Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has vowed they will be back to their best next season after a trophyless 2024-25 campaign.
City struggled to meet their usual standards this season, finishing 13 points behind runaway Premier League champions Liverpool while also losing in the playoff round of the revamped Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s men exited the EFL Cup in the fourth round and stunningly lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace. City did at least secure Champions League football for next season, but their place was not confirmed until the final day of the season with a 2-0 win at Fulham.
But Mubarak is in no mood to focus on the failings of this season, insisting the club is now solely looking ahead to the challenges of 2025-26 and building a squad to make sure they can contend for major trophies again.
“We will be back,” Mubarak said. “This season is a season that’s now behind us. Today is a new day. We start working and preparing for next season.
“And by the way, we’ve been doing that since January. And we will take all the good things and the not so good things from this season and learn from it and improve from it and get better.
“And I can assure you, this club will do everything possible to come back to the standards that we know we all can achieve and that we know, we will achieve.
“Because really, if there’s one thing I’d like right now, it’s to turn that page from last season and just immediately start focusing on next season.
“Everyone I saw after the Fulham game, all the players, they’re excited, they’re excited about coming back.
“Nobody feels good about how we finished the season. They want to come back, and they want to come back hungry. And I can see the hunger.
“And these players, they want to come back to pre-season. Normally these players are off and they’re starting to think about vacation time. Honestly, every player I spoke to was telling me, you know, we’re coming back. We’re ready to come back in three weeks’ time.
“I was speaking to Rodri as an example, he’s looking for games. Erling [Haaland] didn’t want to go on vacation. He wanted to stay with the physios and prepare for next season. And that’s the attitude you want. And that’s exactly why you see me so positive.
“We’re going to come back strong, with a lot of positivity.”
City will return to action in the expanded 32-team Club World Cup next month.
Guardiola’s men have been drawn in Group G, alongside Juventus, Wydad Casablanca and Al Ain.
