This game marked the beginning of a recently unprecedented period of poor form for the team, which concluded at one win in thirteen matches, and included five consecutive losses for the first time in Pep Guardiola's managerial career, and the worst run for City since the 2005–06 season.

During the January 2025 transfer window, Erling Haaland signed a contract extension with the Citizens, tying the Norwegian at the club until 2034.

[4] Kevin De Bruyne was the only key player who would start the season in the final year of his existing contract, but there was also further speculation on the futures of Kyle Walker and Bernardo Silva, as there had been in previous recent summers.

Spanish defender Sergio Gómez had been the first senior player to be transferred, leaving the club after two seasons to join Real Sociedad on 12 July.

The first transfer in was announced on 18 July when Brazilian winger Savinho joined from fellow CFG club Troyes, after a successful loan season at Girona, for a reported fee of £21 million.

[10][11] City took a largely inexperienced squad on their pre-season tour to the US, selecting only 11 previous first team players who had not played at the Euros or Copa America.

[12] Their two Croatian Internationals, Joško Gvardiol and Mateo Kovačić, who had returned from Germany after the group stages, joined the tour at its mid-point.

However, this tour squad was able to perform well and only suffered narrow losses to Celtic and Milan, drew with Barcelona and beat Chelsea convincingly with a Haaland hat-trick.

The performances of Haaland, Grealish and Oscar Bobb in particular stood out in these games with the latter demonstrating he was ready for more first-team appearances in the coming season.

[15] On 23 August, former captain İlkay Gündoğan returned to the club on a free transfer, signing a one-year deal after having spent the previous season at Barcelona.

[16] City began their league campaign with three strong performances and victories away to Chelsea and West Ham United, and at home to newly promoted Ipswich Town.

[20] On 14 October, Manchester City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain, announced he would be leaving the club the following June after 12 years, being replaced by Sporting Lisbon's Hugo Viana.

[22] City faced an injury crisis and a series of four consecutive losses before the final international break of the year, marking their worst losing streak since 2006 under Stuart Pearce.

During this period, they were eliminated from the EFL Cup by Tottenham and experienced their first outright Champions League loss in over two years, falling 1-4 to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

Additionally, this streak ended their 10-month and 32-game unbeaten run in the league with away losses to Bournemouth and Brighton, leaving City in second place, trailing Liverpool by five points.

[23] On 19 November, it was widely reported that Guardiola had extended his contract with the club for a further year to 2026, when he would be able to celebrate the completion of his tenth season at City.

In January 2025, it was reported that Manchester City had reached an agreement with RC Lens and Palmeiras to bring Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis respectively to the Etihad Stadium.

However, their final position in the league table at 22nd meant they would have to compete for a place in the last 16 round in a two-legged playoff game against either Bayern Munich or defending champions Real Madrid.

The resulting ties against Madrid meant the two clubs were meeting for the fourth consecutive season in the competition at the knockout stages.

[37] On 2 February, City suffered a comprehensive 1–5 defeat at the Emirates Stadium to their closest rivals of recent seasons, Arsenal.

Having led twice with goals from Haaland, Madrid were able to equalise with strikes from Kylian Mbappé and ex-City youth player Brahim Díaz, before Jude Bellingham scored with virtually the last kick of the match to take a one goal advantage back home for the second leg the following week; and end City's undefeated home streak in the competition which had stretched to 34 games over more than six seasons.

[40] On 19 March 2024, Manchester City announced they would return to the United States during pre-season, with matches against Celtic, Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea as part of the 2024 Florida Cup.

City were drawn at home to Championship side Plymouth Argyle, who had carried out the biggest giant killing of that year's competition in defeating Premier League leaders Liverpool in the fourth round.