2016–17 Manchester City F.C. season

The 2016–17 season was Manchester City Football Club's 115th season of competitive football, 88th season in the top flight of English football and 20th season in the Premier League. Along with the league, the club also competed in the UEFA Champions League (for the sixth year in a row), FA Cup and League Cup. The season covered the period from 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017.

Club "brand update"
In conjunction with the recruitment of Pep Guardiola, the manager whom City's executives had sought to hire since they joined the club four years previously and the man synonymous with the style of football they wanted the club to espouse, Manchester City announced a series of adjustments to the club's "brand" prior to the start of the season.

On 15 October 2015, the club announced that they intended to enter into a consultation with their fans over the designing of a new badge to replace the design that had been brought in 1997 and which had largely been unpopular since. The result of the online-based consultation was a design bearing many of the hallmarks of the crest replaced in 1997, plus some elements of the style established by the other club badges of fellow City Football Group teams Melbourne City FC and New York City FC. While many praised the logo for its simplicity and similarity to the beloved previous design, it was criticised from other corners for its slightly amateurish appearance, its removal of the words "Football Club" and for its failure to more closely replicate the earlier badge.

On 30 June 2016, the club unexpectedly announced the renaming of their Twitter accounts and website. Replacing the old "branding" of MCFC (the initials of the club), both social media outlets were rechristened "ManCity". While the move was popular among many, especially the club's more recent foreign fans for whom the styling was already their preferred abbreviation of the club's name, the change provoked another mixed reaction from the Manchester-based core supporter base, with many criticising the decision to use a wording often used by the club's rivals, as well as highlighting the decision to again remove the "Football Club" wording.

Pre-season
On 20 July 2016, Manchester City began their pre-season with a 0–1 defeat against Bayern Munich. Due to bad weather during the International Champions Cup, the derby against Manchester United was cancelled, and City went on to play Borussia Dortmund in their next cup match, which they would go on to win 6–5 on penalties after drawing 1–1 at the end of regular time. A match was played on 7 August against Arsenal in the 2016 Supermatchen, which ended 3–2 to Arsenal. To replace the game against Manchester United, which was cancelled, City arranged a friendly against St Johnstone, which was played behind closed doors.

Matches
38 matches were played, two against each other team in the league; one at home and one away.

FA Cup
As a Premier League club, Manchester City entered the competition in the third round proper, drawing West Ham United away from home.

League Cup
As a club participating in European competition, Manchester City entered the competition in the third round, drawing Swansea City away from home.

UEFA Champions League
In the first season under the reign of Pep Guardiola, hopes were high for Manchester City as they progressed to the knockout phase after finishing second in the group that featured Guardiola's former team, Barcelona. City lost their away match to Barça 0–4, but then rebounded to win 3–1 at home. In the round of 16, the Blues were drawn with Monaco and were expected to progress to the quarter-finals. City were trailing 1–2 and 2–3 in their home match before scoring three unanswered goals and winning 5–3. In the away game, the Cityzens were down 0–2 when Leroy Sané scored and seemingly brought the ticket to the quarter-finals to Man City; however, Tiémoué Bakayoko's late goal meant that Monaco progressed further and City were eliminated.

Play-off round
The draw for the Champions League play-off round took place on 5 August 2016. Manchester City were a seeded team in the league path, and they were drawn against Steaua București of Romania.

Group stage
The group stage draw was made on 25 August 2016 in Monaco. Manchester City were drawn with Barcelona (pot 1), Borussia Mönchengladbach (pot 3), and Celtic (pot 4).

First-team squad
|Academy Graduate |Academy Graduate |Academy Graduate |Academy Graduate |Academy Graduate |Academy Graduate Ordered by squad number. Appearances include league and cup appearances, including as substitute.

Playing statistics
Appearances (Apps.) numbers are for appearances in competitive games only including sub appearances

Red card numbers denote: Numbers in parentheses represent red cards overturned for wrongful dismissal.

Goalscorers
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted alphabetically by surname when total goals are equal.


 * Correct as of match played on 21 May 2017

Premier League Player of the Month award
Awarded monthly to the player who was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor

Premier League Manager of the Month award
Awarded monthly to the manager who was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor

Etihad Player of the Month awards
Awarded to the player that receives the most votes in a poll conducted each month on the club's official website

Etihad Player of the Season
In association with the Official Manchester City Supporters Club 🇪🇸 David Silva

Transfers in
Total spending: £171,500,000

Transfers out
Total earnings: £28,000,000