City Watch: Grealish seals Everton switch

Just a few days remain before the Premier League begins again for another season, and not only am I excited to get back to the games, but I’m looking forward to having something more to write about in these columns.

Before I discuss City’s opening game on Saturday, the team travelled to Italy last weekend to take part in a friendly against Palermo, one of the clubs in the City Football Group. 

I don’t want to dwell too much on the game, after all, it was a pre-season friendly and I’ve always known to never pay too much attention to what happens in the pre-season games.

However, the Blues did manage an impressive 3-0 win against the Italian side. 

Erling Haaland got Pep’s side off the mark 25 minutes in, with the game looking relatively tight at half time, with just the one goal separating the two teams. 

Tijjani Reijnders came on and bagged himself two goals in the second period, resulting in a comfortable win in the end.

Like I say, I don’t like to mention these games too much, every player who started the game didn’t end up finishing it, so it was purely to get the team up to some sort of match fitness before the new season starts.

Speaking of the new campaign, City play their opening match against Wolves on Saturday, and I can’t be the only one who simply cannot wait! 

We’ve had a lot of success at Molineux in the past, including last season where John Stones headed home a late winner to give us all three points. 

It will be a return to Wolverhampton for City’s new full-back, Rayan Ait-Nouri, who will play his first Premier League game against his former club, that is, if Pep does decide to start him off the bat. 

Matheus Nunes also makes a return to his old team, with the reception the last few seasons from the Wolves fans being a little frosty.

Due to the fact they’ve lost quite a few players this summer, Ait-Nouri and star player Cunha both leaving over the transfer window, I’ve actually predicted Wolves to be relegated this season, so let’s hope that prediction doesn’t come back to bite me straight away!

It will be interesting to see how the Blues start the season following their involvement in the Club World Cup. 

We’ve always had relatively slow starts to seasons anyway and then picked up form over the Christmas period heading into New Year, but with the lack of a full pre-season and the additional games over the summer in the States, how much of an effect will this have on the players?

Regardless, City know they will also play without Jack Grealish this season, as over the last few days, his season-long loan to Everton was confirmed. 

I’m sad to see him go, despite the fact he hasn’t had the greatest run of form since the Treble season, but I wish him the best of luck at the Toffees.