2024–25 Manchester City F.C. season

Pre-season

The club ended the previous season with the main issue being whether or not Pep Guardiola would decide to extend his contract as manager beyond the end of the 2024–25 season after nine years with the club.^[6] Kevin De Bruyne was the only key player who would start the season in the final year of his existing contract, but there was also further speculation on the futures of Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva, as there had been in previous recent summers. Rumours also emerged that Ederson could be a target for Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr.^[7]

A total of 13 current City players were selected for squads for Euro 2024, the joint most alongside Inter Milan, and one player was selected for the 2024 Copa América. Six of those players reached the semi-finals of these competitions played in the week commencing 8 July; five of those would go on to reach the respective finals played on 14 July; and two: Rodri for Spain and Julián Alvarez for Argentina, would celebrate as champions. Rodri was also recognised as the Player of the Tournament for Euro 2024.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Players who had not participated in either competition returned to the club for pre-season training on 15 July to prepare for their forthcoming pre-season tour in the United States. Spanish defender Sergio Gómez had been the first senior player to be transferred, leaving the club after two seasons to join Real Sociedad on 12 July. The first transfer in was announced on 18 July when Brazilian winger Savinho joined from fellow CFG club Troyes, after a successful loan season at Girona, for a reported fee of £21 million.^[12][13]

City took a largely inexperienced squad on their pre-season tour to the US, selecting only 11 previous first team players who had not played at the Euros or Copa America.^[14] Their two Croatian Internationals, Joško Gvardiol and Mateo Kovačić, who had returned from Germany after the group stages, joined the tour at its mid-point.^[15] The remaining 14 players were allowed extended breaks and would join the squad after its return to the UK. However, this tour squad was able to perform well and only suffered narrow losses to Celtic and Milan, drew with Barcelona and beat Chelsea convincingly with a Haaland hat-trick. The performances of Haaland, Grealish and Oscar Bobb in particular stood out in these games with the latter demonstrating he was ready for more first-team appearances in the coming season.^[16]

Start of the season

In their first competitive game of the season, City won the FA Community Shield by beating fierce rivals Manchester United 7–6 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in regular time, thus avenging the defeat to the same side in the 2024 FA Cup final. United opened the scoring in the 82nd minute with a strike from Alejandro Garnacho, and City equalised in the penultimate minute of normal time with a Bernardo Silva header from an excellent Oscar Bobb run and cross. Although Silva went on to see his first penalty saved, an Ederson save against Jadon Sancho and a miss from Jonny Evans saw City victorious in the penalty shoot-out. It was the first time since 2019 that City had won the competition after consecutive defeats in their previous three appearances.^[2]

On 12 August, it was announced that Julián Alvarez would be joining Atlético Madrid for a reported initial fee of £64.4 million with up to £17.1 million in add-ons after two highly successful seasons with City. At the time, this was the highest transfer fee the club had ever received for a player and represented a significant profit for a player acquired for £14 million only two years previously. Alvarez had won the continental treble in 2023, as well as a World Cup and a Copa America title while a City player.^[17]

On 23 August, former captain İlkay Gündoğan returned to the club on a free transfer, signing a one-year deal after having spent the previous season at Barcelona.^[18]

City began their league campaign with three strong performances and victories away to Chelsea and West Ham United, and at home to newly promoted Ipswich Town. The games against Ipswich and West Ham United included Haaland's 10th and 11th hat-tricks since he joined the club, as he became the Premier League player to score the most goals (7) in the first three games of the season.^[19][20] The Blues led the league over Liverpool on goals scored at the first international break, with both clubs maintaining a 100% record and a goal difference of +7.

On 22 September, City played their first league game of the season against their closest title challengers from the previous two seasons and drew 2–2 at home against Arsenal. The first goal was Haaland's 100th for the club in all competitions, achieved in just 105 appearances. This equalled a record set by Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid for the fastest to reach this milestone at a single club. Arsenal were able to come back to take a 2–1 lead by half time, but saw Leandro Trossard sent off for a second bookable offence shortly before the break. A resolute defensive effort with 10 men and excellent goalkeeping from David Raya was almost enough to secure the victory and three points for the Gunners, but a scrambled goal from John Stones in the eighth minute of injury time saved the point for City and ensured they remained unbeaten and at top of the league by a point from Liverpool and Aston Villa.

Rodri had limped out of the Arsenal match following a collision with Thomas Partey. On 27 September, it was confirmed that the player had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and would miss the rest of the season in recovery. Guardiola said Rodri was "irreplaceable" during the previous season's title run-in. Rodri missed five games the previous season and City had lost four of them.^[21]

Autumn period

Manchester City remained unbeaten in all competitions up to the October international break. In the Premier League, they were positioned just a point behind Liverpool, securing second place and edging out Arsenal on goal difference. Their form extended to the Champions League, where they held the eighth spot in the new Swiss-style league phase.

On 7 October, City's legal case against the Premier League over rules on commercial deals involving club owners concluded with a tribunal ruling. The tribunal upheld two aspects of the club's complaints but rejected others. The case, separate from the ongoing investigation into City's alleged financial breaches, found that shareholder loans should not be excluded from associated party transaction (APT) rules and that some recent rule amendments should not be retained. Both sides claimed partial victory, with City pleased about some rulings and the Premier League relieved that most rules were upheld. The ruling could impact other clubs' compliance with financial regulations.^[22]

On 14 October, Manchester City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain, announced he would be leaving the club the following June after 12 years, being replaced by Sporting Lisbon's Hugo Viana.^[23]

On 28 October, Rodri became the first current City player to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or award.^[24]

City faced an injury crisis and a series of four consecutive losses before the final international break of the year, marking their worst losing streak since 2006 under Stuart Pearce. It was also the first time Guardiola had suffered four consecutive defeats in his managerial career. During this period, they were eliminated from the EFL Cup by Tottenham and experienced their first outright Champions League loss in over two years, falling 1–4 to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal. Additionally, this streak ended their 10-month and 32-game unbeaten run in the league with away losses to Bournemouth and Brighton, leaving City in second place, trailing Liverpool by five points.^[25]

On 19 November, it was widely reported that Guardiola had extended his contract with the club for a further year to 2026, when he would be able to celebrate the completion of his tenth season at City.^[26] Later that week, the club confirmed the extension was for 2 years, until the end of the 2026–27 season.^[27]

On 23 November 2024, City lost 0–4 to Tottenham Hotspur that marked the end of their 52-game unbeaten streak at home. It was the Citizen's first home defeat since November 2022 when Brentford claimed a surprise victory at the same venue. Despite having most of the ball possession and creating 23 attempts at goal, City were made to rue wasteful chances while their opponent on the day converted their chances clinically.^[28]

Christmas and New Year

The club's poor run of form continued into December and included further league defeats to Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa; and a comprehensive Champions League defeat away at Juventus. At the nadir, City had just one win in thirteen games with nine defeats.^[29][30]

However, their form improved somewhat in the New Year with consecutive victories against West Ham and Leicester in the league and a comprehensive 8–0 victory against League Two club Salford City in the third round of the FA Cup.^[31]

As the January transfer window opened, it was rumoured that City would be in the market for an additional central defender to cover for the reoccurring injuries to John Stones, Rúben Dias and Nathan Aké; an additional defensive midfielder to cover for the long-term injury to Rodri and an additional forward to support Erling Haaland as replacement for Julián Alvarez. On 11 January, Guardiola revealed that club captain Kyle Walker had requested an immediate transfer away from the club. He subsequently joined Milan on loan for the remainder of the season, with an option to buy at the end of the season.^[32] Kevin De Bruyne replaced Walker as club captain.

In January 2025, it was reported that Manchester City had reached an agreement with RC Lens and Palmeiras to bring Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis respectively to the City of Manchester Stadium. The deal for the former was believed to be £33.5 million while the latter £29.6 million.^[33][34] Both deals were confirmed on 20 and 21 January.^[35][36] It was also rumoured that City had agreed with Eintracht Frankfurt for the signing of forward Omar Marmoush on a five-year deal.^[37] That transfer was confirmed on 23 January.^[38]

Consecutive defeats in the Champions League league stage at Juventus and Paris Saint Germain had left City unexpectedly on the verge of elimination from the competition. They required a victory in their final league stage game home to Club Brugge to avoid this. On 29 January, City came back from a goal down to win 3–1. However, their final position in the league table at 22nd meant they would have to compete for a place in the last 16 round in a two-legged playoff game against either Bayern Munich or defending champions Real Madrid. The resulting ties against Madrid meant the two clubs were meeting for the fourth consecutive season in the competition at the knockout stages.^[39]

On 2 February, City suffered a comprehensive 1–5 defeat at the Emirates Stadium to their closest rivals of recent seasons, Arsenal. City had conceded an early goal from a defensive error, but equalised in the 55th minute thanks to Haaland. However, the Gunners went on to quickly score four unanswered goals to delight their fans and close the gap to league leaders Liverpool. The defeat left City in fifth place, two points behind Chelsea.^[40]

Before the winter transfer window closed the following day, City completed their fourth significant signing of the window, welcoming defensive midfielder Nico González from Porto for £50 million.^[41]

On 11 February, City were defeated 2–3 In the first leg of their play-off tie at home to Real Madrid. Despite having led twice with goals from Haaland, Madrid were able to equalise with strikes from Kylian Mbappé and ex-City youth player Brahim Díaz, before Jude Bellingham scored with virtually the last kick of the match to take a one-goal advantage back home for the second leg the following week; and end City's undefeated home streak in the competition which had stretched to 34 games over more than six seasons.^[42]

A 4–0 home victory over Newcastle United the following weekend provided some hope that team's performances were improving, and that the new players recruited in January were already impressing. The game was notable for a debut hat-trick from Marmoush and an impressive performance from Nico, whom Guardiola later described as a "mini-Rodri".^[43]

However, on 19 February, City suffered a further defeat in Madrid, losing 1–3 on the night through a Mbappé hat-trick, and 3–6 on aggregate. This ended City's participation in European competition for the season and was the first time the Blues had failed to reach the last 16 of the Champions League since 2012–13, when they had been knocked out at the group stages.^[3]

Defeat at home to runaway league leaders Liverpool followed by victory away to Tottenham Hotspur at the end of February put City back into fourth place and the qualification places for next season's Champions League just a point behind surprise third-placed team Nottingham Forest, and a point ahead of Chelsea in fifth.

Season run-in

The FA Cup was now City's only realistic chance of domestic silverware for the season. They faced lower-league opposition in the third, fourth and fifth rounds and duly qualified for the quarter-finals where they were drawn away to Premier League opposition for the first time that season against Bournemouth.

Otherwise, their objective was to secure Champions League qualification in the remaining league fixtures and prepare for the FIFA Club World Cup being held in June.

On 30 March, Manchester City won their FA Cup quarter-final tie against Bournemouth 2–1, coming from behind with both goals assisted by academy graduate Nico O'Reilly who came on at half-time and played at left-back rather than his usual midfield role. However, the result was marred by an ankle injury picked up by top scorer Erling Haaland, which the club later announced would rule him out for five to seven weeks and possibly the remainder of the regular season.^[44] Nevertheless, City comfortably beat Leicester City 2–0 in their next league fixture with Omar Marmoush playing as the centre forward.^[45]

On 4 April, Kevin De Bruyne announced on his social media that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season after 10 years.^[46] With a record 18 trophies and four Player of the Season awards at that time, he would be considered one of the greatest footballers to have ever played for the club.

On 6 April, the 196th Manchester derby ended in a 0–0 draw at Old Trafford to leave City in fifth place, one point behind Chelsea and a point ahead of Aston Villa, with Newcastle in seventh, two points behind but with two games in hand.^[47]

Three consecutive league victories (against Crystal Palace, Everton and Aston Villa) for the first time since October 2024 in April kept City in the race for Champions League qualification.

On 27 April, the Blues beat Nottingham Forest 2–0 at Wembley Stadium with goals from Rico Lewis and Joško Gvardiol to qualify for their third consecutive FA Cup final where they would meet Crystal Palace.^[48]

On 17 May, Palace secured their first-ever major trophy with a 1–0 victory over City in the 2025 FA Cup final at Wembley. Eberechi Eze scored the decisive goal in the 16th minute, finishing a well-crafted counterattack set up by Daniel Muñoz. Despite City's dominance in possession, Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who had avoided an early red card when he handled the ball outside his area to thwart a Haaland one-on-one chance, emerged as a hero, saving a penalty from Omar Marmoush and making key stops throughout the match. City's frustration grew as they failed to claim major domestic silverware for the first time since the 2016–17 season.^[4]

The final home game against Bournemouth on 20 May was notable for a stunning goal of the season from Marmoush, the long-awaited return of Rodri from his injury and the final home appearance of Kevin De Bruyne who was honoured in a presentation after the game.^[49]

A run of 10 unbeaten league games ensured City concluded the 2024–25 Premier League season in third place, securing UEFA Champions League qualification with a 2–0 victory at Fulham on the final day.^[50] However, their 71 points collected over the season was their worst points haul since 2015–16, and the worst for Pep Guardiola as a manager over a 38-match league season.

End of season and FIFA Club World Cup

The revamped 2025 FIFA Club World Cup spanned both the official 2024–25 and 2025–26 seasons. The Premier League announced on 27 March that an additional transfer window would open from 1 to 10 June to align with the window announced by FIFA in October 2024 that would permit participants in that competition to make transfers before the competition began.

It had been anticipated that City's squad would need a major overhaul in the summer to remain competitive at the highest level after a trophyless season. While this transition began in the previous January transfer window, further changes were expected, particularly in midfield, at full-back and potentially at centre-half if the club chose to offload some of their aging and injury-prone players. Specifically, City were rumoured to be progressing their interests in left back Rayan Aït-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and midfielders Tijjani Reijnders from Milan and Rayan Cherki from Lyon in order to complete these in time for the Club World Cup. City had also previously been linked with an interest in Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz, but had pulled out of negotiations.

These three transfers, and that of back-up goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli from Chelsea, were duly completed between 9 and 11 June at a total estimated cost of £112 million.^{[51][52][53][54]}

On 19 June, Guardiola announced he would be breaking from the tradition of recent seasons and appointing his own club captain and leadership team instead of leaving it to a team vote. He subsequently confirmed that Bernardo Silva would take over the captaincy from De Bruyne, supported by Rodri, Dias, Haaland and Gündogan.^[55]

Manchester City comfortably won their three group games at the Club World Cup, including an impressive 5–2 victory against Juventus which ensured they would avoid some of the other major European clubs in the knock-out rounds.^[56] However, City went on to exit the competition at the round of 16 stage with a 3–4 a.e.t. defeat to Al-Hilal.^[5]

Transfers in

More information Date, Pos. ...

Date	Pos.	No.	Player	From	Fee	Team	Ref.
18 July 2024	RW	26	Savinho	Troyes	£21,000,000	First team	[59]
23 August 2024	MF	19	İlkay Gündoğan	Barcelona	Free transfer	First team	[60]
30 August 2024	FW	67	Divin Mubama	West Ham United	£2,000,000	Academy	[61]
20 January 2025	CB	45	Abdukodir Khusanov	Lens	£33,600,000	First team	[36]
21 January 2025	CB	22	Vitor Reis	Palmeiras	£29,600,000	First team	[35]
23 January 2025	FW	7	Omar Marmoush	Eintracht Frankfurt	£59,000,000	First team	[62]
27 January 2025	DF	46	Christian McFarlane	New York City	Undisclosed	Academy	[63]
27 January 2025	DF	–	Juma Bah	Valladolid	£5,100,000	First team	[64]
3 February 2025	MF	14	Nico González	Porto	£50,000,000	First team	[41]
9 June 2025	LB	21	Rayan Aït-Nouri[a]	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£31,800,000	First team	[65][66]
10 June 2025	GK	13	Marcus Bettinelli[b]	Chelsea	Undisclosed	First team	[67]
10 June 2025	RW	29	Rayan Cherki[c]	Lyon	£34,000,000	First team	[68][69]
11 June 2025	CM	4	Tijjani Reijnders[d]	Milan	£46,300,000	First team	[70][71]
Total					£312,400,000

Close

Transfers out

More information Date, Pos. ...

Date	Pos.	No.	Player	To	Fee	Team	Ref.
1 July 2024	MF	69	Tommy Doyle	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£4,300,000	Academy	[72]
1 July 2024	DF	12	Taylor Harwood-Bellis	Southampton	£20,000,000	Academy	[73]
1 July 2024	MF	—	Darío Sarmiento	Tigre	£1,300,000	City Football Group	[74]
2 July 2024	MF	71	Lewis Fiorini	Stockport County	£1,000,000	Academy	[75]
12 July 2024	DF	21	Sergio Gómez	Real Sociedad	£8,400,000	First team	[76][77]
13 July 2024	FW	48	Liam Delap	Ipswich Town	£15,000,000	Academy	[78]
7 August 2024	MF	93	Alex Robertson	Cardiff City	£1,000,000	Academy	[79]
9 August 2024	FW	92	Micah Hamilton	Middlesbrough	£3,500,000	Academy	[80]
12 August 2024	FW	96	Ben Knight	Murcia	Free transfer	Academy	[81]
12 August 2024	FW	19	Julián Alvarez	Atlético Madrid	£81,500,000[a]	First team	[17]
20 August 2024	MF	67	Kane Taylor	Aston Villa	£750,000	Academy	[82]
27 August 2024	DF	7	João Cancelo	Al-Hilal	£21,000,000	First team	[83]
30 August 2024	GK	83	George Murray-Jones	Nottingham Forest	£1,100,000	Academy	[84]
4 September 2024	FW	—	Filip Stevanović	Lommel	Undisclosed	Academy	[85]
4 February 2025	MF	96	Dan Batty	Tottenham Hotspur	Free	Academy	[86]
4 February 2025	MF	—	Seth Chingwaro	Fulham	Free	Academy	[87]
Total					£158,850,000

Close

Loaned out

More information Date, Pos. ...

Date	Pos.	No.	Player	Loaned to	On loan until	Team	Ref.
10 July 2024	GK	88	True Grant	Buxton	End of season	Academy	[88]
3 August 2024	DF	39	Yan Couto	Borussia Dortmund	End of season	City Football Group	[89]
6 August 2024	MF	76	Mahamadou Susoho	Peterborough United	17 August 2024	Academy	[90]
6 August 2024	DF	86	Callum Doyle	Norwich City	End of season	Academy	[91]
7 August 2024	DF	74	Tomas Galvez	LASK	10 January 2025[a][92]	Academy	[93]
9 August 2024	DF	94	Finley Burns	Hull City	End of season	Academy	[94]
12 August 2024	DF	79	Luke Mbete	Northampton Town	End of season	Academy	[95]
12 August 2024	MF	50	Kian Breckin	Crewe Alexandra	21 January 2025[b][96]	Academy	[97]
16 August 2024	MF	4	Kalvin Phillips	Ipswich Town	End of season	First team	[98]
25 August 2024	MF	32	Máximo Perrone	Como	End of season	First team	[99]
26 August 2024	FW	37	Kayky	Sparta Rotterdam	6 February 2025[c]	Academy	[100]
30 August 2024	DF	70	Jadel Katongo	Peterborough United	End of season	Academy	[101]
1 September 2024	DF	78	Issa Kaboré	Benfica	6 January 2025[d]	City Football Group	[102]
3 September 2024	FW	73	Joel Ndala	PSV Eindhoven	4 February 2025[e][103]	Academy	[104]
7 January 2025	DF	78	Issa Kaboré	Werder Bremen	End of season	City Football Group	[105]
12 January 2025	DF	74	Tomas Galvez	SC Cambuur	End of season	Academy	[106]
22 January 2025	DF	97	Josh Wilson-Esbrand	Stoke City	End of season	First team	[107]
24 January 2025	DF	2	Kyle Walker	Milan	End of season	First team	[32]
27 January 2025	DF	–	Juma Bah	Lens	End of season	First team	[64]
4 February 2025	MF	56	Jacob Wright	Norwich City	End of season	Academy	[108]
4 February 2025	FW	73	Joel Ndala	Nottingham Forest	End of season	Academy	[103]
7 February 2025	FW	37	Kayky	Bahia	End of season	Academy	[109]
7 February 2025	FW	48	Brooklyn Nfonkeu	Leeds United	End of season	Academy	[110]

Close

Released

More information Date, Pos. ...

Date	Pos.	No.	Player	Subsequent club	Join date	Team	Ref.
1 July 2024	MF	61	Josh Adam	Wrexham	9 September 2024	Academy	[111][112]
1 July 2024	DF	—	Jamal Baptiste	Sheffield United	5 November 2024	Academy	[111][113]

Close

New contracts

More information Date, Pos. ...

Date	Pos.	No.	Player	Contract until	Team	Ref.
8 June 2024	GK	18	Stefan Ortega	2026	First team	[114]
17 January 2025	FW	9	Erling Haaland	2034	First team	[115]
14 April 2025	MF	19	İlkay Gündoğan	2026	First team	[116]

Close

Overall record

Premier League