ABU DHABI: Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak has provided his annual review of the season to the club’s official online channel. In Part 1 of the interview he discussed the challenges of the 2024-2025 campaign, the departure of a club legend and his trust in manager Pep Guardiola. Here are some of the highlights.
On City improving next season …
We will be back. This season is a season that’s now behind us. 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.
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. 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.
All the players, everyone I saw yesterday 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 that’s exactly why you see me so positive. We’re going to come back strong, with a lot of positivity.
On City’s summer transfer strategy …
We have clearly identified who exactly are the targets, in what positions, and we have our clear No.1 option, our clear No.2 option. And we’ll go about our business, and it will be very clear, very swift.
Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.
On Kevin De Bruyne …
In my view, he is the greatest player to play for this club. His accomplishments speak for themselves. His accomplishments for the club in terms of trophies — that tally, number of Premier Leagues, the Champions League, FA Cups, Community Shields, Carabao Cups. It’s an unbelievable tally, the highest of any player who has ever played for this club.
He's been a captain. He’s been a leader. He’s been a teammate. He’s been everything you would hope from your most important player.
Kevin really transcends this team and I’m so proud of what he has accomplished. It’s one of the best decisions we ever took – the day we took the decision to invest in Kevin and bring him from Wolfsburg. I remember some people thought we overpaid.
On Pep Guardiola …
One thing we have with Pep, which is so fundamental, is one word: trust.
We have trust, and it goes both ways. I think he trusts us. He trusts me. He trusts the organisation. He trusts the club, and we trust him.
And that trust is what, in the good times, allows you to keep winning. And in the tough times, that’s where that trust really shows up.
And we’ve gone through all these ups and downs, and we’ve always stood together as a team. And inevitably it’s always shown to be the foundation of our success.
