- Blues have dominated domestic game
- Chasing down European honours
- Never afraid to spend if required
WHAT HAPPENED? The Sky Blues have never been afraid of investing heavily in the transfer market, with big money spent during the reign of owner Sheikh Mansour. City did break the British transfer record when signing Jack Grealish for £100 million ($124m) in the summer of 2021, but have tended to seek out value in congested markets rather than cherry-pick the best talent available. Domestic rivals have followed that lead, with Chelsea splashing out around £600m ($747m) in the space of the last 12 months, and Ferran Soriano is eager to avoid any suggestion that a 2022-23 treble bid at the Etihad Stadium is built around nothing more than boasting the deepest pockets.
WHAT THEY SAID: Soriano has told Movistar after seeing City book a date with Inter in the 2023 Champions League final: “Look, you only have to look at the investment in players in England in the last year, three years, five years… we are never the club spending the most on players. There are many other clubs investing more money than us – Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal. Saying that we’ve spent a lot of money and we won because of that is just not true.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: City are on course to claim a third successive Premier League crown this season, and their fifth in the space of six years, while they are also chasing down FA Cup and Champions League glory – having previously collected four consecutive Carabao Cup crowns during Pep Guardiola’s time as boss.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT? While City are keen to divert attention away from their spending, they have been stung with 115 charges by the Premier League relating to alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations and are still waiting to discover what punishment, if any, they will face as a result of those supposed indiscretions.