Txiki Begiristain criticises Man City players for 'awful' thing that happened after they won the treble

Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain has criticised some of his players for what they did after winning the treble.

The 60-year-old Spaniard, who represented Barcelona and Real Sociedad during his playing career, has been involved with City since 2012.

He will leave his role at the end of the season, with Sporting Lisbon's Hugo Viana set to replace him.

Although it was initially suggested that Viana might leave Sporting at the beginning of 2025 and shadow his soon-to-be predecessor, Portuguese outlet O Jogo claim he will stay in Portugal until the end of the season.

Begiristain has been an integral party of City's transfer business since his arrival, and has a close relationship with manager Pep Guardiola and the club's players.

But speaking in the 'Together: 4 in a Row' documentary - a City Studios production released this week - about the four consecutive Premier League titles won by City, Begiristain made an honest admission about the transfer window after City completed the treble in 2023.

He explained: "The transfer window was a bit awful. At least for me.

"After winning the treble, everyone was confused. The protagonists from those trophies were thinking they should get more [money] or new contracts and take the opportunities.

"The ones who didn't play in finals were p****d off and trying to get out from the club."

Begiristain ended up having an extremely busy summer, with Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Cole Palmer among those to leave the club.

Txiki Begiristain pictured with Pep Guardiola after Man City won the Champions League in 2023 (Image: Getty)

But City still splashed out over £200 million on new players, with Josko Gvardiol, Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes representing around £170 million of that spend.

Over 12 months on, Guardiola's squad is ravaged by injury, and after their Carabao Cup fourth round defeat to Tottenham last week, the Spaniard claimed he only had 13 fit outfield players.

He has now overseen four consecutive defeats for the first time in his managerial career, and will be desperate to salvage City's season once the Premier League gets underway this weekend.

City face Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday at 5:30pm.