Captain Vincent Kompany admitted his excitement at globe-trotting Manchester City’s pre-season schedule this summer.
The Blues – just back from a post-season tour of America – this month confirmed pre-season trips to Munich and South Africa, while Barclays Asia Trophy tickets are on sale tomorrow.
And with City hoping for an early taste of silverware when they travel to Hong Kong for the Premier League-run tournament, Kompany believes the tours are integral to the team’s preparations.
“It’s very important that we can go and represent the colours of Manchester City abroard,” he said.
“With the interest in social media now, whether it is Twitter or Facebook, it’s global – people all over the world are involved in the Barclays Premier League.
“It’s sort of an adventure for us – we travel to different places and we meet a lot of different cultures, so it’s an experience in itself.
“But that is always good for team building and the Barclays Asia Trophy is a very important part in how we prepare for the new season.”
City have competed in the biennial Barclays Asia Trophy once before when held in Thailand in 2005.
On that occasion Joey Barton put the Blues ahead against Bolton Wanderers in the semi-final, but Kevin Davies equalised and the Trotters won on penalties.
In the play-off new signing Andy Cole – who joined just hours earlier – scored against Everton, and City went on to win the penalty shoot-out after James Beattie’s equaliser.
This year they are joined by Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and South China, the champions of Hong Kong.
City should have a new manager in place by then, with the bookies’ favourite, Malaga’s Manuel Pellegrini, last night revealing he has a verbal agreement with the club.
And Premier League chief Richard Scudamore believes the managerial merry-go-round makes the coming pre-season very interesting.
“The Barclays Premier League season has just ended but we can’t wait for the next one to start because it promises to be so exciting,” he said.
“We’ve never had a situation where the teams in the top three all have new managers the next season, so the 2013/14 season is going to be unpredictable.
“And the Barclays Asia Trophy is the perfect curtain raiser for that drama because we have three teams who play exciting football.”
The knock-out tournament will see City facing South China on July 24, before the play-off and final three days later.
Supporters are advised to contact their respective clubs for ticket details.
Image courtesy of Manchester City, via CityTV, with thanks.
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