City Watch: The new season appearing on the horizon as City prepare for the Community Shield

To say that the new season is just days away now is absolutely crazy, the time between the previous campaign ending, the Euros and now the start of 2024/25 has flown by. 

Before the new season kick starts in full, Manchester City will face Manchester United in the Community Shield this Saturday, 10th August at the home of English football, Wembley Stadium. The curtain raiser for the season will see a repeat of last seasons FA Cup Final, where, unfortunately, the Blues were beaten 2-1 by the Red Devils. 

Usually, I’d be fairly optimistic for a game like this as the team usually raise the bar in the big games, especially when there’s silverware on the line. However, Pep Guardiola has won two of the five Community Sheilds he’s competed in, not a very common ratio for the Spanish manager. I think there’s also the consideration of the players energy levels, most of the first team squad have barely had any pre-season minutes, with City being the most represented club at the Euros, a lot of the big stars were given extra time to relax after the season ended.

With all these things put together, I’m not the most confident for Saturday’s game. However, if I’m being completely honest, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Communuity Shield itself. Some would argue that it’s a good curtain raiser to the season, but I feel it’s just another pre-season friendly with silverware at the end. With the players already competing in enough games, and now more with the newly introduced Club World Cup in the summer, I feel like putting more strain on players is completely wrong. The time should be used to allow players to prepare for the upcoming season in my opinion. That being said, I’d love to win on Saturday, just to beat United!

Moving on from the Community Shield for now, and onto some transfer news, which to be honest there hasn’t really been much of from City this summer. Despite only making one key signing in Savinho, this hasn’t been the most active transfer window for the Blues. However, there’s been speculation over the future of striker, Julian Alvarez, over the last few weeks, and it looks like the Argentinian is set to leave the club to join Spanish side, Atletico Madrid.

The deal itself is reported to be a fee of around £64 million with add-ons of up to £17 million, totalling £81 million. Considering the club signed Julian for just £14 million back in 2022, this could be seen as a great piece of business from City, with the transfer fee breaking the record the Blues have ever received for a player. However, I personally think this is a fair price tag for Alvarez, considering he was one of our most used players last season in terms of minutes. He also contributed 32 goals and assists across all competitions, meaning this could be a huge loss. Coupled with the fact that the higher ups at the club as well as Pep himself didn’t want him to leave, I think the price tag was more than justified.

The departure of our number 19 could also leave a huge door open for new boy, Savinho. The Brazilian winger was predictably going to struggle for game time to begin with, with many players trying to get on the team sheet. However, following this transfer news, the youngster could see this as an opportunity to make a quick mark on the team and boost his way straight into Pep’s starting XI.

By the next edition of City Watch, it’s likely that Julian Alvarez will no longer be a City player, but on the bright side, at least the new season will be underway!