Manchester City have touched down in Seoul for their final stages of preparation ahead of the fast-approaching Premier League season.
It has been a summer of change for last season's League and FA Cup double winners with Enzo Maresca taking over as manager following Pep Guardiola's exit in May after 10 years in charge.
Playing-wise, long-serving trio John Stones, Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva have also gone, while a club-record £116 million has been splashed out on England midfielder Elliot Anderson who has joined from Nottingham Forest.
There have also been new contracts awarded to defensive duo Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov, as well as home-grown attacker Phil Foden.
Before taking on Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on August 16, City have two mare friendly matches – against a K-League All Stars XI on Wednesday and then Atletico Madrid four days late, both being held at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Maresca's first game as manager saw City lose on penalties to Inter Milan on Saturday after the game finished 1-1 in Hong Kong with Divin Mubama scoring.
Foden, meanwhile, has only had one manager during his 369 appearances for the club so will now be playing under a new coach for the first time in his senior club career.
“I’ve found it good,” said Foden when asked about how the early days of Maresca's reign have gone. “All I’ve known is Pep Guardiola so to go to a new manager is just a fresh start. I’m enjoying it.
“I’m enjoying the coaching staff and the way we’re playing and the things we’re doing in training. I’m excited for the season and hopefully we’re going to have a really good year.
“[Training is] very similar to how we play under Pep but there’s obviously still things that are a little bit different. I don’t want to give too much away but the defending is a little bit different, how we set up.
“We have different ideas of playing out from the back, a variety of things on the ball. There are different things but the lads are very comfortable because we want to build from the back and try to create.”
With City having lost the experience of Stones (32), Ake (31) and Silva (31), 26-year-old Foden admitted he will now be taking on more of a leadership role at the club. “I have to be really,” said Foden, who came up the club's academy before establishing himself in the first team and wore the captain's armband against Inter.
“I’ve been at the club for so long, I’m one of the longest here so this season I have to be one of the leaders, one of the captains. I’m looking forward to that new responsibility and trying to take leadership.”
Maresca, meanwhile, admitted that the club are no closer to making any more signings this summer despite him being in talks with club bosses every day about potential new arrivals.
Sporting director Hugo Viana and chief executive Ferran Soriano have both flown out to Asia but Anderson remains their lone signing so far with Maresca admitting that more needs to be done in terms of strengthening the squad.
“No, not at the moment,” the Italian said in Seoul when asked if there were any fresh transfer news. “The transfer window is open and when it’s open anything can happen. It’s just August and then from September when it closes it will be different.
“Hugo is here, also Ferran is here and we just try to speak day by day to see if we need to do something. For sure, there are things that we need to do. We are in communication every day.
“Fortunately this is a squad that doesn’t need to do many things. At the same time, as we already know, the club lost important players in terms of experience like Bernardo, John and Nathan. For sure, there are things that we need to do.”
City begin their Premier League campaign with a home game against Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium on August 23.
