For most of Manchester City's tired squad, the end of the season was the green light to put feet up and hair down after an 11-month campaign that started in Houston in July and ended in Istanbul in June. For most, it involved a World Cup, too.
One player not involved in Qatar was Sergio Gomez, who was part of the youthful City group training in Abu Dhabi while the Premier League took a break. Gomez was a late £14m signing last summer, arriving after the start of the season as a back-up left-back, having be re-trained from an attacking midfielder under Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht.
The early signs were positive as Gomez offered some attacking impetus and filled in when Joao Cancelo was rested or on the opposite flank. Gomez started the Champions League opener at Sevilla and a smart assist for Erling Haaland against Manchester United felt like a sign of things to come before his sharp volley was parried into Haaland's path a few days later in the demolition of Copenhagen.
However, his foolish red card in the away draw against the Danes showed his defensive deficiencies, and he would only start six more games all season out of 43 remaining fixtures. Perhaps the nadir was his awful 45 minutes at Southampton in the woeful Carabao Cup defeat, with away fans cheering his half time substitution.
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Of those starts since the Copenhagen red, only two were in the Premier League and both came after the title was won - despite City being without a recognised left-back from January onwards. Nathan Ake, Manu Akanji, Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis were all preferred at left-back, with Gomez failing to convince Guardiola he was ready for a run-in on three fronts.
Still, he slowly showed slight improvements when given the chance, particularly in the FA Cup as he learned the ways of the inverted full-back. With Guardiola moving away from the traditional and winning the Champions League with four centre-halves in his defence, it is hardly a surprise that Gomez's fringe season has seen him linked with a summer exit just a year after signing. Unsurprisingly, Kompany's Burnley side are one of the clubs mentioned in the gossip columns as a potential destination.
For the self-confessed City fan, however, Gomez insisted earlier this month that he has no intention of leaving, saying: “I haven’t talked to [Guardiola] about the next season, but I want to stay there. I’m going to go from the first day of the preseason with a lot of desire to show him that I can have more minutes. The idea is to stay there. It is my wish.”
It's helpful, then, that as most of his teammates take some well-earned time off, Gomez has a chance to play regular football and put his money where his mouth is. Representing Spain at the under-21 European Championships, he has played a key role in helping his country to the quarter-finals.
For the national team, Gomez has always played as a winger - his natural position - with his first two games showing why. In the opening win over Romania, he scored and assisted, before he was provider again, with just 20 seconds on the clock, as Spain beat Croatia 1-0.
Of course Gomez won't return to City and displace Jack Grealish on the left, but playing regularly and performing to a high standard will give him a foundation to return to pre-season and do exactly as he intends - to show he is worthy of playing more.
