Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City will miss the likes of Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, but believes they have recruited well this summer.
After a successful tour of the United States - beating Bayern Munich and Club América - the Blues have returned to England for their final preparations before annual FA Community Shield curtain raiser.
As the current Premier League champions, City will lock horns with FA Cup winners, Liverpool in a mouthwatering affair at the King Power Stadium.
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Blues supporters are excited to see a new-look City team in person for the first time and it is expected Erling Haaland will be handed his first competative start.
Speaking in his first pre-match press conference of the 2022/23 season, Guardiola was asked about the outgoings - particularly the aforementioned trio - and the reasoning behind such a drastic change.
He said: "I agree, if you analyse what happened in the last years without these important players would be difficult to imagine. The influence on and off the pitch.
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"Today in world football this situation happens. We wish them the best. The right people, I feel they settle quickly, they are accepted and down to earth, humble people. We try for Man City, we try to be competitive.
"Tomorrow we try for the first title, it's an honour to be here, it's a big success to be there. We know the opponent quite well, it will dictate how well our moment is after three weeks of pre-season, it's too short.
"I saw many good things in this period how we played, the guys we have we move forward."
Guardiola went on to discuss why he felt like this summer was the right time to move such pivotal figures on from the club and if the so-called reset was needed.
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"Sometimes the transfer market dictates what you need to do," the Catalan continued.
"The first season we tried to loan and sell players we couldn't sell anyone. This season, we still have 14, 15 days and it's already done.
"You want to do things, it depends on the situations and they happen quicker than you expect."
City are about to set a club-record for the amount of revenue generated from player sales this summer, but Guardiola still believes he would have been happy to see them stay.
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Arsenal and Chelsea have paid a combined nearly £130 million for the trio, meaning the club are likely to make profit on their dealings in the window - despite signing four elite footballers.
"If the three players, many important academy players we sold, if they stayed we'd be incredibly happy," the manager admitted. "We know each other, we continue to do what we have done. The intention in the market dictates your decisions, the wishes for the club or players.
"Sometimes the player wants something... for both sides, the other side, when this happens we make a replacement and they are here. Normally a project for six, seven years, you are not seven years with the same people.
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"When I arrived just Kevin is still here. Important is the stability of the club. The guys who have left, not just Aleks, Raheem, Gabriel, all the players have made incredible contribution to get us to finals," Guardiola concluded.
Topics: Manchester City, Premier League, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Pep Guardiola
Harry Siddall