<
>

Pep Guardiola to be officially unveiled by Manchester City this weekend

Manchester City will launch the Pep Guardiola era with a two-day event at the club's Etihad Academy this weekend, which will see the Spaniard officially unveiled as the new boss.

Thousands of fans snapped up free tickets for the celebration, which will also see the launch of a new club badge and the new home shirt.

And the highlight will see former Bayern Munich boss Guardiola greet fans for the first time since agreeing to join the club in February.

Guardiola has visited the Academy several times already and has also overseen some changes to his squad with Borussia Dortmund's Ilkay Gundogan joining in a £21m deal earlier this month.

But his job starts properly on Monday after meeting fans at the sold-out Academy Stadium.

City's chief executive Ferran Soriano said: "At Manchester City, we are embarking on an exciting new chapter in our history and we wanted to create an event that would allow thousands of fans to celebrate and participate in this, both here in Manchester and around the world.

"Cityzens Weekend will provide the perfect setting for fans to welcome our new manager, Pep Guardiola, to the club and see the new kit and badge come to life across the Etihad Campus. We look forward to welcoming fans over the weekend and entering this new era together."

Workers at the Etihad Stadium have already begun taking down the previous badge and replacing it with the new crest, which is based on previous designs from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.