Premier League English

Guardiola: US tour an ‘unbelievable experience’ for City’s young players

Pep Guardiola says City’s pre-season tour of the United States of America has been an ‘unbelievable’ experience for the Club’s young players.

The Blues concluded our preparations stateside with a 4-2 win over Chelsea in Ohio following matches with Celtic, AC Milan and Barcelona.

Among those called into the Catalan’s squad for the camp were a swathe of Academy players who were experiencing the consistent rigours of senior football for the first time.

This saw the likes of Nico O’Reilly, Callum Doyle, Tomas Galvez, Mahamadou Susoho and more feature against the four European heavyweights as the Sky Blues geared up for the 2023/24 campaign.

Although the boss admitted a number still aren’t ready for first-team football with City, he says every fledgling player will have improved thanks to their experience in the US.

“We have two or three [Academy players ready for senior football],” Guardiola explained.

“The other ones are not prepared to be with us, some of them will be in the second team, some of them will be loaned. I would say they are not still prepared, but we saw them.

“The experience [they gained], they played against the Chelsea team or Barcelona, it’s an unbelievable experience for them.

“I’m pretty sure they came out from here being better players and this is the reason why.”