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Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has described the Club World Cup as a ‘great initiative’ and the missing piece in the football calendar.
Soriano has spearheaded the globalisation of City in recent years and is the driving force behind the network of clubs within the City Football Group.
And despite criticism of the new, expanded tournament in the United States over the past month – some coming from City’s own players – the Spaniard believes it is imperative that they are involved.
‘It’s very important to be here because we are a global football club,’ Soriano said. ‘We have our roots and we are proud of them.
‘But you can be local and relevant and faithful to the history of the club and the fans that support you, but you can also be global and show what we do – which we believe is beautiful football – to the world.
‘It’s a combination that works very well and we are proud. I think it’s a great initiative and we are very happy to be here.’
City opened their tournament by beating Wydad AC in Philadelphia on Wednesday and face Abu Dhabi’s Al Ain – who were soundly beaten by Juventus – at the weekend.
‘We are very excited by this,’ Soriano added. ‘I think it’s something that was very much needed, soccer is a global sport and we have to make it global.
‘You have to have teams like Manchester City playing teams from Morocco, Korea or wherever. That’s part of the globalisation of the number one sport in the world.’
The 58-year-old also intimated that City’s summer spending may be over after adding four new faces ahead of flying to America.
New director of football Hugo Viana has replenished the squad, with Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Marcus Bettinelli joining earlier in the month.
Guardiola has 24 outfield players here and will want that trimming before the Premier League season starts.
‘I’m happy with the work we did,’ Soriano said. ‘Last summer we only bought one new player but this year between the winter and the summer it will be eight new ones.
‘It’s part of the annual cycle, the renewal of the squad. We accelerated some of it and now we are very happy with the squad we have.’
