Manchester City have easily been the English Premier League’s top spenders in recent years, outlaying hundreds of millions as their revolving door of players repaid the cost by gradually closing the gap on their more successful neighbors at Old Trafford.
But the extravagance has stopped abruptly for the time being because of UEFA financial restraints.
That has been admitted by City Chief Executive Officer Ferran Soriano who said that the $44 million deal to sign FC Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala will be the end of their summer spending.
Mangala’s arrival has been held up over third-party ownership issues but City hope to conclude protracted negotiations before this weekend’s Community Shield against Arsenal at Wembley.
The 23-year-old Frenchman has already passed a medical and agreed personal terms and his signing will take the club’s outlay on new players this summer to a relatively modest $69 million following the purchase of his former Porto teammate Fernando, Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna and Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero.
Gael Clichy believes City have signed one of the world’s best defenders in Sagna.
Right-back Sagna, 31, took the road most travelled by Arsenal players to the Etihad when he joined on a free transfer following the end of his contract with the Gunners.
Clichy used to play with Sagna at the Emirates and is also his France international team-mate.
Joe Hart, England’s first choice keeper, lost his spot temporarily as City’s No. 1 choice last season and Caballero’s arrival will again threaten his tenure – or possibly make him an even better stopper.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini won the Premier League in his first season in England after spending nearly $140 million on Fernandinho, Alvaro Negredo, Stevan Jovetic and Jesus Navas last summer.
The focus now is on who to off-load because City must trim their squad and comply with UEFA’s punishment for overspending.
They are set to sell either Negredo or Javi Garcia to reduce the number of foreigners, while Englishmen Micah Richards, Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell are expected to go.
City will also let go Matija Nastasic, who is not needed once Mangala arrives.
Their remaining World Cup contingent – captain Vincent Kompany, Fernandinho, Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis – have only just reported back for pre-season training.
City have a formidable squad which inspired James Milner to call on his teammates to win all four major trophies this season.
City have just finished playing in the International Champions Cup in the U.S. and are likely to be regular visitors there in future after launching their new franchise, New York City.
Frank Lampard and David Villa have signed for the club’s debut season in Major League Soccer next year and Soriano believes that City’s involvement was critical in persuading the two to move to America.
Villa was the first New York City signing.
In the shadow of Yankee Stadium, he was asked whether anyone had told him about what it’s like to be a winner in the Big Apple.
It’s the stock question that always seems to be asked by the typical New York media gaggle upon the arrival of a star who’s won elsewhere, but never a place that reveres its champions to a degree that they deem acceptable.
Villa is a winner of the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, La Liga, the Copa Del Rey and has enough silverware to brag about for a lifetime, if so inclined.
But the former Atletico Madrid and Barcelona striker repeated the same message often and with a similar conviction that he is going to work hard, he wants to win and he wants to leave a legacy at the club he’s helping launch.
That it happens to be in New York is a fringe benefit. Besides, Villa can argue with plenty of justification that he has nothing left to prove to anyone.
Villa could be called on as an emergency striker if needed at the Etihad before the MLS season starts in March. Lampard is available too in Manchester but has agreed not to play against his beloved Chelsea when they meet on Sept. 21.
City is brimming with midfield generals though and fans are happy to learn their new powerhouse in that department, Fernando, earned his nickname of The Octopus after a particularly stirring display against rivals Manchester United.
United were Champions League holders when they faced Porto in the 2009 quarterfinals, narrowly winning the tie 3-2 on aggregate after an extraordinary individual display from the long-legged midfielder for the Portuguese side.
“The fans started the name because I stole so many balls from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney,” he said. “They said it was like I had so many legs.
“Octopus has stuck ever since. I don’t mind, I get the same thrill from stopping a goal as strikers do from scoring.”
Fernando, 27, was brought up in a Brazilian town famous for being a hot-spot for UFOs.
But the only flying objects the midfielder is interested in seeing are opposition players.
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