Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce has revealed the Club’s trip to China to take part in the World Series Tournament is an essential part of his pre-season plans.
“Our reasons for the visit to China are pretty straightforward really. There’s a tie-in with one of our players being Chinese, Sun Jihai, who represents the national side”, said Pearce.
“Also the fact that I thought last year’s trip to Thailand went extremely well and again in these games we will be facing top opposition.
“Another draw for us to go to Shanghai is the Chinese people’s love of the Premiership.
“So if we can show people Manchester City in the Far East it can only be good for our Football Club and hopefully people can come over and watch us or follow us on the television.”
And the Blues boss recalled that the performances of some of the younger players during last season’s Thailand trip gave them a springboard to break into the first team.
“Micah and Stephen Ireland did really well last year and forced their way into my thoughts as a result of that tour,” he said.
Despite bringing in experienced faces during the summer, the Manager could well hope for a repeat during this tour, adding: “We’ve bolstered our squad with some new players and that’s a bonus – but any of the young players who catch my eye during the other pre-season games will come with us.”
He further expanded on the reasons for the visit to Shanghai saying: “I think all things considered, in this day and age, to spend the full six weeks at your own training ground is just too long.
“We needed to break that up and last pre-season went very well with having that week long break to Thailand in there.
“The way we’ve organised our training so far will help us in China, especially with the heat we’ve been experiencing in England, which has been a little bit tough to work in.
“We have players though who are experienced and have played all over the world and have coped with environments like we expect in China.”
The Blues expect to travel to Shanghai with a full strength squad - only Andy Cole and Nedum Onuoha will miss out as both step up their efforts to regain full fitness ahead of the coming season. We will bring you the full squad details right here as soon as they have been released.
And don’t forget you can read all the latest news from China first here on mcfc.co.uk as City face Shanghai Shenhua on Friday before taking on Kashima Antlers two days later.
