Pep Guardiola plays down Manchester City spending with sarcasm over transfer talk | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola sought to play down Manchester City’s transfer outlay, leaning on sarcasm as he defended the club’s approach after a question on another costly window, with Marc Guéhi and Antoine Semenyo arriving for around €100m.

He said City sit seventh for net spend across the past five years. Transfermarkt reports the club’s gross spend in that period at €1.10bn, second in England behind Chelsea on €1.83bn. City’s net balance of -€459.55m is only the 21st worst among 27 Premier League clubs, far behind Manchester United on -€782.92m.

The Catalan joked he was irritated not to be first in that net-spend table and said he did not understand why the club did not spend more. He extended the irony, arguing that if City had won because they spent, then Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle and Liverpool, having spent more over the past five years, should now be winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Since the Abu Dhabi United Group’s 2008 takeover, City have piled up trophies, including six league titles under Guardiola in 2018, 2019 and from 2021 to 2024, plus the 2023 Champions League.

City are second in the Premier League and remain in the Champions League, the FA Cup, fourth round, and the League Cup. They face Newcastle in Wednesday’s semi-final second leg at 21:00 after a 2-0 first-leg win.

Guardiola closed by wishing those six clubs good luck on net spend and saying he was waiting for them.

Source: L'Équipe