Pep Guardiola makes in-house Manchester City recruitment after Tottenham loss | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has made some interesting additions to the club’s training group ahead of this weekend’s trip to Brighton and Hove Albion.

City suffered their first loss of the 2025-26 season on Saturday as goals from Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha secured a comfortable 2-0 win for Thomas Frank and Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium.

It seemed all too familiar for Guardiola and co at the weekend as summer signing James Trafford gifted Tottenham their second goal with a moment of madness on his first senior home appearance for his boyhood club.

Manchester City lacked any meaningful attacking threat and Tottenham defended resolutely to thwart the Blues when they did break into the box, with Omar Marmoush, Erling Haaland and Tijjani Reijnders all presented with goalscoring chances either side of half-time.

City endured their most challenging year under Guardiola in the recent campaign, recording their lowest Premier League points tally (71) since the Spaniard was appointed manager in the summer of 2016.

A third-place Premier League finish last term was compounded by an early exit from the Carabao Cup, a Round of 16 defeat to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and a gutting FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace.

It’s been a busy transfer window, to say the least, at the Etihad Stadium and newly-appointed director of football Hugo Viana has spearheaded a major overhaul of Guardiola’s first-team squad – which appeared in desperate need of inspiration across the pitch last term.

Manchester City’s new signings have, for the most part, settled in quickly and despite a disappointing Round of 16 exit from the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States in June, Guardiola can take plenty of encouragement away from a limited pre-season with a bloated first-team group.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News, Guardiola has added academy trio Reigan Heskey, Ryan McAidoo and Divine Mukasa to Manchester City first-team training ahead of Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion.

Guardiola is likely to ring the changes at the Amex Stadium after his starting XI against Tottenham failed to impress and were comfortably outplayed, outrun by a determined Spurs side buoyed by their historic UEFA Europa League success last season.

The Manchester City boss will issue an update on his squad’s fitness in a press conference on Friday, with questions likely to be raised on his side’s prospects for the Premier League title amid strong competition from holders Liverpool and second-place favourites Arsenal.

City cannot afford a lousy beginning to a Premier League campaign if they are serious about competing in the title race this time round, with six-pointer fixtures against Manchester United and Arsenal set to follow the trip to Brighton.