Man City 2025-26 summary: Top scorer, best moment, new signings and full verdict on Pep Guardiola's campaign

The sun has finally set on arguably the most defining era in modern English football history. As the final whistle blew on the 2025-26 campaign, it brought an emotional conclusion to Pep Guardiola’s transformative, trophy-laden decade at Manchester City.

For the first time in his managerial career, Guardiola has endured back-to-back seasons without winning a league title, but Premier League disappointment was softened by an impressive EFL Cup and FA Cup double.

Here, Sports Mole provides a full summary of Man City’s 2025-26 season.

Man City 2025-26 season summary

Following a massive £180m spending spree on four players midway through a trophyless 2024-25 campaign, Man City continued their rebuild by splashing out another £160m on six senior summer signings as Guardiola desperately sought to right the wrongs from an underwhelming previous season.

Tijjani Reijnders was one high-profile arrival who hit the ground running for the Citizens, scoring and assisting on his debut in a 4-0 opening-weekend rout of Wolves in August. While that victory instantly propelled Man City to the summit, they would spend just eight more days at the Premier League peak all season; in stark contrast, champions Arsenal enjoyed a staggering 238 days at the top.

Back-to-back defeats to Tottenham and Brighton sent Guardiola back to the drawing board wondering how he could restore a team in transition, and without the departed Kevin De Bruyne, to their previous heights. Man City responded, however, with a statement 3-0 home triumph over rivals Man United followed by a 1-1 away draw with Arsenal in September.

The Citizens juggled their domestic ambitions with a testing Champions League schedule. Five wins from eight League Phase outings (D1 L2) secured a top-eight finish in the 36-team standings, including a 2-1 victory at Real Madrid. However, the Spanish giants would ultimately exact a brutal revenge in the last 16, dumping Guardiola's troops out of Europe with a commanding 5-1 aggregate win.

Benefitting from Liverpool’s surprise drop-off in the Premier League, Man City and Aston Villa posed the greatest threat to Arsenal’s title pursuit, with a three-horse race for top spot emerging at the halfway point in the season.

Indeed, Man City found their groove between September and the end of December when they won 11 Premier League games from 13 to keep within touching distance of the Gunners, while they also navigated past Huddersfield, Swansea and Brentford to reach the EFL Cup semi-final.

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However, the turning of the year brought an immediate bump in the road for the Sky Blues, who stumbled into 2026 with just one win from six league outings. Four draws and a bruising 2-0 Manchester derby defeat at Old Trafford stalled their momentum and allowed Arsenal to establish a six-point lead at the summit.

Needing an injection of fresh hunger to reignite their season, Man City decided to spend a combined £84m on proven Premier League pedigree in the form of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi in January. The former scored the first of his 11 City goals on his debut in an emphatic 10-1 FA Cup third-round win over Exeter, while he was also on target in City’s 5-1 aggregate victory over Newcastle in the EFL Cup semi-finals.

In February, Erling Haaland ended his Anfield hoodoo with a dramatic 93rd-minute winner in a chaotic 2-1 Premier League victory over Liverpool. Man City carried that vital momentum through the rest of the month courtesy of three more wins against Fulham, Newcastle and Leeds. Guardiola’s men remained Arsenal’s closest rivals, and a three-horse race soon became a top-two battle following Aston Villa’s dip in form.

Man City sent out a firm message to Arsenal when they secured a deserved 2-0 victory over the Gunners in the EFL Cup final at Wembley, thanks to two second-half headers from rising star Nico O’Reilly. Guardiola’s side then returned to the home of football less than two months later to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup showpiece and celebrate a domestic cup double.

Despite enjoying a 16-game unbeaten run in the Premier League during the final few months of the season, draws against Nottingham Forest, West Ham, Everton and Bournemouth proved costly for Man City, with a 1-1 stalemate against the latter in mid-May confirming Arsenal as champions with a game to spare.

Following months of speculation over his future, Guardiola announced two days before the final gameweek of the season that he would be leaving his role as manager of Man City. In front of the newly-expanded and newly-named Pep Guardiola Stand, the Citizens concluded the season with a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa. Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Guardiola all bid an emotional farewell, with the latter surpassing Les McDowall to become the longest-serving manager in the club’s history.

Man City trophies won in 2025-26 season

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While Man City were unable to get their hands on a seventh Premier League crown under the guidance of Guardiola, the Catalan coach carved his name into the history books by becoming the first manager in EFL Cup history to win the competition five times.

The Citizens ended a four-year EFL Cup drought with their 2-0 success over Arsenal thanks to O’Reilly’s brace of headers, lifting the trophy for the ninth time in their history to sit just one behind record-holders Liverpool.

Guardiola returned to the capital for his 24th visit to Wembley as Man City manager in May, where the Sky Blues edged past Chelsea by a slender 1-0 scoreline in a tense FA Cup showpiece.

A stunning improvised strike from Semenyo proved decisive to secure City’s eighth FA Cup title, crucially ensuring they avoided matching Chelsea’s unwanted record of three successive defeats in the Wembley final.

Man City top scorer in 2025-26 season: Erling Haaland (38)

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No surprise here!

Erling Haaland is Man City’s top scorer for a fourth consecutive campaign since joining the club in 2022, netting a total of 38 goals in 52 games across all competition in the 2025-26 season.

The Norwegian netted 27 of those goals in the Premier League to win the Golden Boot award for the third time in his Citizens career – only Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah (four each) have claimed the individual prize on more occasions.

Haaland also found the net eight times in 10 Champions League matches and scored three goals in four FA Cup ties, but he was unable to make the net ripple in any of his three EFL Cup outings.

The 25-year-old’s only hat-trick of the season came against Liverpool in a 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final victory in April, while he scored two goals in eight separate games, with all of those registered before the end of 2025.

Man City's 2025-26 Player of the Season: Nico O'Reilly

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Few could have predicted the meteoric rise of Nico O’Reilly, who concluded a stellar 2025-26 campaign by winning the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season, Academy Graduate of the Year, and Etihad Player of the Year awards.

The 21-year-old established himself as one of Guardiola's most-trusted lieutenants, playing a squad-high 53 games across all competitions. He racked up nine goals and six assists along the way, showcasing invaluable tactical fluidity by operating as either a marauding left-back or in his natural midfield position.

O’Reilly’s crowning highlight was his heroic EFL Cup final performance against Arsenal, and he will be hoping to carry his impressive club form onto the international stage when he represents England at the 2026 World Cup this summer.

Man City's best moment of the 2025-26 season

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There were several high points in another eventful campaign for Man City, but securing a statement EFL Cup final triumph against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, their biggest rivals of the 2025-26 season, under the famous Wembley arch, stands out as one of their best moments.

It was a victory celebrated in London but made in Manchester, as academy graduate Nico O’Reilly scored two vital second-half headers to seal a deserved victory for Guardiola’s men.

Guardiola is now the most decorated manager in EFL Cup history (five wins), reinforcing how close this tournament remains to the Catalan’s heart and the immense credit City deserve for consistently treating the competition with the utmost respect.

Man City's biggest disappointment of the 2025-26 season

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Missing out on the Premier League title in Guardiola’s final season has to go down as Man City’s biggest disappointment, falling short in the penultimate gameweek of the season after pushing Arsenal for so long.

The Citizens looked like they could pip the Gunners to top spot when they climbed to the summit on goal difference in April, but a chaotic 3-3 draw with Everton in what was viewed by many as a must-win game at the beginning of May proved costly, while their 1-1 stalemate at Bournemouth confirmed the Gunners as champions.

In addition, the drop-off in form of playmaker Phil Foden has been difficult for Citizens supporters to endure. A fans’ favourite at the Etihad, the 25-year-old has struggled to rediscover his best form in sky blue since winning the 2023-24 PFA and Premier League Player of the Season awards and has subsequently been left out of Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup.

Pep Guardiola verdict - 2025-26 season

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Although Premier League glory evaded Man City, Guardiola will reflect on the 2025-26 season as a deeply rewarding final chapter of his managerial career at the Etihad.

Following the departures of key figures including De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker and Ederson, Guardiola oversaw a necessary summer rebuild alongside new sporting director Hugo Viana, assembling a vibrant, youthful squad that also maintained experienced title winners.

Moulding them all into his desired system required time, though, and the 2025-26 season was a slow-burner for Man City. However, Guardiola deserves huge credit for his patience and tactical adjustments that accelerated the development of some younger squad members while rejuvenating others around them.

No-one would have envisaged Matheus Nunes transforming into the right-back he has become, but Guardiola saw something in the Portuguese to take up this new defensive role. O’Reilly has continued his meteoric rise, Rayan Cherki made a huge impact in his debut season, Abdukodir Khusanov have grown in confidence, while Semenyo and Guehi have hit the ground running at the Etihad.

Fortunately for Man City fans, Guardiola’s final season was celebrated with silverware, and the Catalan departs English football with his head held high having achieved everything and more the club's supporters could have asked for when he arrived in 2016.

Guardiola leaves behind a monumental legacy that the Etihad faithful will cherish forever.

Man City's new signings in 2025-26 season

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Man City's summer signings in 2025:

Rayan Ait-Nouri (£31m, Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Marcus Bettinelli (undisclosed, Chelsea)

Rayan Cherki (£34m, Lyon)

Tijjani Reijnders (£46.5m, AC Milan)

Sverre Nypan (£12.5m, Rosenborg)

James Trafford (£27m, Burnley)

Gianluigi Donnarumma (£26m, Paris Saint-Germain)

Man City's January signings in 2026:

Antoine Semenyo (£64m, Bournemouth)

Marc Guehi (£20m, Crystal Palace)

Man City 2025-26 season rating

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Following on from a trophyless campaign, Man City knew that they had to improve in the 2025-26 season. As always, the hope for Guardiola and the club’s hierarchy was to be competitive and challenge for silverware on all fronts. The Citizens succeeded in that regard in three of the four major competitions they competed in.

Unfortunately, Champions League heartbreak arrived once more at the hands of Real Madrid, but the sky blues made history by becoming the first English team to win every single game across both domestic cup competitions en route to a trophy double at Wembley.

In the Premier League, Man City did not enter the campaign as favourites. In fact, Liverpool and Arsenal were viewed as the top two, but Guardiola’s new-look squad capitalised on the decline at Anfield and admirably took their title fight with the Gunners down to the wire.

Although Man City missed out on the biggest two prizes on offer, this season should still be regarded as a successful one for Man City, taking into account how they navigated a major squad transition and the significant progress made by several members of a talented team that Guardiola leaves behind.

Man City 2025-26 season rating: 8/10