Man City primed for transfer budget boost after tour decision

Manchester City are hoping to hit the jackpot this summer when they head to the United States for their pre-season tour.

The Blues made over £15m from their time in Japan and Korea last year, selling tickets to training sessions as well as matches to increase their retail opportunities. They were blown away by the response, with training sold out and records being set for matchday revenue taken during the friendly games.

Having seen a surge in US support in recent years on the back of the team success, popularity of Ted Lasso guest star Pep Guardiola and arrival of superstar Erling Haaland, City are back across the pond this summer looking to build on that. A pop-up shop at Rockefeller Center in New York opened last month and the 'four in a row' trophy tour will be following the men's team around four states.

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City are also opening the doors to their training sessions as well as matches, with tickets on sale at different venues for events held jointly with the teams they will be playing. The club will get a share of that revenue as well as the matchdays against Celtic, AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea.

Tickets for the Chelsea game at the 102,000-capacity Ohio Stadium are already being snapped up on Ticketmaster website, with prices ranging from $86 to $306. For the training session the day before, $40 seats are being advertised for resale at over five times that price.

While Pep Guardiola will hope to make some progress with his squad in the US, the biggest target from the club will be financial. “These guys play 60 games a season," he said last summer. "Today, managers at this level don't have to have training.

"You just be here because the club needs to do it for commercial issues - and so we have to do it. If people say go there, we go with a big smile, try to do good training sessions and not to get injuries, and come back."