Ruben Dias has admitted Manchester City needed a major squad overhaul to move on from their most successful era, insisting the influx of new signings has reignited the team's hunger for silverware. The defender's comments come as City prepare to face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola spent around £430 million on 13 players across three transfer windows in 2025 and 2026, breaking up the treble-winning side. Long-serving stars including Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Manuel Akanji and Ederson departed during that period.
Dias said the new recruits have brought a winning mentality to the squad. 'Every player that came in, all of them kind of have this winning mentality. Independent of having won or not so much in the past, they come with this hunger. I feel like that's very much there to see, so that adds up to our purpose and it's just extra fuel,' he explained.
City's transformation followed a difficult 2024-25 season that included nine defeats in 12 games. Dias acknowledged the change was necessary. 'We talked about it and it was something we did and I feel like it's taken a very much better route now and it was needed,' he said.
Guardiola has confirmed goalkeeper James Trafford will start at Wembley ahead of summer signing Gianluigi Donnarumma. Dias praised Donnarumma's ball-playing ability, saying the Italian has exceeded expectations. 'I think he surprised everybody. I was very quick to run into the fact that he's not bad with his feet,' Dias added.
Other recent recruits in contention for the final include Antoine Semenyo, Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Abdukodir Khusanov, while Marc Guehi is ineligible.
