Man City are on course to break their own World Cup record despite Zinchenko exit

Manchester City are on course to beat the record that they set four years ago for the most players from a single club at a World Cup.

Pep Guardiola saw a whopping 16 members of his squad head off to Russia for the last World Cup, losing virtually his entire first-team group for a big chunk of pre-season. That tally was the highest collection of players from a club the tournament has ever seen, a number matched by Real Madrid in the same year; City initially had 17 before Leroy Sane was dropped from Germany's provisional squad.

City do not have big squads under Guardiola but each player carries an abundance of talent, experience, or both. And despite Oleksandr Zinchenko's heartbreak with Ukraine as they saw their World Cup dreams ended by Wales on Sunday, the current squad at the Etihad are still on course to better the marker set back in 2018.

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Other than Zinchenko, the only current members of the squad who definitely will not be going to Qatar at the end of the year are Riyad Mahrez and Erling Haaland — Algeria and Norway were knocked out in their qualifiers. Beyond that (and Scott Carson), there are many who are almost certain to be travelling.

Ederson will be heading there with Brazil, renewing his rivalry with Liverpool stopper Alisson for the No.1 position. And while he has struggled with form and fitness over the last year, it would still be a shock for Zack Steffen not to be picked by his former club coach Gregg Berhalter.

Ruben Dias and Joao Cancelo will travel with Portugal, Nathan Ake with Netherlands, Aymeric Laporte with Spain, and John Stones and Kyle Walker with England. Walker could be said to be the least