Tuesday 7 June 2016 10:58, UK
Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak says he expects a number of departures from the club this summer as they place more emphasis on emerging youth players.
Pep Guardiola has already made his first signing ahead of the new campaign with Borussia Dortmund's German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan joining in a deal worth £21m.
The incoming manager, however, is set to integrate more of the club's existing youngsters into his team in line with City's long-term objectives.
Al Mubarak concedes that could lead to exits over the close season, although he would not confirm how many players would be moving on.
The Emirati businessman told CityTV: "We have to keep that balance between what we have built and the future.
"We have to keep a balance between age groups, between young players and experienced players, and all this balance is really in the hands of Pep.
"Pep has a particular way he wants to manage the squad and a particular way he wants to play. I think we will need particular players who will join the team that fit and will be moulded to the way he would like this team to play.
"There will also be some players [for whom] the time is right to move on. I think we will have some changes this summer. We will invest as we have always done in this club, in this team.
"We will provide the necessary resources for Pep to build a team that has the ambition and capability to go and win back this Premier League for us, to go as far as we can and try and win the Champions League and keep pushing at the cups."
City have enjoyed a good season in youth football and are keen to capitalise, particularly following the opening of their new training complex in 2014.
Al Mubarak says Guardiola's track record in developing youngsters made him an attractive replacement for Manuel Pellegrini.
"That's one of the reasons why Pep was so highly considered," he added. "He has done that with Barcelona, he has done that with Bayern Munich.
"Even with the abundance of talent he had with both first teams, Pep always has a knack for talent and he loves to find young players that have incredible talent.
"We have that at our club. We have incredible talent today. This is an organisation that has won the under-10 national championship, the under-13s under-15s and the under-18s this year.
"We are competitive with a lot of talent across all age levels going all the way to EDS [Elite Development Squad] and Pep, I think, will enjoy that and will find a lot of gems we are going to produce.
"I think that has always been the objective and the premise behind the investment we have made in the City Football Academy and the infrastructure we have in place today.
"This has been operational now for two years and we are starting to see the outcomes and the results of that this season and I hope for many seasons to come.
"We would like to have the maximum amount of players in the first team coming out of our academy."
