After a winter of discontent, Club World Cup defence can help Man City relaunch

December. The month when the cold sets in and the fire in Manchester City’s engines traditionally begins to roar. A month once synonymous with acceleration, not hesitation. A season once known for harvest, not famine. And yet, as 2024 drew to a close, Pep Guardiola’s perennial juggernaut found itself not in overdrive but in free fall.

This was not the slick, silky City we all knew. Not the side that suffocated opponents, all geometric precision and unrelenting rhythm. This was a City bereft of bite, devoid of dexterity. A team unrecognisable from the one that, just 12 months prior, had scaled the summit of the world game with a 4-0 evisceration of Fluminense to claim the Fifa Club World Cup. That victory in Jeddah on December 22, 2023, was the bow on top of an unprecedented gift of a calendar year – Premier League, FA Cup, Uefa Champions League, Uefa Super Cup. It was the most successful year in the club’s history.

But what a difference a year makes.

The final month of 2024 arrived not with the fanfare of champions but the stutter of a side in total disarray. The usual winter surge never came. Instead, it was a December defined by defeats, dogged by doubts. One win in 13 games, nine of them losses. The kind of numbers more befitting a relegation scrap than a title defence. City looked like a team without identity, anathema to Pep Guardiola sides.

Injury may be a convenient explanation – Kevin De Bruyne’s recurring absence, Erling Haaland’s disrupted rhythm – but City have always prided themselves on the depth to endure. This was different. This was systemic. There was a lethargy in possession, a vulnerability in transition, and, perhaps most worryingly, a visible drop in intensity. For a side whose identity has long been built on suffocating control and orchestrated chaos, the chaos had begun to consume them.

City limped home third in the league, were eliminated in the play-offs of the Champions League after barely making it out of the group stage, and were humbled in the FA Cup final. For a club accustomed to silverware, silver linings were hard to come by.

Guardiola, ever the alchemist, has conjured recovery spells in the past. The question now is not whether City can win again, but whether this stumble is a mere crack or a chasm.

'One step at a time'

During the winter of discontent, one thing City were always assured of was participation at the Club World Cup this summer.

The season ended barren, but City have the distinction of travelling to the United States as reigning world champions.

For Guardiola, the journey to this tournament is a reflection of City’s dominance in recent years, underpinned by that treble-winning campaign in 2022/23 that cemented the club’s place among the modern greats and stamped their ticket Stateside.

Guardiola said it’s “an honour” to be one of the 32 teams taking part at the Club World Cup.

And winning it?

“Well, it would be nice, we cannot deny it,” he told Fifa.com. “But there are [another] 31 teams that want the same. We’ll see how we arrive in that tournament, all together, and after we’ll see what happens. One step at a time.”

Continental quest

For City’s Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol, the stakes are personal and patriotic. The 22-year-old, a summer acquisition from RB Leipzig, sees the Club World Cup as a chance not only to lift another trophy but to represent both club and country on the biggest stage.

“I’m really excited,” Gvardiol said. “Thirty-two clubs from around the world in America. Personally, I can’t wait to have the opportunity to play there, and maybe to achieve something really special.”

It is telling that Gvardiol speaks not just of City, but of Croatia.

“For me, as a player, as a part of this club, of course, I want to lift this trophy,” he said. “Not just because of me and the club. I think it’s just because of the whole country, and also my country, Croatia – to give them the opportunity to see how good we are, not just in football but in different sports.”

Rodri relaunch

With a gruelling season behind them – and another one only months away, followed by an international World Cup – clubs could be forgiven for seeing a revamped, month-long tournament as an unnecessary distraction. Participation in it more of a problem than a privilege.

For City, the Club World Cup is less a glittering finale and more a timely beginning. A stepping stone. A means to an end.

And no one stands to benefit more than Rodri.

The Spanish midfield metronome, scorer of the goal that sealed City's win over Inter Milan in the 2023 European Cup final and a spot at the Club World Cup, has been conspicuous by his absence. An ACL injury cruelly cut short his season back in September, just weeks after he sounded the alarm about player welfare and the relentless demands of a football calendar bursting at the seams. Poetic justice? Perhaps. A bitter irony? Certainly.

But football has a way of circling back.

Now, with the glint of a new season on the horizon, Rodri could use the Club World Cup not just to return, but to relaunch. Fully fit, Ballon d’Or in tow, and with the scent of silverware in the air, the stage is set. What was once a tournament seen as a ceremonial bow now doubles as his springboard into 2025/26.

Not a holiday

Others may have been looking forward to a summer of well-earned rest. Whatever the individual motives, Gvardiol was quick to stamp out any idea that City would treat this tournament as anything less than a mission.

“We’re not going there [for] a holiday or holiday,” he said. “We’re going there [for] a new challenge … to try to achieve something.”

That challenge is steep. Thirty-one clubs, many of whom City rarely, if ever, encounter in competitive play, present a logistical and tactical headache. Climate, time zones, and unfamiliar opposition are variables that will test all clubs, not just City.

But therein lies the appeal. As Guardiola noted, the tournament’s novelty is part of its allure. Entering uncharted territory is used as motivation.

“When I start a competition,” Guardiola said, “I never want to start thinking: ‘Oh, we’re going to win.’ You have to win. So, [let’s focus on] arriving there, trying to play better than we played that season … and after we’ll see.”

Reijnders in, Grealish out?

Tijjani Reijnders was in Manchester on Sunday to complete a medical ahead of a £46 million move from AC Milan.

The 26-year-old Netherlands midfielder has agreed a five-year contract to move to City, and told Italian media he had spent Sunday conducting a medical with Pep Guardiola’s side.

City will play their first match of the Club World Cup against Morocco’s Wydad AC on June 18 and the arrival of Reijnders could also impact the future of Jack Grealish at the Etihad Stadium.

Reijnders told Gazzetta: “The medical? I couldn’t wait to do it. The plan is to take part at the Club World Cup with City. I’m really excited about that.

“Doing that means I’ll get to know my new teammates sooner.”

Reijnders was a bright spark in a disappointing season for Milan, who only finished eighth in Serie A, missing out on qualification for Europe. He joined the Italian giants from AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023 and scored 15 goals in 2024/25. He might not be the only new face with City for the tournament, with Wolves' Algerian defender Rayan Ait-Nouri also reported to be close to signing for the club.

England international Grealish looks set to miss out on City’s final 35-man squad for the Club World Cup.

The 29-year-old was not summoned from the bench in last month’s FA Cup final defeat by Crystal Palace and omitted from the squad for the last game of the season at Fulham altogether.