Friday night Manchester City begin their preseason exhibition tour in the United States. They’ll take on Borussia Dortmund of the Bundesliga at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. It is expected that they will do so with Leroy Sane, Claudio Bravo and Aymeric Laporte, and that’s really about it as far as starting XI players go.
That’s because most of the star players are now on summer holiday after putting in an extended tour of international duty for their respective countries in the World Cup.
Even Ilkay Gundogan, whose Germany flopped by crashing out of the World Cup in the group stages, isn’t expected to be there in Chicago.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola will field a side of reserves and youth when they take on Lucien Favre’s side in the massive stadium on the lakefront.
It’s quite common for Premier League big six clubs to be without their top stars for these cash cow preseason tours across the pond. Attendance and attention will always be high regardless of who is playing. However, what’s really uncommon is what City central defender John Stones is doing.
The England standout, along with Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford, Harry Maguire and Kieran Trippier, was one of Three Lions’ star men this World Cup, and the only outfield player to start every game in the tournament.
Stones is planning on coming back early to help his club team in the preseason. After a pleasantly surprising fourth place finish with the national side, Stones will embark on 2-3 week holiday, then return back to Man City and help his team prepare to defend their league title this season.
He is aiming to be back for the Community Shield game on August 5 against Chelsea in Wembley Stadium.
“I’m just so happy to have played in every game,” Stones told The Telegraph.
“I tried to give my best and give everything to the team. I wanted to play in every game. It was a difficult tournament in France two years ago.”
“I’m going to go back in for the first game against Chelsea in the Community Shield. I just want to keep the momentum going. I will have a break. Two-and-a-bit, maybe three weeks off. I will just make sure I am fighting fit for the new season.
“Now it is about keeping improving. I feel I’ve improved as a person and a footballer over the last few weeks on the biggest stage in the world.”
In addition to the game against BVB, Manchester City will also take on Liverpool (July 26 in New Jersey) and Bayern Munich (July 28 in Miami).
The full official Manchester City travel roster has yet to be announced.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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