The storm around Manchester City has been loud, relentless and largely one-sided. Inside the training ground, it seems, it has barely registered.

Reports this week paint a picture of a squad insulated from the backlash that followed the Premier League's guilty verdict. An extended international break helped. Players scattered across the globe on international duty, while those left behind took holidays and rest. The noise travelled, but it didn't land.

Gianluigi Donnarumma's agent, Enzo Raiola, offered the clearest indication yet that the mood at the club remains steady. Speaking via Calciomercarto.com and relayed by Football Italia, Raiola was blunt about the impact of the verdict on his client.

"Will the Manchester City chaos change anything? No, nothing will change for us or for Gigio. News comes out periodically. The club has spoken with Gigio and everyone is calm. Now there are important games against Liverpool and PSG, then sporting justice will take its course. But Gigio has had reassurances from Manchester City."

Reassurances from the hierarchy. That phrase carries weight. According to Jack Gaughan of the Daily Mail, there is a sense of defiance among some City players — a determination to win the Premier League title despite the cloud hanging over the club. Doubts exist, Gaughan reports, but nobody is desperate to bail out.

That distinction matters. Doubt is not departure. Uncertainty is not mutiny.

For the players, the equation is simple enough. They can trust the word of the City hierarchy, or they can't. They have been told the club will clear its name. The 115 verdict hasn't swayed that confidence, and it has been passed down to Enzo Maresca's squad. Whether that confidence is well placed, nobody can say yet. But the management has yet to steer them wrong.

All they can control is what happens on the pitch. That has been the message, and it appears to have landed. City have started the 2026-27 season strongly, and the focus now shifts to two enormous fixtures: Liverpool and PSG.

Sunday at Anfield will be hostile. It always is, regardless of circumstances. If City emerge from that with their composure intact, the reports of calm will look well founded. If they don't, the noise might finally find its way inside.

For now, the hysteria seems confined to the media. It hasn't entered the CFA. That, at least, is something.