Man City squad jet off to Abu Dhabi – which players travelled & will they play a friendly there?

Manchester City’s squad have flown to Abu Dhabi as they begin preparations for the second part of the 2022/23 season.

The Blues ended the pre-World Cup section of the campaign with a shock 2-1 loss to Brentford on 12 November and currently trail top-of-the-table Arsenal by five points. City also remain in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League.

Pep Guardiola allowed those players not involved at the World Cup to have some time off after a busy start to the Premier League season, and those players will now reconvene ahead of the season getting back underway in two weeks against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.

City are expected to take a mixture of senior and youth players to a warm-weather training camp in Abu Dhabi, and the club posted images of some of those players meeting up ahead of the flight to the UAE.

Among the players was striker Haaland, who has 23 goals in 18 games for City so far after signing in the summer. Haaland hasn’t been involved at the World Cup as Norway failed to qualify, and City will hope to benefit from what will be a five-week break between fixtures.

Defender Sergio Gomez was not selected by Spain, and back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was overlooked by Germany. Scott Carson, the third-choice goalkeeper, is also among the group travelling to Abu Dhabi. Youngsters Rico Lewis and EDS goal machine Carlos Borges were also among the group, along with other under-21 teammates who will supplement the group.

Riyad Mahrez didn’t feature in the images published by City of players flying out to the camp, although the winger has travelled with his teammates after enjoying some time off following Algeria’s failure to qualify for the World Cup.

Feels like it's been ages since we've seen you! 🤗

Abu Dhabi bound ✈️ pic.twitter.com/LHZTa5jWVC

— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 5, 2022

Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan have both returned from the World Cup after Belgium and Germany were knocked out at the group stage last week, although City appear to have allowed them some extra time off as opposed to throwing them straight back into training.

The Blues will also see at least one more of their players exit the World Cup when Manuel Akanji’s Switzerland face Portugal, who boast Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo, in the last-16. Then, in the quarter-finals, one of Nathan Ake and Julian Alvarez will fail to reach the last four when the Netherlands and Argentina meet next weekend.