Abhijnan Sengupta

Fans Are DIVIDED After Seeing What Man City Stars Drive to Training

Erling Haaland, Football Lifestyle, Manchester City, Marc Guehi, Omar Marmoush, Phil Foden, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki

Manchester City are deep into another intense campaign at the top flight of English football, sitting just behind Arsenal at the upper echelons of the Premier League. Throughout the season, City’s title charge has proven to be a fair challenge to the Gunners, even as the Manchester club are going through a somewhat transition period with a number of new signings who are trying to settle in.

While we go about the business end of the season with City still remaining well in contention across all competitions, the Etihad faithful had a moment of entertainment far from their on-the-pitch performance. A footage of several City stars pulling up to training in their luxurious vehicles has gone viral on social media, drawing attention and buzz from the fans.

A luxurious lifestyle comes as an obvious perk of being a professional footballer. Private jets, fancy residence, flashy cars – players often lead a life that fans can’t stop obsessing over. This was once again on display as the stars arrived to training at the Etihad campus.

What the players were spotted driving

Rayan Aït-Nouri, the former Wolverhampton star, was seen driving to training in a Mercedes-Benz Vito instead of a flashy SUV. The Vito is a practical people-carrier, which is not usually the first choice on a footballer’s Instagram grid. 

Fans were shocked seeing the Algerian star pull up to training in, quite literally, a van. However, others pointed out that the car was unlikely to be owned by him and he was, in all probability, getting driven to training.

On the fancier side, both Semenyo and Rayan Cherki were spotted in their respective black and blue Lamborghini Urus SUVs. While the Urus isn’t a typical flashy sports car, it still gets its flowers, being a high-performance luxury SUV powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbo engine. Fans were in awe of the vehicles as their cost can climb well over £210,000. In fact, Twitter was in shock to notice Cherki driving something other than his famous Ferrari 296.

Among others, Omar Marmoush showed up in a black McLaren 720s, another statement motor from the Egyptian international, which comes at a starting price north of £200,000.

Manchester City’s talismanic no.9 Erling Haaland was seen driving his 2024 Land Rover Range Rover, a luxury SUV valued between £90,000 and £120,000 in the UK. The Norwegian is known for his formidable collection of luxury SUVs and supercars, previously being spotted in his Lamborghini Huracan and Ferrari 812 Superfast among other models.

Amidst what could very well be confused as a supercar rally, City’s winter signing Marc Guehi showed up in his Volkswagen Golf GTI. While the GTI is a sporty version of the classic hatchback, to many fans it looked surprisingly modest next to his higher-end teammates. This particular model sits around £37,000 to £42,000 in the UK markets, making it a rather humble drive to training for the England star. Guehi received his fair share of praise from the fans for his reasonably cheaper motor. Previously, Manchester City’s Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol was also once spotted driving a GTI to training. Notably, some had also called it the worst of the lot, showing how diverse fan opinions can be.

While the viral clip almost comes across as an exhibit of the expensive lifestyle of the footballers, it also featured a moment of comedy fodder. Phil Foden, a heartthrob at the Etihad, was seen to miss a turn and lose a beat as he was approaching the training complex in his G-Wagon. Even the smartest footballers can sometimes miss their directions while they’re behind the wheels, as the footage shows. Quite obviously, fans found it hilarious and were incredibly quick to ask questions.

Footballers are celebrities and their lives are always in the spotlight. This also draws them their fair share of criticisms. Some fans were overjoyed to spot their favourite players in their flashy cars. Others, not so much, as they even pointed out the “illegal tints” and “poor driving skills”.

When names like Haaland and Foden are dropped, fans automatically assume Lambos and hyper-cars, and even get disappointed when they see something more grounded.

Manchester City currently sit at the second position in the Premier League, four points behind league leaders Arsenal.

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