For most of Manchester City's tired squad, the end of the season was the green light to put feet up and hair down after an 11-month campaign that started in Houston in July and ended in Istanbul in June. For most, it involved a World Cup, too.
One player not involved in Qatar was Sergio Gomez, who was part of the youthful City group training in Abu Dhabi while the Premier League took a break. Gomez was a late £14m signing last summer, arriving after the start of the season as a back-up left-back, having be re-trained from an attacking midfielder under Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht.
The early signs were positive as Gomez offered some attacking impetus and filled in when Joao Cancelo was rested or on the opposite flank. Gomez started the Champions League opener at Sevilla and a smart assist for Erling Haaland against Manchester United felt like a sign of things to come before his sharp volley was parried into Haaland's path a few days later in the demolition of Copenhagen.
However, his foolish red card in the away draw against the Danes showed his defensive deficiencies, and he would only start six more games all season out of 43 remaining fixtures. Perhaps the nadir was his awful 45 minutes at Southampton in the woeful Carabao Cup defeat, with away fans cheering his half time substitution.
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Of those starts since the Copenhagen red, only two were in the Premier League and both came after the title was won - despite City being without a recognised left-back from January onwards. Nathan Ake, Manu Akanji, Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis were all preferred at left-back, with Gomez failing to convince Guardiola he was ready for a run-in
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