Enzo Maresca, Manchester City's coach, held his first official press conference ahead of facing Arsenal next Sunday in the Charity Shield match.
Maresca said about the Charity Shield match in statements published by "City Xtra": "For me personally, it is a title, and when there is a title and a final match, you strive to win the encounter, so it is not a friendly match at all, but a title that we will do our utmost to win to make it the first trophy we achieve".
Maresca added: "We are Manchester City and we will try to close the gap with Arsenal and we will try to compete again".
Maresca was asked about Rodri's return to Manchester City: "The transfer market is open, we can buy and sell players and everything is possible, I saw Rodri inside the building and hugged him warmly and he looks in good shape so we will see what happens".
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Maresca said about the transfer market: "Certainly there are things we need to do, I don't know the number of deals, it could be one or two deals, it also depends if players leave, but we are 48 hours away from my first final with the club and I will strive to win my first title, my focus is on preparing for the match in the best possible way and trying to win the title and not on players joining or leaving the team".
Maresca was asked about Manchester City's interest in signing Chelsea player Enzo Fernandez: "The answer will remain the same always, he is a player who belongs to another club and I don't think it is right to talk about other players and at the same time I don't see it as right for other clubs to talk about our players, and for that reason I will not make any comment about players who are not in our ranks".
Maresca directed messages to his team before the match against Arsenal: "It is important that we continue to grow and improve, I believe the pre-season period was good and we have seen continuous improvement from match to match and now we must compete after the end of the preparation period and achieve victories and win titles, what I want to see is having the right spirit to continue developing, and having the correct mentality to win matches and win titles".
Regarding the future of Brazilian Savinho, Maresca replied: "He did not participate in yesterday's training session, he was suffering from a minor health fatigue, we will see his situation today, there is still a training session, so we will monitor his condition and decide on his readiness to participate on Sunday".
Maresca continued regarding Haaland: "He was fine after training on Thursday, he was only suffering from a minor issue behind the heels but he was fine, our team is fully physically ready to face Arsenal even if there are players who are behind in their physical fitness only due to their late return from vacation".
Maresca revealed the reason for the expected departure of Tijjani Reijnders to Al-Qadsiah Saudi: "It is somewhat difficult to convince players to stay when they are convinced of leaving and this applies to Reijnders' situation, and perhaps Trafford and a number of other players, I think that when all parties agree that the best decision for some players is to leave then they must leave, I was happy with his performance in the preparatory matches and he gave a good performance and we will see what happens and make our decision".
Maresca continued about signing Elliot Anderson: "We are very confident that Anderson will deliver an outstanding level with this club over the next five years and we will seek to employ him in the ideal way that serves his interest and the team's interest".
Maresca said about those leaving Manchester City: "Certainly regarding Bernardo and Stones and Nathan Ake, with anticipation of what will happen with others, we are witnessing a phase of change currently and we will have to be ready to find solutions for the team as soon as possible, we are going through a phase witnessing the departure of players who have spent many years here or the possibility of their departure and this means there will be a change and we will do our utmost".
Maresca concluded if Manchester City expects to complete any deals today: "Not today frankly, I don't think we will do anything today".