Man City revived after just a few months

Man City - Ảnh 1. — Man City's strong revival after just a few months - Photo: Reuters

Statistics show that Man City is the team that profits the most from the group stage of the tournament, with 52 million USD (44.5 million euros) in prize money.

Contracts worth the money

That amount is equivalent to 1/3 of Man City's spending in the transfer market in early June, the period when they were racing to welcome 3 expensive new players before participating in the FIFA Club World Cup.

They are Tijjani Reijnders, who moved from AC Milan for an initial fee of 55 million euros (up to 70 million euros if performance-related add-ons are met), Ait-Nouri (37 million euros) and Rayan Cherki (36.5 million euros). That's not counting reserve goalkeeper Bettinelli, who cost 2 million euros. In total, Man City have spent more than 130 million euros in just the first 10 days of the summer transfer window.

But 1/3 of that investment was quickly "recovered". All 3 expensive new recruits mentioned above made their mark in the group stage, helping Man City comfortably top Group G. 44.5 million euros is just the group stage bonus. Just reaching the final, Man City will earn double this number, and winning the championship can help them immediately successfully recover the capital for their lightning-fast transfer period.

Man City - Ảnh 2. — The joy of Man City players at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 - Photo: REUTERS

The miraculous revival

Of course, Man City's main target, like any other European giant, is the 2025-2026 season that starts at the end of August, not the FIFA Club World Cup. But having a tournament that can bring them such a large profit is too good for Man City's revival journey. The Etihad team did not buy Cherki, Ait-Nouri and Reijnders because of the FIFA Club World Cup, they were forced to reform the squad after a poor season.

In the past 6 months alone, Man City have spent more than 340 million euros on the transfer market, including 212 million euros to bring in 4 players in the January transfer window (Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Khusanov and Reis), and 4 new players recently in the summer. 8 names appearing in a row in half a year is more than enough for a revolution. Man City may not buy more players in the rest of the summer.

It was truly a lightning-fast and extremely effective investment strategy. Two-four new winter recruits quickly became pillars, helping Man City successfully finish in the top 5 of the Premier League last season, thereby continuing to win tickets to the Champions League. In a failed season, being able to win tickets to the Champions League is considered a great success for Pep Guardiola and his team.

The way Man City reacted shows why they are the most successful team in the Premier League in the past decade, and also one of the 3 or 4 most successful teams in the world today. Man City does not get caught up in the race to sign superstars, does not take risks with blockbusters, does not waste time on rumors. Most of Man City's transfer strategies only last for 1 week, from the time the media gets the news.

It took a month of winter to minimize the damage of a failed season, 10 days of summer to reform the squad. And another month of hard work in the US to recover all the investment for the summer transfer period, the "giant" Man City has officially returned.

On the morning of July 1 (Vietnam time), there will be two notable matches of the FIFA Club World Cup round of 16, including Inter Milan - Fluminense (2am) and Man City - Al Hilal (8am).

Inter Milan are favourites, but Fluminense are currently unbeaten, with a solid defence that has kept a clean sheet in two of their three group stage matches. The Brazilian teams are even dominating the European group in terms of head-to-head record. Meanwhile, Man City must also be wary of a superstar-studded Al Hilal.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/man-city-hoi-sinh-chi-sau-vai-thang-20250630100915763.htm