Inter Miami CF (And Beyond...)

[danmcconnell1]

Nations League

After a euphoric end to the season with Manchester City, it was now time to concentrate on what's going to be a very busy summer. Just under 3 weeks after the Champions League final success comes the Nations League semi final against Belgium, with the finals being held here in England for the first time. Our semi final is in Coventry, whilst the final will be at my home ground with Manchester City, the Etihad Stadium. Regardless of the result, we will play again a few days later, whether that be in the 3rd place playoff or the Nations League final.

We got off to a brilliant start in our semi final thanks to Bukayo Saka's goal, but goals by De Ketelaere and Arthur Theate gave the Belgians the lead early in the 2nd half. Tammy Abraham then produced an outstanding hat-rick, filling the boots of the now retired Harry Kane brilliantly to win the semi final for us and send us into a final against Italy back at the Etihad in 3 days time.

We named the same 11 for the final after they played so well against Belgium and we got off to a great start with Tammy Abraham giving us the lead with his 4th goal of these finals. Unfortunately though, in just the 33rd minute, a poor challenge by Jude Bellingham saw him receive his marching orders to leave us with 10 men for almost an hour. It took just 3 minutes for the Italians to take advantage of the extra man to equalise through Zaniolo, however we fought back in first half stoppage time and took the lead again thanks to a Fikayo Tomori header from a corner to go in at the break in the lead. However, 2 Federico Chiesa goals quite early in the 2nd half won it for the Italians and we have to wait for a maiden Nations League title, losing in the final for now the 2nd time.

It is of course, disappointing not to have lifted the trophy, however there are far more pressing matters at hand with this England side, the first of which is qualification for the World Cup which resumes in September. Providing we do qualify, then of course next summer is the World Cup in Spain, the nation I formally managed, so it would be fantastic to do well there for me personally and show why it was a harsh decision to sack me.

Next up this summer and beginning imminently is the Club World Cup which is being held, like seemingly all tournaments recently, in Spain yet again as somewhat of a warmup tournament for the main international event next year. There is a possibility that my squad with City may be depleted, however I'm unsure of the registration rules for the tournament right now, so things may change between now and the start of the tournament.

[danmcconnell1]

Club World Cup 2029

The Club World Cup is here and it's another one I'd love to win seeing as it only comes around every 4 years. We have been drawn against ES Sahel of Tunisia and Velez from Argentina, so I'm confident we can get 2 wins on the board to begin with before the knockout stages begin. It's another tournament held in Spain, the 3rd in as many year's with last years Euros and next year's World Cup being there as part of a real footballing celebration in the home of the 2010 World Champions. Our first match was just outside Barcelona at the home of Espanyol, Estadio Cornella El Prat.

As you can see we were brilliant in our opener, beating the Tunisian side 9-1 with goals coming from Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias and Heorhii Sudakov while Cole Palmer and the very nearly retired Ciro Immobile both banged in hat-ricks to see the African sides off.

Our 2nd group stage match against Velez was at the Nuevo Mestalla in Valencia and it was another comprehensive victory, this time 5-0 thanks to goals by Florian Wirtz and Haaland who scored 4. This set up a quarter final against Barcelona which would be played at the Santiago Bernabeu, the home of their bitter rivals Real Madrid. We came out on top after a penalty shoot out with the match finishing 1-1 after extra time, Englishman Harvey Elliott gave the Catalans the lead before Cole Palmer equalised for us. Florian Wirtz ended up scoring the decisive penalty to give us a 4-3 in the shoot out to set up a semi final against familiar semi final opponents for us recently, Liverpool. This time we stayed in Madrid but travelled across town to the Wanda Metropolitano, the home of Atletico Madrid. In what was a very entertaining game, we ran out 3-2 winners against the Reds thanks to goals by Andreas Schjelderup and a double for Haaland. Alexander-Arnold and Vidovic scored for Liverpool but Haaland's double was enough to help see us through to again, a familiar opponent of late in a major final, Paris Saint Germain. The final was back at the Bernabeu in Madrid, the home of Real, and it was another match billed as Haaland v Mbappe. Fortunately for us, Haaland came out on top as we beat PSG in what was another entertaining match which finished 4-3 to us. Foden, Palmer, Garcia and Haaland all scored for us as Tomas, Mbappe and Ugarte got goals for PSG however we held on for what was another historic win for us as we held aloft the Club World Cup for the first time in the club's history.

In what is going to be a busy summer with not much down time for players of our calibre, it's important to get back down to business as our first pre-season friendly is just 3 days after this triumph.

Haaland won the Golden Boot at the tournament, scoring 7 goals in 4 appearances with an average rating of 8.6.

The Club World Cup Dream Team was littered with City players with the likes of Garcia, Dias, Gomez, Caicedo and Haaland all being named in the side.

We also won the Fair Play award too after picking up just 3 bookings in the 5 matches played.

We'll now move onto the outgoings so far this summer before the season gets underway.

First to leave this summer was versatile full back Ridle Baku. He asked to leave the club after 5 years in Manchester, saying he felt like he'd achieved all he could with us and with his appearances dwindling last season I felt it was the right time to let him go. West Ham signed him for £23.5m.

Next to leave was Joel Ndala who's joined French side Lyon for a fee of £6m. Once touted as a promising winger, Ndala spent time out on loan and in our first team in the not so recent past, however his progress has stalled over the last 12 months or so, therefore again I think it's a good time to let him go.

The biggest departure so far this summer is Andreas Schjelderup to Bayern Munich for £57 which could rise to £72m. He's never quite hit the heights I'd hoped he would in his 2 year spell with us so I've decided to accept what I saw as a very fair offer for him. No doubt we could have got more, but I think it's still a good deal considering we've got back what we paid for him and potentially a fair bit more in the coming years too. 

We now move onto the arrivals so far this summer.

First to join is Peruvian midfielder Christian Marquez from Cesar Vallejo in his homeland. He's a promising young midfielder and has been sent back to his boyhood club to continue his progress in an environment he finds familiar before he comes back to us at the end of January next year when we'll reassess his abilities.

Next in is Josko Gvardiol who I'd been trying to sign for a while following signing him for Newcastle during my time there. We've had to shell out a mighty £150m upfront for him, however there are not further costs incurred in the deal, so to sign arguably the best defender in the world, despite the fee, is great for us. I'm really excited about having him with us and he will no doubt improve what was already a pretty decent defence. He's versatile too as he can play at CB and LB, the latter being a position I've wanted to improve upon for a while too.

The final player to join us so far this summer is another I've worked with before and another I'd signed first time around for Newcastle in Endrick. Still aged just 23, I see him as the perfect replacement for the recently retired Ciro Immobile to provide back up to the main man Haaland, however this time Endrick has time on his side and will hopefully be a player for us for many years. He's somehow still only got 1 cap for Brazil, so I'm hoping more game time and goal scored with us will help him increase that tally for his national side. He's joined for an initial £59m but that could and probably will rise to £76m. 

 

[danmcconnell1]

Community Shield 2029

After winning the Premier League and FA Cup last season, Liverpool couldn't play themselves in the Community Shield, so rules state the Premier League runner up takes the place of the other side to contest the Community Shield in this event, so it was an opportunity to win another trophy and to try and retain our crown in this traditional curtain raiser.

And that's exactly what we did, to win a 2nd trophy of the season already, without even playing a league game yet. Evanilson gave the Reds the lead early on at Wembley but 2 goals for Haaland and another for Foden all before half time gave us a 3-1 lead which is how the game finished after we held on despite a barrage of Liverpool attacks in the 2nd half. We're really starting to become a force in my opinion and I have strong hopes that we can lift every trophy we're competing for this season. We'll play in 7 competitions in total, 2 of which we've already won, so it's the perfect start to the new season.

[danmcconnell1]

UEFA Super Cup 2029

After winning last season's Champions League, this has set up a Super Cup final against Europa League winners Rangers. I won this competition with Newcastle back in 2026 after beating PSG in the final that year following our Europa League success, so I'd love to lift it again this time with City.

The final was held in Goteborg in Sweden as we travelled to the Scandinavian country just 4 days after lifting the Community Shield in the hope of lifting a 3rd trophy of the season already, before a ball is even kicked in anger in the Premier League.

We lifted our 3rd trophy of the campaign already with a convincing 5-2 win over the Scottish side. Haaland and Sudakov both scored early on for us before Haaland got his 2nd, then Palmer made it 4-0 before half time. Mkwanazi got one back for the Gers before the break but the damage was done before then for them, Palmer got another one just after the break and despite Jonas Wind getting a 2nd for Rangers, we held on for another trophy win, my 2nd UEFA Super Cup and again, the first in the club's history. We're now 3/7 for trophies won so far this season, I'm hoping to do a clean sweep domestically with the Premier League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup as well as retain our Champions League crown. Only 8 sides have ever retained the European Cup, or Champions League as it's known in the modern era, I'm hoping we can become number 9 in that regard.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2029

The first month of the league season is back and we are looking to wrestle the league title back from Liverpool this time around.

Our first 4 Premier League games have been very up and down though. I've included the 1st match of September due to the transfer window not closing until the 3rd September this year, so we have an extra game to comment on so far. We began the league campaign away at Anfield in what was a huge game to get underway. Unfortunately though, the Reds got revenge for the Champions League and Club World Cup semis as well as the Community Shield defeats by beating us in the season opener convincingly 2-0. We got back to winning ways though a few days later in our first home match of the new league season, beating Arsenal 2-1 at the Etihad thanks to goals by Foden and Haaland after Smith-Rowe gave the visitors the lead. Then came a huge win at the Etihad again over Watford as we smashed them 7-2, Haaland getting a hat-rick, Wirtz scoring 2 while Palmer and Caicedo both got one each. The first match of September was away at West Ham who blew us away like the proverbial bubbles they famously sing about. We were 3-0 down at half time and despite Haaland getting one back for us early in the 2nd half we were well off it at the London Stadium. We now have an international break so my attention turns to England's World Cup qualifying next.

We find ourselves down in 8th place after 4 matches this season, 2 wins and 2 defeats in what's been a stuttering start to our title challenge this season. Aston Villa are setting the early pace on goal difference ahead of Chelsea. Haaland's the joint 2nd top scorer so far in the league with 5 while Isak for Newcastle has started like a house on fire with 8 goals in 4 matches.

The only other permanent outgoing this summer was Anthony Garrett who's joined Rangers in a deal worth £5.5m. We have negotiated a clause in the deal too that allows us to purchase Garrett back for £18m between September 2030 and September 2032, so we'll see whether he develops north of the border well enough to warrant activating that clause in the future.

Staying with transfers, the only other player to join the club this summer is Vuk Vasiljevic from Radnicki in Serbia in a £1.1m deal, the young RB has the world at his feet and we've signed him for peanuts. He'll remain with his boyhood club after impressing there last season so will hopefully get more game time there this time around too before he comes back to us next summer.

[danmcconnell1]

Ownership Update

After months of speculation over the future ownership of the club and Sheikh Mansour reportedly looking to relinquish control of the club, there is finally an update.

Former director Barry Fulton has now become club chairman, replacing Mansour. There are currently no plans for further investment into the club than what was already there, so I'm looking at this positively and hope that there will be no changes to future transfer or wage budgets going forward.

This is a big step for the club after winning everything there is to win under the Sheikh, hopefully this success can continue long into the future.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2029

September begins with the first international break of the season as we prepare to return to World Cup qualifying.

We began the internationals with a win at Wembley against Iceland thanks to goals by Ben White, his first for England, Tammy Abraham and a brace for Raheem Sterling. 4 days later we travelled to Bosnia & Herzegovina for our final match of this window. Another win followed, this time 5-2 thanks to another Sterling goal, Declan Rice and a Tammy Abraham hat-rick this time. 

We have 4 qualifiers left to play before the qualification campaign comes to an end so being top after 4 matches when everybody else has played 5 is brilliant for us. We've beaten everyone put in front of us so far so can be confident in our chances of qualifying early for this World Cup.

After the internationals, we go back to Premier League duty with Manchester City, as well as beginning both our Carabao Cup and Champions League campaigns.

We have of course already touched upon the poor result against West Ham prior to the transfer window update, however following the international break we were brilliant. We came back with a win against Leeds at the Etihad, Haaland turning around a 1-0 deficit in the 2nd half to win the game for us with 2 goals against a club he has affinity for being born in the city. We then travelled to Catalonia to face Barcelona at the Camp Nou in our Champions League opener in the League Phase. We fell behind in the 63rd minute to a Pedri goal, but again Erling Haaland turned things around for us with an outstanding hat-rick in the final 25 minutes. We came back to England to face Leicester at the King Power back in the Premier League and demolished them 6-1. Haaland managed 4 this time with the other goals being scored by Bernardo Silva and youngster Regan Kilheeney. Another 6-1 win followed that, this time in the Carabao Cup 3rd round, the stage at which we were knocked out last season against Peterborough, this time beating Cardiff at the Etihad. Newbie Endrick gave us the lead but Ruben Colwill equalised for the Welsh side early in the 2nd half and it took us another 20 minutes or so to exert our superiority this time over the Championship side, scoring 5 goals in the final 25 minutes to win the game for us, those coming from Sudakov, 2 for Sergio Gomez, Rodri and Foden. The final match of the month was one of the biggest of the season against our local rivals Manchester United at our home ground the Etihad. We managed a slender 1-0 win thanks to a goal by talisman Erling Haaland in the 13th minute to give us the bragging rights once again.

A good month all round for us has seen us move back into the top 4 in the Premier League, sitting in 4th with Villa, Chelsea and surprisingly West Ham above us who top the league after 7 matches. We're also up in 6th in the League Phase of the Champions League too thanks to that win over Barcelona. Finally we've been drawn at home to Burnley in the 4th round of the Carabao Cup in what is a very busy competitions screen for us this season as you can see.

Finally, and rather unsurprisingly, Erling Haaland wins the Player of the Month award in the Premier League after scoring 8 goals in 4 matches with an average rating of 8.45. He really is the definition of a perfect striker, great in the air, ice cool in front of goal and has an eye for the spectacular from time to time too.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2029

After a good September, I was hoping to continue this form heading into October in both the Premier and Champions Leagues respectively.

Unfortunately, the good form, in the league at least, didn't continue this month. We began with the visit of Sporting in the Champions League and beat them convincingly 4-1 with Foden and Haaland both bagging a brace each. We then travelled to face Aston Villa that following weekend however were beaten heavily 5-1, Ruben Dias scoring our only goal when we were already 5-0 down. To compound our misery on what was a really poor day in Birmingham, we lost Erling Haaland to a knee injury that would keep him out for up to 6 weeks. The international break then came, which I'll get to in a moment. After the internationals, we recovered well with a comfortable 3-1 win over Huddersfield back at the Etihad, Endrick scoring 2 and Foden got the other. We then travelled to Germany to face Koln in the Champions League but were pegged back late on after substitute Miretti gave us the lead to pick up a point. We then travelled south to the capital to face Chelsea at the Bridge and were beaten there too thanks to goals by Kone and Gonzalez, Bernardo Silva got one back for us but we fell to another defeat in the league. The month ended with the visit of Burnley in the 4th round of the Carabao Cup and we beat them convincingly 4-1, goals coming from Endrick, Silva again and 2 for LB Gomez.

We end the month down in 7th in the Premier League after 10 games played. There's still plenty of time to recover our position, however we need to start doing it quickly to ensure the gap which currently stands at 5 points doesn't get too much bigger. We also sit in 6th in the League Phase of the Champions League too, a nice position to be in after 3 matches played. We're yet to find out our Carabao Cup quarter final opponents as there are still games to be played in the 4th round.

We managed to bring in another player this month, a player I have already signed on a free once already in the past in Christian Pulisic. He was released by Newcastle in the summer and initially I wasn't interested, however he was a decent option for me on Tyneside and with us being a little short of options out wide, a short term deal until the end of the season works well for us, plus it gives us the opportunity to see how things go when it comes to extending any potential further deals.

The work being done to increase the capacity of the Etihad has finally been completed also, with the stadium now being able to hold 60,000.

Moving onto England, we faced 2 more World Cup qualifiers this month.

And we won both of them, in doing so confirming our place at next summer's World Cup in Spain. We began with a comfortable 4-1 over Wales at the Millennium Stadium thanks to a Tammy Abraham 4 goal haul. We then welcomed Moldova who we thrashed 8-0 in the game that officially confirmed our qualification. Joe Gelhardt, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka all scored 2 each, while Levi Colwill and Emile Smith-Rowe both scored their first international goals too. 

With 2 qualifiers left to play against Bosnia and Iceland, we top Group J and cannot be caught, therefore qualifying for the World Cup next summer with a couple of games to spare, we will be giving some younger talent a game in those final 2 qualifiers next month.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2029

With October being a relatively poor month by our standards, we really need to start picking up wins in the league to improve our league position.

And that's what we did in all but 1 of our league matches. We began with a comfortable 2-0 win against, at the time, bottom club Nottingham Forest, beating them 2-0 thanks to goals by Sergio Gomez and Foden. We then travelled to the French Riviera to face Nice where were could only muster a 3-3 draw thanks to a stunning comeback by the home side. We were 3-0 up inside 25 minutes thanks to Caicedo and 2 for Endrick, however the home side fought back and equalised inside the final 5 minutes to steal a point. Things then continued to fall down for us as we lost 1-0 against my old side Newcastle on Tyneside, my former player Hudson-Odoi scoring the only goal. However we recovered well winning our final 3 matches of the month, starting with a 4-1 win over Fulham at the Etihad. This upturn in form coincided with the return from injury of Erling Haaland as he scored a hat-rick against Fulham with Eric Garcia scoring the other. Haaland then scored 4 to exert his superiority as the world's best player as we put 5 in total past Porto in the Champions League with Josh Clark scoring the other for us in a 5-2 win. Unfortunately though, Haaland did pick up another minor knock in that game after his 4th goal so missed the trip to Brentford, however it transpired that we didn't need him, but only just. Endrick scored another 2 for us to put us ahead but goals by Damsgaard and Guendouzi brought Brentford level. It took a 94th minute winner by substitute Fabio Miretti, a scream by the way, to win the game for us and end the month on a high.

On the whole though this has been a good month with us now sitting in 3rd in the Premier League, up from 7th at the end of last month. We're also still in the automatic qualification places for the round of 16 in the Champions League, we haven't managed a top 8 finish in both of my Champions League campaigns with City up to now, so 2 less matches to play would be a bonus for us if we can remain in the top 8 at the end of the League Phase. We have also been drawn against Arsenal in the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup at the Etihad, a game which will be played a week before Christmas. While we've had a stuttering first 14 matches in the Premier League, we're still only 5 points away from leaders Chelsea, so there's still plenty of time left to make up that gap.

Josh Clark had a good month picking up 2 assists in as many appearances in November which earned him the Young Player of the Month award in the Premier League with an average rating of 7.8.

Finally, Fabio Miretti's stunning winner against Brentford in our final match of the month earned goal of the month too, told you it was a screamer!

Our final World Cup qualifiers were played this month too, with a few big names like Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold being given a rest with qualification already secured and some unexpected names being given a game too like Kane Fullalove and Luca Vinten.

We began with a 3-0 win away in Iceland thanks to goals by debutant Kane Fullalove, the Aston Villa striker who seems to love scoring against my Manchester City side and Harvey Elliott getting the other. The final qualifier was at home against Bosnia and this was, again, another convincing win for us. Fullalove was given another start ahead of Abraham and proved why he's a talent worth keeping an eye on ahead of the World Cup with a hat-rick this time, Sterling and Elliott again with the other goals. 

After winning all of our qualifiers, we of course finished top of the group on 24 points. The draw for the Group Stage of the World Cup takes place on 15th December so there's not long to wait until we find out who we'll be facing in Spain next summer.

One other piece of news this month which certainly benefits my Manchester City side is the international retirement of Erling Haaland after Norway failed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Norway had qualified for the Euros in both 2024 and 2028 and the World Cup in 2026, however this failure has been the catalyst for him to decide to call it a day at the relatively young age of just 29.

Edited January 19, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

December 2029

Yet another festive season is upon us and we have ground to make up ahead of the most wonderful time of the year.

We have been outstanding this month, dropping just 2 points in the league and winning all but one match whilst remaining unbeaten. The month began with a trip to Southampton where we won 2-1 thanks to goals by Haaland and Bernardo Silva after Kang In Lee equalised for the home side. We then beat Spurs convincingly at the Etihad 4-1 thanks to goals by Endrick, Clark and another double for Haaland. We then travelled to the Principality within France of Monaco where we turned around a half time deficit to win 2-1 with both goals being scored once again by Haaland. Then came our only dropped points this month as we travelled to Molineux to face Wolves. The match ended 1-1 with Haaland cancelling out Jan Thielmann's opener for the home side. 4 days later was our Carabao Cup quarter final against Arsenal which we came out on top of after a penalty shoot out against the Gunners. Haaland and Caicedo gave us a 2 goal advantage at the break but Martin Odegaard scored a double to claw Arsenal back into contention which is how it finished AET. Vitinha missed the vital penalty for Arsenal as he tried a Panenka which Bazunu was equal to in our goal. Our final 3 matches of the month were all in the Premier League either side of Christmas. We began with the visit of Everton to the Etihad who we beat easily 3-1, Haaland, Foden and Endrick with our goals before a trip to Brammall Lane to take on Sheffield United on Boxing Day. Haaland was once again in sparkling form and lit up the match scoring 4 goals. We finally welcomed Aston Villa to the Etihad as we looked for revenge after the drubbing they gave us earlier this season. We got our just rewards with a 4-2 win over Villa, our goals being scored by Haaland, Foden and a double for Florian Wirtz who later had to come off after picking up an injury.

Our Premier League position looks a lot better despite remaining in 3rd, Newcastle topped the table last month and are now down in 4th so that shows how tight it is at the top currently and this run of results could stand us in good stead as we look forward into the new year. Our first match of 2030 is the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on New Year's Day so we'll be hoping to make it 9 unbeaten with a win against United. The Champions League League Phase is also looking healthy too with us currently sitting in 4th with just 2 matches remaining, we'll play them towards the end of January as we welcome both AEK Athens and Real Sociedad to the Etihad. We've been drawn against West Ham in the 2 legged Carabao Cup semi finals, the 1st leg will be at the Etihad with the 2nd at the London Stadium either side of our FA Cup 3rd round tie where we will face Salford City who are of course famously co-owned by a few members of the Class of '92 from Manchester United, so that could be a tasty tie to look forward to. The septuple is still on as we're well in the title race now and also into the Carabao Cup semi finals, so they'll both be our main focus in the short term, however I'd love to secure a top 8 position in the Champions League League Phase to avoid having to play 2 more matches in the Knockout Playoffs as a top 8 finish would confirm a last 16 place immediately in the Champions League, so that is also a priority. I'd say a minimum of 4 points from our final 2 matches in the League Phase should confirm that top 8 spot. I expect to beat Salford in the FA Cup and make it into the 4th round, however with the cup it can be difficult depending on the draw to rotate the squad.

Erling Haaland once again wins the Ballon D'or, this year with 83 goals in 47 appearances, 4 assists and an average rating of 8.34. He was almost 100 voting points clear of runner up Kylian Mbappe and wins the award for the 4th time.

He also wins the World Player of the Year award too, winning this award for the 6th time as well as the 5th year in a row.

Garcia, Silva and Haaland were all named in the World Team of the Year too, with Foden named on the bench for that team as well.

Moving onto the World Cup draw, it was made in mid-December for this summer's upcoming World Cup in Spain.

The 2030 tournament will be the 2nd tournament in which 48 teams are involved divided into 16 groups of 3, meaning every team plays at least 2 matches.

We've been drawn against both Iran and Tunisia, both opponents in group stages for England at previous World Cup's with Tunisia being England's opening opponent back in Russia in 2018 and Iran being England's opening opponent back in 2022 in Qatar also, so they'll both be relatively familiar opposition for us and I expect a maximum of 6 points against those 2 sides which would mean we'd top the group and progress into the 2nd round. We've scheduled 2 friendlies prior to the tournament too, the first being at home to South Korea before a trip to Austria before we touch base in Spain.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2030

After a very busy December comes an even busier January with 9 matches to be played across 4 different competitions.

The New Year couldn't have gotten off to a better start after a 5-1 demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford in the derby. We found ourselves 5-0 up after an hour thanks to 2 goals by Haaland, Rodri, Dias and Palmer with the others as we swept our biggest rivals aside. Then came the trip to Everton as we faced them for the 2nd time in as many weeks over the festive period. This time the home side beat us 2-1 despite us taking the lead through Foden, they fought back for an important win in their season. We got back to winning ways shortly after that though with the Carabao Cup semi final 1st leg win over West Ham at the Etihad. A 4-0 success was good enough to give us one foot in the final after goals by Pulisic with his 1st for the club and an outstanding hat-rick by the now veteran Bernardo Silva. Another local derby was afoot next up at the Etihad this time against Salford City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup and we beat them pretty easily with a fringe side out, Haaland scored a hat-rick after being given the chance to boost his goal tally which he took with aplomb and Endrick got the other. That win sets up a 4th round tie next month away at Chesterfield. The 2nd leg of the Carabao Cup semi final away at West Ham finished goalless to send us through to the final at Wembley against Tottenham after they beat Chelsea in their semi final. We then returned to Premier League duty with a trip to bottom club Huddersfield who'd recently sacked their manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. We beat them easily with a 5-1 success in Yorkshire, Haaland and Lewis both got goals while Sudakov managed a brilliant hat-rick, his first for the club. Then came the biggest win of the month and one that all but confirmed a top 8 place in the Champions League League Phase as we beat AEK Athens 10-0 at the Etihad. Haaland managed 7 goals, Josh Clark got 2 and Wirtz got the other in what was a dominant display over the Greek side. Another goalless draw followed that, this time against struggling Sheffield United back in the Premier League which was a disappointing result considering we could have gone top with a win as both Chelsea and Liverpool lost earlier on that day. The final match of the month was again in the Champions League as we wrapped up the League Phase with a 6-1 win over Real Sociedad at the Etihad, again fielding a few fringe players due to having already qualified for the last 16. Endrick scored 5 while newbie Warren Zaire-Emery who I'll feature shortly, scored his 1st goal for the club too. 

The Premier League table is starting to get a lot tighter at the top with just 1 point separating the top 5 teams and just 3 separating the top 6, it's a wide open title race this year. We are of course in the Carabao Cup final which will be played at the beginning of March as we look for trophy number 4 of the season. We finished 2nd in the League Phase of the Champions League, our highest finish since I arrived at the club which means we bypass the Knockout Playoff round, so that's 2 less games we'll have to play this year as we go straight into the last 16 this season. Finally, the FA Cup 4th round see's us travel to Chesterfield in what should be another win and a 5th round appearance.

Josip Sutalo left us this month to join Juventus in Serie A. He had been making noises about game time and potentially not renewing his contract which was up in 2031 so we beat him to the decision by offering him out. Juventus signed him for £53m which, as you can see by his value, was a cut price however it's still a good deal for a backup player for us.

Juan Lambermont was the other 1st team defender to leave this month after joining Borussia Monchengladbach for £25m. He's a versatile player who can play anywhere at the back and has a £30m release clause to clubs in the Champions League, so this may well be a clause we look to activate as it's valid until 2032 if we decide he's developed well enough in the future. It's a shame to see him go but he needs game time and it's just not something I can offer him as regularly as he needs right now.

The only player to join us this month, as mentioned previously, was Warren Zaire-Emery. He's signed from PSG for again, a cut price of £37.5m after he asked to leave the Parisians. As you can see, his value has eclipsed that fee already rising to a maximum of £64m following his very good start to life in Manchester, scoring 1 goal and assisting 4 in 7 appearances for us so far. He could certainly become a mainstay in our side for years to come if he can continue to develop as he is currently.

Finally, we did recall a couple of youngsters from loan spells elsewhere, these include;

Philip Rolfe has been a Brighton for the 1st half of this season down in the Championship however with the departures of both Lambermont and Sutalo felt like we needed some extra cover. He'll get his chances over the 2nd half of what is going to be a very busy end to the season.

The other player to come back was Kaique Albas from Burnley. The full back has been performing well in the Championship again and we needed more cover at LB as Sergio Gomez has been playing well further forward this season so Gvardiol needs cover as he's had his injury troubles this season.

The final piece of new this month, despite only signing a 1 year contract extension last month, Aymeric Laporte has decided to retire, calling to an end his 21 year career, citing he doesn't want to end his career at a lower level. He's been outstanding for Manchester City since joining back in 2017 and has been an important part of the club's huge success so it'll be sad to see him go, another one of the old guard that included the likes of Aguero and De Bruyne, however he'll be fondly remembered as a brilliant defender and one that'll go down in the history books. I really hope we can end the season with more trophies for him.

Edited January 20, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

February 2030

After a very busy start to the new year, February calms down slightly, however isn't any less important in our pursuit or more silverware this season with some huge games coming up.

We began February with a huge match in terms of the title race against current champions Liverpool at the Etihad. We managed to come out on top against the Reds thanks to 2 goals by Erling Haaland. Gomes did get one back for Liverpool however we held on for an important victory. We then welcomed Wolves 4 days later and put 4 past them as well, winning 4-1 thanks to goals by Sudakov, Gomez and another double for Haaland. Next up was the visit to Chesterfield in the FA Cup 4th round and our fringe side despatched of them with ease, winning 3-1 thanks to goals by Pulisic and another Haaland double to set up a 5th round tie at home to Portsmouth next month. The next match was back in the league this time as we travelled to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. We beat Spurs convincingly with another 4-1 win, Haaland getting a hat-rick this time while Foden got the other for us in a dominant display. Our final 2 matches of the month were also again opposition from the capital, firstly came the visit of Chelsea to the Etihad in another big match in the title race in which the visitors won with ease on our patch beating us thanks to 2 early goals by Liel Abada resulting in a 2-0 win for them. We then travelled back to North London, this time to the Emirates to face Arsenal where we could only muster a goalless draw.

We were top after the Liverpool win, however defeat to Chelsea saw them take over top spot and move us down to 2nd. The goalless draw against Arsenal didn't help our cause either as we are now 4 points behind Chelsea with 9 games to play. Haaland is once again dominating the goal scoring charts in the Premier League and is currently on 35 with an average rating of 8.02. He is also well clear with the most MOTM awards too with 9 to his name. 

Haaland has also claimed Player of the Month in the Premier League too with 7 goals in 5 matches and an average rating of 7.92. 

Sticking with Erling, he's having the season of his life. The season officially began on 24th June 2029, meaning the Club World Cup was in full swing at that time. He scored another 7 goals in that tournament after the first group stage match, meaning those numbers are included in this season's figures. He's played 39 matches, all of those were starts up to now, and has scored an incredible 70 goals already, as well as missing 2 of his 4 penalties taken. He has 5 assists too with 18 MOTM awards and just the 1 yellow card picked up, with an average rating across all competitions of 8.34 this season, he's just getting better and better with age. Now 29, and these are just league figures, he's scored 404 goals in 416 appearances in his incredible career to date, 293 of those goals have been for Manchester City, meaning he's 33 clear of Alan Shearer's record of 260 and 29 clear of Harry Kane's recently set record of 264. It's highly unlikely that this rate of goal scoring will be seen again any time soon in the Premier League, plus if he has the longevity of say, Ciro Immobile had for me, he could play for another 10 years!

[danmcconnell1]

March 2030

March brings 6 matches across 4 different competitions, including the final of the Carabao Cup. 

And it was a perfect month. We began with a 5-1 win over Portsmouth at the Etihad thanks to goals by Gomez, Clark, Caicedo and a double for Endrick which set up a quarter final later in the month away at Aston Villa. We then welcomed Southampton in our only Premier League match of the month and we thrashed Southampton 4-0 with goals coming from Foden, Haaland, Zaire-Emery and Endrick again. Then came the Last 16 1st leg against Copenhagen in the Champions League away in Denmark. We just about won this 1st leg despite the hosts opening the scoring through Marcus Thuram but Haaland and Endrick once again gave us a lead to take back to Manchester next week. Then, the biggest match of the month against Tottenham at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final. We were outstanding, particularly in the 1st half going 3-0 up thanks to goals by Foden within the opening minute then Haaland scoring 2 before the break. Dejan Kulusevski did pull one back for Spurs but a late Floran Wirtz goal secured our 4th trophy of the season and in doing so, broke a record for the amount of times the competition has been won in total.

We were joint record winners alongside Liverpool with 9 before this triumph, however winning it again has seen us leapfrog the Reds now with 10 League Cups in our history, 8 of which have come within the last 16 years.

After the Carabao Cup triumph, we welcomed Copenhagen back to the Etihad for the Champions League round of 16 2nd leg and managed to beat them convincingly on aggregate in the end with a 4-2 win on the night, ending the tie 6-3 on aggregate. Haaland and Clark both got 2 each to see us ease into the quarter finals where we will face Everton at home first and then on Merseyside. The final match of the month was another big one, this time in the FA Cup quarter final at Villa Park against Aston Villa. We ran out 4-1 winners to send us back to Wembley in the semi finals thanks to goals by Caicedo, Palmer and another Haaland double.

With us only playing 1 match this month in the league, we've dropped to 4th however have confirmed Europa Conference League football at a minimum next season, however we do now have games in hand over Liverpool and Chelsea and still have to face leaders West Ham, so there'll be plenty of twists and turns before the season is over.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2030

We are now approaching the business end of the season and with another 3 titles all still to play for, we are in with a great chance of creating history and achieving footballing greatness.

The month began with the visit of Brentford to the Etihad and we picked up another 3 points after a 5-2 win over the Bees, our goals being scored by Foden and another 4 for Haaland, exerting his superiority once again. Then came a more reserved 1-0 win away at Fulham 3 days later, Josh Clark scoring the all important goal with just 9 minutes left. We then welcomed Everton in the Champions League quarter final 1st leg at the Etihad and we fell 2-1 to the Toffees, Foden scoring for us either side of an Umeres double. Then came areguably the most disappointing result of the month, a goalless draw away at the struggling Nottingham Forest. We did however turn the Champions League quarter final around though, winning the match 1-0 thanks to a Florian Wirtz goal in the 90th minute to force extra time, however it finished 2-2 on aggregate forcing a penalty shoot out which we came out on top in, Fabio Miretti scoring the all important winning spot kick. Then came another match that was just as important in our pursuit of all 7 trophies this season, an FA Cup semi final at Wembley against Arsenal. It was a monumental effort to keep the Gunners at bay going into extra time again, just 4 days after a gruelling extra time period in the Champions League against Everton. However, going into extra time, I brought on Erling Haaland for Endrick who was the difference maker for us, scoring an extra time hat-rick to secure our place in the FA Cup final against Wolves back at Wembley next month. We then had another difficult match the following weekend as we welcomed my former club Newcastle to the Etihad in the Premier League, however the result shows it was far from a difficult match as we thrashed my former employers 4-1, our goals being scored by Foden, Clark and yet another double for Haaland. After knocking Everton in the quarter finals in the Champions League, that set up an enormous semi final against the mighty Bayern Munich. The first leg was at the Etihad and we drew 1-1 with the German giants, Haaland equalising for us after an early Kai Havertz goal for the visitors.

With 4 Premier League matches remaining, we lead ahead of Liverpool by 2 points with 12 left to play for. We begin next month with a huge match against West Ham at the Etihad, a win for us would all but see off their challenge. The title is in our hands, only we can stop ourselves winning it now. We just need to do our jobs and ensure we don't let Liverpool back in. We of course have the Champions League semi final 2nd leg against Bayern at the Allianz Arena in Bavaria to play too and it's essentially 0-0 in that match as the first leg ended in a draw. Finally, we also have an FA Cup final to come as well against Wolves who've had a mediocre season in the league, however could top it off by not only ending our dream of 7 trophies in a season but by lifting silverware too.

I was happy to win the Manager of the Month award with 3 wins from 4, my first time winning it this season.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2030

With the domestic season coming to an end this month, we were hoping to continue our knack of getting results when it matters and achieve the most historic of season's by winning the last 3 trophies available to us.

A perfect month meant that we won 2 more of the 3 trophies available to us, making it 6 out of 7 trophies for the campaign. We began with a big 5-0 win over West Ham at the Etihad to begin May, Haaland scoring yet another hat-rick while Foden managed the other 2. We then beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in the Champions League semi final 2nd leg to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate, Wirtz scoring our first while Haaland bagged another brace to send us through to the final where we'll face our title rivals Liverpool at the OIimpico in Rome. Just 3 days after beating Bayern in Germany, we thrashed Leicester back at the Etihad 4-0 thanks to goals by Sudakov and yes, again, another Haaland hat-rick. Another 4-0 win quickly followed away at Watford in our penultimate match of the season, this time the goals coming from Wirtz, Endick and Haaland with 2 at Vicarage Road.

The FA Cup final was upon us next as we faced Wolves at Wembley and we beat them 3-2 in what was a thrilling final. Haaland scored a 20 minute hat-rick to see us race into a 3-0 lead and while Brennan Johnson and Pedro Neto goals made things difficult for us, we held on to our lead and lifted the FA Cup for the 10th time in the club's now illustrious history. 

Haaland's frankly ridiculous exploits in this competition this season saw him break a number of records, the first being a new average rating record of 9.38 from 5 FA Cup appearances in a season. 

He also managed 13 FA Cup goals this season, eclipsing the record previously set by Dominic Solanke back in 2027 when he scored 7.

And finally, he won 4 MOTM awards in 5 appearances, breaking Lewis Brown's record of 3 set back in 2025.

Going back to this month's results, the final day win over Leeds meant that we were, once again, Premier League champions for the 3rd time in 6 years. We thrashed Leeds 5-0 at Elland Road on the final day with Haaland scoring yet another hat-rick while Florian Wirtz and Bernardo Silva wrapped up the goal scoring for us.

The title win meant that I entered England's Hall of Fame top 10 too with 9 trophies won in the space of 5 years with 2 different clubs. This doesn't include European successes though therefore as I've won both the Europa and Champions League, more broad Hall of Fame's will see me placed higher too.

This is how the Premier League table finished, with us on top of the pile after an outstanding season. Haaland once again won the Golden Boot with an incredible 53 league goals this season with an average rating of 8.29 and 13 MOTM awards this time around. Haaland has played 7 seasons in England now with City and won the Golden Boot in all of them.

He has had the most incredible of seasons and one that is unlikely to be repeated again any time soon. 55 appearances up to now with 104 goals scored is insane. He's scored 7 of his 9 penalties, registered 9 assists and picked up an insane 28 MOTM awards across all competitions. With one match still left to play this season, the Champions League final no less, there has been 10 matches in which he's scored just a hat-rick, 5 matches in which he's scored 4 goals and 1 other match in which he scored a magnificent 7, equating to a total of 17 hat-ricks in one season.

These incredible exploits have seen him break the record for the highest average rating in a league season, up from the 8.07 record he set in 2027 to now 8.29 this season. He only made 31 league appearances too which makes the achievement even more impressive.

Haaland inevitably wins Player of the Year, this being the 6th season and time in a row he's won that award.

He also wins Player's Player of the Year too, again for the 6th time in a row and in his career.

He wins another Premier League Golden Boot.

And is of course named in the Team of the Year, alongside colleagues Garcia, Dias, Caicedo, Silva and Cole Palmer.

Edited January 23, 2023 by danmcconnell1

[danmcconnell1]

Champions League Final 2030

As we fly to the Italian capital of Rome to face Liverpool in the Champions League final, we are aware of the greatness that could be about to be achieved by this magnificent team. We've already won 6 trophies this season, however to retain the Champions League and therefore win 7 would be a feat unrivalled in footballing history.

We will be facing Premier League rivals and title challengers until the final day Liverpool. They're familiar opponents for us at the tail end of big competitions as we beat them in the semi final of this competition last season as well as the semi final in the Club World Cup too back in July at the start of this mammoth season for us. 

Unbelievably, we came out on top and won a 2nd consecutive Champions League and a haul of 7 trophies in the same season, eclipsing all previous achievements in the history of football. To win the Club World Cup, Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Carabao Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League all within the same season is an historic achievement and testament to this incredible group of players. It was a poor match in truth, however a solitary Phil Foden goal, who had missed the final few weeks of the league season through injury therefore it was a risk to play him in this final so close to the upcoming World Cup too, was enough to win it for us. 

Haaland broke yet more records, setting a new average rating record in the Champions League of 8.5 over 11 appearances this time around.

He also broke his own goal scoring record too, scoring 24 goals in the Champions League. Most strikers would be happy with that number across all competitions, Haaland scored that many in just 11 appearances in Europe's elite club competition.

He also picked up 7 MOTM awards in the competition too, again breaking his own record of 5 set back in 2027.

He won the Player of the Season award in the Champions League too, with 24 goals in 11 appearances with 1 assist and an average rating of 8.5.

And there's his confirmation of yet another Golden Boot.

Moving on from Erling Haaland, Josh Clark had a brilliant season in the Champions League, scoring 5 goals and picking up 3 assists in his 9 appearances with an average rating of 7.49, the Welsh youngster has played really well this season in all competitions despite limited game time, however he's someone I can rely on to do well for me.

Despite winning the competitions, only Clark and Haaland were named in the Team of the Year.

And to round off what's been the most outstanding season of all for Haaland, he was named the Forward of the Season in the Champions League as he ends this season with 56 appearances and an incredible 104 goals. 

[danmcconnell1]

World Cup 2030

The 2030 World Cup will be held in Spain, the nation I used to manage a few years ago but for a poor European Championships 2 years ago. Following being sacked by them, I took over my own country, England. After an incredibly successful season with my club side Manchester City, winning all 7 trophies available to us this time around, what an achievement it would be to top it all of with a World Cup in the country that sacked me just 2 years ago. 

We prepared for the tournament with 2 friendlies before travelling to Spain, the first at Wembley against South Korea who we beat 4-1 thanks to goals by Rashford, Fullalove, Foden and Chalobah, before a trip to Austria on our way to sunny Spain who we also beat 3-0, time time thanks to goals by Elliott, Fullalove and Foden. We then travelled to our base just south of Madrid as we were using the training facilities of Getafe CF just outside the capital city.

Our World Cup got underway with a 3-1 win over Iran in San Sebastien thanks to goals by Foden, Fullalove and Sancho. Abdi got a late goal back for Iran but we held on for the 3 points. Our 2nd and final group stage match was against Tunisia in the southern city of Malaga who we thrashed 4-0, this time thanks to goals by Abraham, Sterling, Mount and Gelhardt which saw us finish top of the group with a maximum 6 points, Iran finished 2nd as they beat Tunisia in their other game. 

After winning the group, that set up an 2nd round tie against Japan, to be played at San Memes in the northern city of Bilbao. We beat the Asian side pretty comfortably winning 2-0, our goals coming from Palmer and a Nishizawa OG which opened the scoring. Another win meant a 3rd round tie, this time against Belgium, our first European opponents at this World Cup at the Nuevo Mestalla in Valencia. We beat them 3-1 thanks to an early Foden goal which was cancelled out by my Manchester City man Ali Tas, however Tammy Abraham and Cole Palmer saw off the Belgians to send us into the quarter finals.

Our opponents in the quarter finals were familiar in major tournaments, Germany. The old enemy. We travelled south again to the Olimpico in Sevilla with a spring in our steps and were right to do so as, despite needing extra time and penalties, we came out on top in what was quickly becoming a fantastic tournament for us. Rudloff, who'll become a familiar name in due course, opened the scoring for Germany early on with his first for his country however a late Mount penalty brought us level which is how it finished after extra time. We won the shoot out 7-6 in the end after 13 perfect penalties until Ramsdale saved one to send us into the semi finals against the hosts Spain, my former employers of course.

The semi final was to be played at the Wanda Metropolitano, the home of Atletico Madrid in the capital and we were outstanding in it, despite the score line saying it was close. It was of course, it went to extra time, however how we didn't win the game at a canter I'll never know. Pedri gave the hosts the lead with a great strike, however their first of the match in the 17th minute but Harvey Elliott equalised for us early in the 2nd half, then just 5 minutes later Raheem Sterling gave us the lead. We peppered the Spain goal but couldn't find a 3rd and then the inevitable happened, Alejandro Garnacho scored to send the match to extra time. Luckily, Tammy Abraham saved his best form in this match for this period, scoring 2 goals before half time in the extra period to send us through to just our 2nd ever World Cup final. There was one piece of unfortunate news though as Rico Lewis, my Manchester City full back, was sent off shortly after half time in extra time so would miss the final.

Speaking of the final, it was held at the Santiago Bernabeu, the home of Real Madrid in the capital city. On a sweltering day in the Spanish capital, we would be taking on Portugal, arguably Spain's biggest rivals. Fikayo Tomori gave us a relatively early lead with a header from a corner in the 15th minute which is how the first half finished. Jadon Sancho then scored with 18 minutes left to really send England fans into dreamland, however David Carmo did get one back for Portugal with 12 minutes to go to set up the most nervy of final 10 minutes or so. Luckily for us though, we held on for an historic 2nd World Cup win which rounded off the most perfect of season's for me personally. 8 trophies won for both club and country in the space of 12 months is no mean feat and may well never be repeated again.

We have also now achieved England's highest ever world ranking, moving up to 1st in the rankings after the World Cup win.

Despite winning the trophy, none of our players won any of the individual awards on offer at the World Cup. Pedri won Player of the Tournament, Mbappe won the Golden Boot and Rudloff, who again I'll come to in the near future, won Best Young Player. We did however get 3 players named in the Team of the Tournament with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fikayo Tomori and Jadon Sancho all named in it, the latter 2 our goal scorers in the final of course.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-Season 2030

After what was of course a very busy summer again winning the World Cup with England, it was time to get back to our bread and butter with preparing for the new league season ahead and trying to defend all of our titles.

Our friendlies went well, winning all but 2 matches which ended in draws. We did win another Community Shield too, once again against Liverpool, beating them 2-0 at Wembley thanks to goals by Haaland and Ruben Dias before half time. We have one more friendly to play against Real Madrid in another testimonial ahead of the new season. The first testimonial was for Rodri against Lyon, the 2nd aforementioned one is for Phil Foden against Real Madrid before the new Premier League season gets underway away at Southampton. We also have another UEFA Super Cup to look forward to after retaining the Champions League, this time we'll face fellow Premier League side Aston Villa after they won the Europa League last season, therefore guaranteeing Champions League football for themselves this time around too.

We'll now move onto transfer business done so far this summer, starting with those leaving the club up to now.

The first player to leave was backup goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu. His contract was up next summer and he'd already made noises about letting that deal come to an end therefore allowing him to leave for nothing, so it made sense to cash in on him now. Chelsea came in for him with a £33m offer which I was happy to accept. His value has skyrocketed which I don't believe to be accurate and I'm sure will come back down in the coming months. He did okay in tournaments for me over the years, particularly last season playing a starring role in goal in the Carabao Cup success and in the earlier rounds of the FA Cup too. In his 3 seasons back at the club he made 21 appearances, conceded 19 goals and kept 5 clean sheets.

Next to leave permanently was Kamil Horoszkiewicz, who joines Augsburg in Germany for £12.5m He spent the last 3 seasons out on loan after we signed him in the summer of 2027 for nothing, however hasn't quite developed into the player we initially hoped, therefore making £12.5m profit was more than welcome. I'm sure he'll go on to be a solid defender however I don't believe he's going to be good enough for our level.

Mitchell Turner is a player who came through our academy and has spent a lot of time out on loan at numerous affiliated clubs over the last few seasons but again, isn't quite the player we once hoped and aged 22 now he needs to go and find a home. He's joined Brighton for £8m.

Rhys Davies is another player out of our academy who's not quite hit the heights some thought he would and again, with just a year left on his deal, it made sense to cash in this summer. He's joined WBA for £3.2m. 

Marco Sanchez to Real Madrid is a deal I didn't really want to do, especially considering his value now He joined us from Club America in 2028 and spent most of his City career out on loan in Mexico at Pumas and performed well, however as soon as reported interest from Real Madrid became public, Sanchez asked to leave. We ended up striking a deal with the Spanish giants worth £28m, so we did end up making over £22m on the player despite him not making a 1st team appearance for us.

I don't usually make a note of loan deals, however 1st team defender Alessio Tomasoni has joined Atletico Madrid on loan for the season after helping us to all 7 trophies last season. He was an important back up player for us as he can play all across the back line, however the chance of regular 1st team football at a big club in Spain is a great opportunity for him to exert his excellence in a side and hopefully come back a stronger player for us next summer. We'll be keeping a close eye on his progress.

We now move onto deals we've done to bring players into the club so far this summer.

After speaking quietly about him earlier this summer thanks to his World Cup exploits, Tim-Sebastien Rudlof joined the club before the World Cup from Hoffenheim for a fee worth £68m which could rise by another £5m to £73m in total. He's a Rolls Royce of a defender and aged just 21, already has a goal and 17 caps to his name with Germany, that goal of course coming against my England side in the World Cup quarter final earlier this summer. I have no doubt he's going to be a fantastic addition to the side and could go onto become a club legend should his career take off like I hope it will.

Due to the departure of number 2 goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, we needed a new backup goalkeeper, so up steps former City academy product James Trafford. He's joined from Leicester after impressing there and picking up 2 England caps under my stewardship for a fee of £15m which could rise to £15.75m over the course of his contract. It's a deal I'm ecstatic with as he'll occupy a homegrown slot for us, plus he's on less money per week than Bazunu was, so it's a win win for me.

The final player to join so far this summer is a deal which has sent shockwaves not only around Manchester but around the world. After 16 years playing for Manchester United and over 460 appearances for the Red Devils, Marcus Rashford has swapped red for sky blue to join us here at the Etihad. Now, we have paid a premium for doing business with our biggest city rivals, Rashford was on the transfer list and United would have accepted bids as low as £19m from any other club I imagine, however we have ended up paying what could equate to a total of £55m, however, still aged just 32, Rashford is a star and deserves to be playing at the highest level, something Manchester United just cannot offer him and haven't been able to for many years now after multiple years of not qualifying for the Champions League. He'll be a great option for us, however we are absolutely stacked in forward positions now so may need to make some decisions as to possibly allowing some players to leave, whether that be on permanent deals or on loans.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2030

After a successful start to the season in retaining the Community Shield with the win against Liverpool, I'm hoping to begin the new season with a bang and hopefully pick up another early trophy by also retaining the UEFA Super Cup too.

We have had a brilliant start winning all but one of our matches so far, dropping points away at Brighton in our final match of the season but remaining unbeaten. We began the Premier League season with a 4-2 win away at St. Mary's against Southampton and despite falling behind twice, goals by Gvardiol, Sudakov and a Haaland double won it for us to give us a winning start. We did retain the UEFA Super Cup but after a very spirited performance by Aston Villa in Zagreb, Croatia. We won the game 5-3 after extra time which proves Villa were very good, however we just about had enough to beat them with Haaland scoring 4 while Rashford scored his first goal for the club too. We then faced Villa again just 3 days later in the Premier League at Villa Park and scored another 5 against them, conceding just the 1 this time in the league. Haaland was again outstanding scoring another 4 goals while Josh Clark scored the 5th and final goal in stoppage time. We welcomed Spurs in our next match back at the Etihad and continued our brilliant goal scoring form as we beat them 7-3, Haaland going one better this time in scoring 5 goals while Rashford managed his first Premier League goals with a brace too. Yet another high scoring encounter was next, however this time it was far more significant as we beat Liverpool 6-2 again at the Etihad. Liverpool's Kvaratskhelia gave them the lead within the opening minute, however we fought back with another Haaland masterclass as he bagged another hat-rick to continue his ridiculous start to the season while Rashford, Foden and Ruben Dias rounded off our goal scoring. Bowen scored a late goal for Liverpool to make the score line a little more respectable however it's a huge statement to beat them so heavily, even this early in the season. The final match of the month was away at Brighton however we dropped points this time as we could only manage a 2-2 draw with the Seagulls. Haaland and Foden put us 2-0 up and we were seemingly cruising however 2 Jackson Muleka goals restored parity and that's how it finished.

We have had a great start and find ourselves back on top of the Premier League table early on after Haaland has absolutely torn most of his opponents apart so far this time around, scoring 15 goals in his opening 5 matches, triggering 2 of 3 goal clauses within his contract within the month, earning him an extra £3.2m in bonuses already this season. He needs another 5 goals to earn another £700k bonus. His average rating is already 9.28 so far this season and he has 4 MOTM awards already too.

I won Manager of the Month and Haaland, unsurprisingly, won Player of the Month, however I forgot to get the screen shot!

We now move onto the last of the transfer business done this summer.

We let Heorhii Sudakov go after Newcastle offered £50m upfront for him in what I thought was a fair offer. He's been a good player for me over the last couple of seasons scoring some big goals however I want to start bringing through some younger players so need to make some room within the squad. He'll be missed but I'm confident others can step up now.

The next player out was club icon and fan favourite Bernardo Silva. After 14 years at the club he won the lot and now aged 36, felt it's time for a new challenge to end his career. He's joined Rangers in Scotland for £8m which I feel is a fair deal despite his value going a fair bit higher following the move. He's had a great start up there scoring 2 in his first 2 appearances for them.

The final man out may be a surprise to some after I confirmed he'd be retiring last season, however we managed to talk him round into staying on for at least 1 more year, however when Inter came in with a late offer for 36 year Aymeric, I felt it was in the interest of the club to cash in while we still could and allow him to get more game time in what may well be his final year. We've received £5m for the veteran.

After the late departure of Laporte, I needed to replace him, so in comes Robim Devillaz from Atalanta for a fee of £60m which could rise to £73m. He's a versatile defender who can play in midfield too. I always wanted to sign Devillaz, however wasn't planning on doing so yet. The Laporte departure expedited this deal though so he comes in and will hopefully be a vital part of this team in the years to come with Ruben Dias ageing now, I really hope Devillaz and Rudloff could be a partnership for the ages and with them both aged just 21, there's no reason why this can't be the case.