Manchester City are currently in Chicago, Illinois having just begun their preseason tour of the United States of America. City will play in the very first game of the International Champions Cup, a global preseason exhibition “tournament,” kicking off tomorrow night against Borussia Dortmund at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Manager Pep Guardiola and goalkeeper Oleksandr Zinchenko (originally Aymeric Laporte had been scheduled) met the media tonight ahead of the match. Here are some of the major takeaways from the media session. The full audio via Sound Cloud is available below:
For the audio of the Borussia Dortmund press conference, go to this link.
-Pep Guardiola on the Jorginho transfer saga:
“Not disappointed. We tried. It was already done. All my advice for the players is they have to play where they want to go. It would have been a mistake for us and for him if he came here when he wanted to go with Maurizio.”
-Zinchenko was very coy about his future at the club
“In this moment I play for Manchester City and I’m so happy to be part of this team. You never know what will happen in the future but we will see.”
-There’s only been one signing this summer transfer window, Riyad Mahrez. Pep on expectations for next season despite the lack of additions:
“We are the same except one person, Mr Toure. He’s gone but it’s the same squad. Riyad has come to help us in front and give us the quality that he has. We’re going to try to continue to improve in what we started two seasons ago.”
“What happened last season was a consequence of the previous season and we will try to come back to the basics and make a good season.”
The first question to Guardiola was on how he felt his players performed at the World Cup with their respective countries.
“I am so satisfied with all of our players at the World Cup. We are not surprised at their quality. It’s a joy for everybody to play at such a high level,” the Spaniard answered.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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