Pep Guardiola is convinced that new signing sessions and coaching additions will breathe new life in Manchester City after a disappointing campaign.
The run of the citizens of four consecutive Premier League titles ended in 2024-25, with Arne Slot, in his first season in England, linging Liverpool to Glory.
City finished 13 points behind Liverpool, but managed to save a Champions League spot, despite a series of one victory in nine league games in November and December.
The Guardiola team lost nine Premier League matches last season, their joint campaign under Guardiola (also nine in 2019-20 -20).
They also failed to score the last term of six top matches, their most in one Premier League campaign since 2015-16 under Manuel Pellegrini (eight).
As a result, a series of changes in the club takes place, headed by the exit of Kevin De Bruyne, while they want to rebuild and go again in the next term.
“Always the same: give me good players,” Guardiola said in an exclusive interview with ESPN when he was asked what additions City need in the coming transfer window.
“The rest, it doesn't matter. The good players can adjust and adjust. We will adjust the movement or tactics or what we also say as managers for the quality of the players.
“And especially [give me] Players who go to Anfield go to [Real] Madrid, the Bernabeu, Barcelona, ​​Camp Nou or true and say, “Okay, I'm going to play my best.”
“That is the difference, the top players have that. But we do not adapt to the fact that we [had a tough season].
“If we win, I don't have to adjust anything? That's a mistake. If you win, you also have to adjust things.
“Day after day, Game by Game, week after week [you adjust]. Of course we will adjust some things, but not for the fact that we have just won the Shield community. “
Reports have suggested that the city is approaching when signing AC Milan -midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, who is expected to have a reimbursement of more than £ 55 million.
Reijnders broke the line of defense of the opposition with a pass more times (47) than any other player in the Serie A in the 2024-25 season, while representing a lagging Milan side.
He also ranked seventh for the number of times he broke the midfield line of the opposition (147), while only Napoli's Scott McTominay (12) scored more goals from central midfield than Reijnders (10).
His total of 77 Schoten, the 10th of all players in the Serie A, showed how often he is able to threaten the opposition goal, something that Guardiola has cited as an area of ​​improvement for his team.
Wolven Full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri has also been interesting for City, with the Algerian impression on the team of Vitor Pereira.
Ait-Nouri has indeed made 11 target statements (four goals, seven assists), more than any other defender in the Premier League in 2024-25.
There are also changes in Guardiola coaching, with assistants Juanma Lilo and Inigo Dominguez, together with set-piece coach Carlos Vicens, all who are leaving this summer.
Pep Libnders, who was last in charge of the Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg, is reportedly ready to become a member of the back room team of Guardiola, even though he was the former assistant of Jurgen Klopp during his time at Liverpool.
Although Guardiola said he was sad to lose colleagues with whom he worked closely, he believes that additions to the play and coaching staff will give him and his team new energy to compete next season to trophies.
“I'm going to lose people I love and they mean something of course, but it happened with many people in the past,” he added.
“In 15 years, a lot left, everyone has cheated on me! But the new, younger people and new players, they always bring this energy and this energy revitalized a lot.
“I need energy for myself and people give me energy. You see the eyes, new faces: 'I want to do it', I want to be there, 'new small details in the training sessions. It is new energy.
“Because energy for itself, the energy is a Premier League more, one Champions League more or one community shield more? That is not.
“It will not change my life more or less in my menstrual period in Man City, it will not change anything.
“But the [new] People, they give you that [energy] Day after day the people. That is why changing players and staff is really good. “