The Premier League rejects Manchester City's request for a longer summer holiday | city of manchester
Pep Guardiola has revealed that the Premier League has rejected Manchester City's request to delay its start until next season to give the players more time to recover from the Club World Cup. City will take part in the tournament in the United States next summer, which could see their current campaign end in mid-July.
The city has spoken to him first division about the prospect of starting the 2025-2026 season after other top-flight teams and the authorities have told them that they will not make an exception for the current champions, who will be joined in America by Chelsea.
“Does the Premier League tell us yes? No, absolutely not,” Guardiola said.
“I don't know if we will play more games than the year of the triplet (2022-23) against the United States. Maybe we'll play fewer games. In the end… the Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don't postpone these games so that that's the moment of 'Oh, what do we do?' I don't have an answer now because I haven't been there before. I think we are going to make a common sense decision. We will see how the players are, the schedule and then we will decide.”
FIFA insists that participating teams must bring their strongest squads to the 32-team competition, which begins on June 15 and will run for 29 days, amid concerns that clubs may rest players. veteran players after a grueling season. “Who are the strongest players? Which is it? If FIFA told me, for them, which players are stronger than the others. “I don't understand it,” Guardiola said. “We will go with the entire team there, we are not going to a game. I don't know the competition right now, we're not going for 11 players, we're going for the entire squad. I don't know how the selection is that this player is stronger than the other.
“Perhaps the strongest player for them is in very bad condition for many reasons: personal, professional, problems, injuries. And we are going to play others. I'm not going to say before the game which player to play with. I will decide, that's for sure.”
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Kevin De Bruyne will again be absent for Saturday's visit to Fulham due to a pelvic injury. As well as missing this month's international break, he has asked Belgium to exclude him from next month's Nations League matches so he can rest. “It's not a big problem, but I still don't feel good,” Guardiola said. “When you are not in shape, recover because here you will be fine and then you will return better to the national team. That's why Kevin, from my point of view, is the smartest and wisest decision.”
