Can we just take a step back and realise just exactly how much money Manchester City have spent on defenders over the years? I mean, they’ve spent a ridiculous amount on players in all positions this transfer window – £230m and counting – yet think how much of that has gone towards reshaping an already multi-million back four…scary!
The arrival of both Benjamin Mendy and Danilo has contributed to City’s record spending spree, with the former joining for a reported £51.6m and the latter costing a measly £26.9m, didn’t they JUST spend £45m on Kyle Walker or did I dream that?? What’s even more mindboggling is the announcement that Danilo will serve as backup to Walker…genuinely no words for that one.
And for those fiery football fans that include goalkeepers as defenders, it only gets more embarrassing. £15.4m for Chilean flop Claudio Bravo, and more recently £35.9m – a British record for a goalkeeper – on Ederson, who didn’t get off to the greatest start as Romelu Lukaku skipped past him to score during their pre-season friendly in the USA.
They’ve now completely re-shuffled their back line, with Gael Clichy, Alexander Kolarov and Pablo Zabaleta getting the boot. Even winger-turned-fullback Jesus Navas was shown the exit, but credit where credits due there as he was simply awful when called upon at the back. Willy Caballero meanwhile jumped before he was pushed, and I’d put money on the Argentinian coming back to haunt City in an FA Cup semi-final when he saves three out of four penalties to knock them out of the only thing they have left to fight for.
I’ve now lost count of the amount of defenders the Manchester club have brought in over the years, but the £32m for Nicolas Otamendi and the £47.5m for John Stones stand out, and don’t get me started on the nonsense amount of money they paid for the likes of future club legends Matija Nastasić and Stefan Savić. At least Vincent Kompany was cheap I’ll give them that much!
I genuinely feel that they’ve weakened their defence with their new recruits, and would almost go as far as saying that I’d rather the likes of Kolarov and Zabaleta in there but hey, who am I to question Pep? Surely the man knows exactly what he’s doing, but if he doesn’t bring silverware back to the Etihad this season then I doubt he’ll be in the hot-seat for much longer. And yeah, if you’ve got the money to spend (which they do, in abundance) then you may as well spend it…I just thought they’d spend it on better players!