Defender feels right at home with City

CITY'S commercial team have had a better summer than they were expecting.

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

Norway's failure to qualify for the European Championship meant that they knew Erling Haaland would be the headline figure on the pre-season tour of the US, but Jack Grealish's shock omission from the England squad gave the Blues two of their most valuable brands. Kevin de Bruyne is another household name and Phil Foden is getting there, but the dream for City and any club is to sign a star with the appeal of Haaland or Grealish.

Amid the ongoing search for the next big thing, Josko Gvardiol heads into this season in an interesting position. He arrived at the Etihad last year with a big £77.5m price tag and experience of two major tournaments including an eye-catching set of displays in Qatar.

He took time to adapt to Pep Guardiola's style, especially because he was utilised at leftback rather than centre-back but when he got going there was no stopping him. Five goals and an assist in seven games saw him play a crucial part in City's runin and mark him out as a potential star for the next season.