestic season, but that is now not expected to happen. The Blues could potentially play a behind-closed-doors game at the training ground at late notice, but there are no plans to add a public fixture to the calendar before that date with Wolves.

Instead, the focus will be on training to prepare the squad for the new campaign. Uncertainty exists about how clubs that participated in the Club World Cup this season will fare, and City will run the rule over their players next week to assess their condition.

They will also assess Rodri next week on his return to pre-season training. He limped out of the defeat to Al Hilal with what looked like a minor problem but he is expected to report for training on Monday.

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