Mumbai City coach Costa to work closely with Guardiola: Manchester City

Mumbai: The Manchester City effect will be seen in Indian Super League (ISL) club Mumbai City FC in the next three months which will include their head coach Jorge Costa working closely with Pep Guardiola, City Football Group (CFG) CEO Ferran Soriano said.

English Premier League champions Manchester City's parent company City Football Group announced on Thursday that they have bought a majority stake in Mumbai City, making it the eighth club in the CFG network worldwide.

This is the first of its kind association in India where a top European outfit has acquired majority stakes of a club.

Damian Willoughby, CEO of City Football Group in India, will be overseeing the operations as Man City look to make a serious impact in Indian football, Soriano said.

"We are here to stay. The CFG is here to stay for the next decade and more to see Indian football flourish. We want to be part of your society and bring whatever experience we can bring to unleash the power of Indian football and Mumbai City," Spaniard Soriano told reporters after the announcement was made at Famous Studios.

"We want to take time. My colleague Damian Willoughby (CEO of City Football Group in India) will be relocating here from Singapore. We are asking him to learn and get to know everybody. Then in two-three months we have a plan," he asserted.

Talking about the plan, he said: "The plan will include some immediate action that have to have effect, maybe next season. It will include also a long term as to how we can help Mumbai City FC in the next decade."

Asked about Man City manager Pep Guardiola being involved with the team, he said the celebrated Spanish coach is part of our "network of coaches" at CFG and will speak to the Mumbai City gaffer as well from time to time.

"Pep is part of our network of coaches. And they speak all the time. The example I gave you is our Chinese coach was in Manchester last week coaching with Manchester City team, trying to learn. The coach we have in Mumbai City will have a relationship with Pep Guardiola and with all our other coaches."

Other clubs in the CFG stable include New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, Girona FC in Spain and Chinese side Sichuan Jiuniu F.C.

The CEO further said that Manchester City teams will be coming to India to take part in friendly games with Mumbai City also going to Manchester to gain international exposure.

"The plan will be to bring, as much as we can, some of our teams here. But also to take the Mumbai City team to other places," said Soriano.

On what drew them to India, he said numerous visits made him believe "it is the time for football in India."

"We were not serious about India until we came here. I went to games in the stands with the fans and I felt it. I felt it is the time for football in India. There is passion, there is talent.

"Mumbai is a fantastic city. I come here and I feel I am in New York. We have been very successful in New York. We started from six years ago with nothing. We did well. Football is going to be successful in Mumbai, I am sure."

Manchester City have bagged the Premier League crown four times since Abu Dhabi United Group, the investment vehicle owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, took over.

Man City are currently sitting third in the Premier League table and have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Mumbai City, meanwhile, have reached the semifinal of the ISL but are yet to win the title.

"We want to play beautiful football and we want to win," he concluded. IANS

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