Last season City fans rightly felt that the draw for the Champions League had put them in the group of death. Fast forward a year and if possible their group seems even harder to navigate with the Champions of Spain, Holland and Germany to beat.
City, of course, are champions of England and in one of the toughest leagues in Europe, yet struggled in the UCL last season and looking at their summer spending it is fair to say the side have not added a great deal in order to improve.
Some would have you believe that Mancini has been badly let down in the transfer market with Rodwell and Maicon being the only notable buys, and with Chelsea, Arsenal and to an extent United spending this summer, the club have made a major faux pas in laying dormant for the first transfer window since the money rolled in.
This however is a misguided opinion. There is such a thing as having too many players in a squad – and especially ones of the highest calibre. There is only so long a world class player will sit on the bench before discontent arrives. Not to mention the fact City had several players they needed to offload to get the wage bill down – something they have managed to do this summer.
Take a look at their biggest rivals in their Champions Leaue group, Real Madrid, the team who have finally toppled Barcelona at the summit of La Liga, and you can see that by their standards business has been quiet this summer. Long-time-lusted after Modric has arrived but that is all and Mourinho has been clear that one player was all he wanted.
Sometimes if you already have a world class squad there is little you really need to improve them, and especially with the FFP rules coming into force, buying for the sake of it is entirely useless – who needs another benchwarmer?
There is no area that you would look at throughout the City side and say they were in need of a player. Yes, everyone would like an Iniesta or Messi but as they weren’t for sale, reality has to resume and the champions have two brilliant keepers, a solid defence, a great and creative midfield and world class forwards – alright some might say that when Yaya goes off to play yet another ACON City may struggle, but try luring a player of his standard to replace him with the tag of ‘well we need you for a month, the rest of the time you can sit on our bench, use the gym and enjoy the Manchester weather. Or if you get really bored go round to Mario’s house for a bit of fun with explosive objects.’ I think not.
Mancini may have criticised the board for not allowing him to spend big, but in reality the man now has more power at the club than ever before, and do not forget is a master of mind games. If he really wanted a player, a helicopter would be getting said player and bringing him for a medical as you read this very article.
Too many players destabilise the dressing room and City have found the balance- at least for now, so let down in the transfer market? No, more like a very good judgement by the board and let’s face it even if City get to January and realise they need a star, the cheque book will come out and someone will arrive.
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