Manchester City

The 2026-27 Premier League season has not yet kicked off, but it has already made history.

Nine clubs are set to begin the campaign with a new permanent manager - the highest number ever for the top flight's opening weekend.

The scale of turnover has dramatically reshaped the Premier League's managerial landscape.

The upheaval did not begin this summer. The 2025-26 Premier League season featured 11 managerial changes, with Forest among the clubs to make multiple appointments during the campaign.

The average tenure of a top-flight boss now stands at about 20 months, illustrating just how fleeting life in one of football's most demanding jobs can now be.

Recent history also suggests changing manager offers no guarantees. During the 2025-26 season, several clubs that switched coaches continued to struggle. Forest employed three managers during the campaign, Tottenham changed head coach twice, while Chelsea also altered direction before the season ended.

Others, however, did enjoy an immediate uplift. Michael Carrick averaged 2.6 points per game across his first five matches as Manchester United boss, while Liam Rosenior collected the same return after taking charge of Chelsea. Rosenior's tenure ultimately proved short-lived, though, with the Blues winning just one of his final eight Premier League matches before he was dismissed.

• Read more on a summer of change

Research discussed in the Financial Times,, external external, drawing on findings from Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski, argues that player quality and spending remain stronger predictors of results than managerial changes alone.

Sports consultancy Twenty First Group says coaches often succeed or fail according to the environment they inherit as much as their own abilities.

Since the Premier League began in 1992, only six managers have won the title in their first season in charge of their club.

Mourinho became the first to achieve the feat with Chelsea in 2004-05, before Carlo Ancelotti repeated it with the same club in 2009-10.

Manuel Pellegrini guided Manchester City to the title in his debut campaign in 2013-14, Claudio Ranieri masterminded Leicester City's remarkable triumph in 2015-16, Conte won the league in his first season at Chelsea in 2016-17, and most recently Slot led Liverpool to the championship in his maiden campaign in 2025-26.

With almost half the division beginning the campaign under new leadership, the Premier League enters one of its most unpredictable seasons in recent memory.

Katharine Sharpe and Simon Casson
BBC Sport senior journalists

The 2025-26 Premier League and Championship seasons included the introduction of squad-cost ratio rules on a shadow basis, testing to see how a spending cap for squad costs set at a percentage of a club's total revenues might work.

These SCR regulations have now been permanently implemented for the 2026-27 season, replacing previous profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

Uefa has a 70% SCR cap for European competitions, so Premier League clubs who qualified for Europe fall in line with this limit.

Clubs who did not qualify for Europe, and so are only taking part in domestic competitions, are capped at 85% of their total revenue.

However, clubs can spend above the 85% limit by using a multi-year rolling allowance of 30%. This allows them to invest ahead of revenue and variance or sporting underperformance.

Every club will start this coming season on 85% + 30% allowance, so effectively 115%.

If a club spends 105% on their squad in 2026-27, it means they have used 20% of their allowance, and for 2027-28 their maximum spend before potential sporting sanction is 95%.

If a club spend less than 85%, they can increase the allowance again to the maximum of 30%.

Spending above 85% but under the allowance results in a financial penalty, whereas going over both the 85% and the allowance will land the club a fixed six-point deduction which increases by one point for every £6.5m spent over the 115%.

'Anchoring' was also trialled in 2025-26, which meant any club's spending could not exceed a multiple of income earned by the bottom-placed club - however this was rejected at a vote of Premier League clubs.

SCR was approved by a vote of 14 clubs to six, and was introduced alongside sustainability and systemic resilience (SSR) regulations.

SSR involves three tests that are applied throughout the season:

Working capital test - assesses short-term cash resources

Liquidity test - assesses medium-term liquidity and resilience

Positive equity test -assesses long-term financial health

The aim of the SCR and SSR regulations is to stop the richest owners providing endless funds to their clubs to sign new players, as any money injected this way does not count as seasonal revenue.

They will also aim to prevent clubs from overspending and accruing unmanageable losses.

Read more about the rules here

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Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter at Seoul World Cup Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Jeremy Monga's £10m move from Leicester City to Manchester City may have gone under the radar this summer, but the teenager's own career is not expected to go in the same direction.

The 17-year-old is the third-youngest player to appear in the Premier League and is now settling in at one of the world's biggest clubs, who have former Foxes boss Enzo Maresca in charge.

Monga came off the bench in City's 3-1 friendly win over a K-League XI in sweltering conditions at Seoul World Cup Stadium.

During his half an hour on the pitch, he showed his youthful sprightliness and almost made a dream first appearance when a close-range effort was disallowed for handball, while another curling effort was batted away by the goalkeeper.

It had looked like Monga would be heading to champions Arsenal this summer, as Mikel Arteta's side closed in on a deal, but the Gunners were gazumped by their title rivals.

"Arsenal's interest was very strong because it was very close to me going there, very close," Monga told BBC Sport. "The main decision was probably the pathway and the club itself.

"They have been so successful that it is a no-brainer when Manchester City call. It is every child's dream to win trophies and be at the top with the best.

"I feel like, to me personally, I see myself at City more. I see myself in blue."

A boyhood Chelsea supporter, Monga rates their former player Eden Hazard as his idol and he is intent on emulating the forward.

When Monga was born in July 2009, Hazard was still a youngster at French club Lille before going on to achieve a successful career at Chelsea and Real Madrid.

When asked what he admired most about Hazard, Monga replied: "Definitely his directness. It was him taking the game by the scruff of his neck, trying to win the game by himself and the way he manipulated the ball.

"Even the way he protects the ball from his opponents and moves around the pitch. Everything he did is what I want to do."

If Monga goes on to achieve even half of what Hazard produced in his career, he will have done all right for himself.

Read the full article here

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter at Seoul World Cup Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Enzo Maresca notched his first victory as Manchester City manager in their pre-season friendly against a K-League XI in South Korea.

Having lost on penalties against Inter Milan in Hong Kong on Saturday, goals from Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Divin Mubama gave City victory in sweltering conditions at Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Speaking to the club's website after the game, Maresca said: "For us the result is always important, even if it is a friendly game - but the most important thing is to see the effort of the players, especially in this weather.

"Also, compared to the last game in some aspects we did some things better."

Read the player ratings here

Manchester City's Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, 28, has emerged as a £55m target for Nottingham Forest. (Mail), external

Spurs are in contact with Manchester City about Brazil winger Savinho, 22. (Athletic - subscription required), external

If Savinho decides to join Tottenham, Manchester City will turn to Chelsea and Portugal winger Pedro Neto and have already made contact with the 26-year-old's camp over a possible move. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Manchester City have made a bid to sign Marseille and Argentina goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, 34, with negotiations under way between the clubs. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Shamoon Hafez
Football reporter

Image source, Getty Omages

Winger Ryan McAidoo, 18, scored on his first-team debut in the FA Cup last season, one of two appearances in the competition, and he may thrive in Enzo Maresca's system if given the opportunity.

McAidoo was a real livewire in the friendly against Inter Milan, coming close to scoring the winner, and the manager was suitably impressed afterwards saying the youngster is the type of winger he "loves".

The Italian will be watching his development closely in pre-season before making a decision whether to keep him with the first team or grant a loan move away to aid his development.

Notable mentions go to midfielders Divine Mukasa, 18, and Floyd Samba, 17.

Read more on youngsters to watch at each Premier League club this season

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden says the players are "very comfortable" with new manager Enzo Maresca's methods in training.

City landed in Seoul, South Korea on Tuesday, where they will play two further friendly matches this week following six days in Hong Kong.

Asked what has been different in training, Foden said: "It's very similar to how we play under Pep, but there's obviously still things that are a little bit different.

"I don't want to give too much away, but the defending is a little bit different, how we set up. We have different ideas of playing out from the back, a variety of things on the ball.

"There are different things, but the lads are very comfortable because we want to build from the back and try and create."

Foden recently signed a new four-year deal to keep him a City until 2030 and the 26-year-old took the captain's armband in Saturday's friendly against Inter Milan.

Asked about being a leader in the group, Foden said: "I have to be really. I have been at the club for so long, I am one of the longest here so this season I have to be one of the leaders, one of the captains.

"I'm looking forward to that new responsibility and trying to take leadership."

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter in Seoul, South Korea

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City have signed only Elliot Anderson so far in the transfer window, though they did splash out a club record £116m to bring him in from Nottingham Forest.

But they have not done anymore business, despite holding an interest in Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi and Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.

Manager Enzo Maresca faced the media following their arrival in Seoul from Hong Kong and said director of football Hugo Viana and chief executive Ferran Soriano and both in the country too.

"We just try to speak day by day to see if we need to do something," said Maresca. "For sure there are things we need to do."

Asked by BBC Sport if the club are closer to signing anyone, Maresca replied: "No, not at the moment.

"The reason why I said there are things to do is because the transfer window is open and when it's open anything can happen.

"It's just August and then from September when it closes it will be different."

He added: "Fortunately, this is a squad that doesn't need to do many things.

"At the same time, as we already know, the squad lost important players in experience, like Bernardo [Silva], John [Stones] and Nathan [Ake] - different players."

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic says the club "count on me" despite being linked with a move away this summer.

Reports suggest Serie A sides Juventus and former club Inter Milan are interested in taking the Croatia international back to Italy.

The 32-year-old has entered the final year of his contract at Etihad Stadium and is yet to be offered a new deal.

Kovacic played only nine times for City last season, having missed the majority of the campaign because of Achilles and ankle injuries.

New boss Enzo Maresca sounded unconvincing when asked about Kovacic's future after Saturday's friendly against Inter, saying: "Mateo is our player, until the day he is here I will try all my best.

"It is my duty to try to help players give their best. If he is here I am happy and we will continue to work with him."

But the player himself is in no doubt, saying: "I didn't feel the question marks from them. I spoke with them, it was that they count on me, which was important for me to hear that from them.

"And now, like I said, for the players it's always on you to show your best version, because if you are playing good, the manager will put you first."

• Read more from Kovacic

Should a club build a new stadium or upgrade its current home in a bid to maintain some history? How significant is a new ground in terms of revenue generated? Will it move the needle?

BBC Sport has worked with football finance expert Kieran Maguire to consider the impact a new home has.

Take a look at your club's matchday revenue figures from 2024-25 below and get the full article here.

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

New manager Enzo Maresca is a "perfect one" for Manchester City, says defender Josko Gvardiol.

The 46-year-old took charge of City for the first time in Saturday's friendly defeat on penalties by Inter Milan in Hong Kong.

"The level is that high and he has been chosen with reason as the manager," said Gvardiol.

"I think he has a quality, has some new ideas and also we need to see what we are going to do [with] the style of [play], the football we are going to play and the tactics.

"I think he is a perfect one, but of course, it takes time. It's something totally new, it's not easy to change the manager, so we will take time.

"It's our job to help him as much as possible and also to listen to try to adapt as quick as possible.

"I met him, we spoke a little bit about my injury [and] also how we played, how I played before with Pep, and that's it, more or less."

Image source, Getty Images

Gvardiol was not the only City star to praise the new boss.

Antoine Semenyo hailed Maresca's style of play as "music to my ears" after showcasing early signs of his role under the Italian.

"When he got appointed, that was the first thing I thought about because when you've played Chelsea previously when he was there, his wide men were always high and quite free," said the winger.

"So that was one of the things that excited me the most when he got appointed and it's exciting for me as a winger. I get to have one-v-one situations most of the game and I am looking forward to it.

"I have had individual meetings with him on how he wants to set up, how he wants to play his wide men and just overall as a team.

"I think his ideas are great, quite similar to Pep, but if you watched the [Inter] game, you would have seen a couple of his ideas play out and it was good. Enzo is just [stay] out wide and when you get the ball, just create opportunities. So it is music to my ears."

Listen to Semenyo chat to BBC Radio Manchester on BBC Sounds here