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MANCHESTER CITY'S CHAIRMAN KHALDOON AL MUBARAK DOES NOT SEE THE CLUB WORLD CUP AS AN EXTENSION OF THE SEASON THAT HAS JUST GONE 13:30, 30 May 2025 Manchester City bosses expect the club

to challenge for Club World Cup glory as they look to put last season behind them. While the summer tournament has been seen as an extension of the campaign just gone, Khaldoon Al Mubarak

is treating it as the start of the next year. And after their struggles in the Premier League and Champions League, the City chairman wants the Club World Cup to be a marker for the

improvement that is expected at the club going forward. Having already said that the aim is to have the squad in place by then, those players will be tasked with backing up the faith shown

in them. “As the defending champions coming into this new format, of course we’re very excited. We're very excited to come in as champions," Al Mubarak said. "The format

actually, I really like it. This is a very, very serious competition. In the summer, the whole world will be watching this. "A big number of the top teams in the world will be competing

in this tournament and I can assure you, we're going to give it our best shot. We're going there to win it. "This is the beginning of the new season, not the continuation of

last season. The team will take the rest that they will take right now, then they start pre-season and then immediately straight into the Club World Cup.” Article continues below City are

making moves to freshen up their squad in time for the Club World Cup, with active interest in AC Milan's Tijjani Reijnders as well as Nottingham Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White. At

least one full-back is also expected to be signed. There will also need to be new faces in the dugout after the confirmation that three of Pep Guardiola's assistants will be leaving

before the tournament starts. Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez are departing at the end of their contracts, while Carlos Vicens is the new head coach of Portuguese club Braga. Real Madrid

have already signalled their intent for the Club World Cup by paying nearly £10m to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold a month before they would be able to have him on a free transfer. While City

will be defending champions, the winner of Saturday's final between Inter and Paris Saint-Germain will head to the United States as the reigning Champions League winners. _--_ _Here at

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