Aymeric Laporte and Phil Foden are among four senior first-team players who will miss Manchester City’s pre-season tour of the United States.
Pep Guardiola on Saturday named a 26-man squad for the trip, which will include friendlies against Club America and Bayern Munich in Houston, Texas and Green Bay, Wisconsin over the next week.
But, as had been suggested, the group did not include Foden, John Stones or Ilkay Gundogan, who are instead expected to join the under-23s on a camp in Europe. Spain defender Laporte was also missing from the squad.
However, Guardiola had a larger group than he has often worked with in recent pre-seasons, with new signings Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Julian Alvarez and Stefan Ortega joining a number of youngsters on the plane to Texas.
Also included was Oleksandr Zinchenko, who made the journey despite reports suggesting Arsenal are close to striking a deal to sign the Ukrainian.
Liam Delap, linked with both Burnley and Southampton, was also on the plane along with Nathan Ake, who is set to stay at the Etihad following interest from Chelsea.
Kayky, James McAtee, Luke Mbete and Josh Wilson-Esbrand were among the younger players who will get their chance to impress before City return home to prepare for the Community Shield clash with Liverpool on July 30.
