As a Manchester United fan it sucks to see how far United has regressed and how well our cross town rivals City are going. United is the biggest club in England but for the past 6 years since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, the club has looked everything but that. Meanwhile Manchester City have won 3 titles and are not slowing down. Credit where credit is due; they play beautiful, precise and entertaining football but the way they have acquired players doesn't sit well with me. The general consensus is that you need to spend money to challenge for titles (tell Leicester City that), but Manchester City have spent a completely outrageous amount of money.
Since the arrival of Pep Guardiola as manager in 2016, City have spent AUD$1.3 billion on players. This is an unprecedented amount of money. This extreme spending has altered the value of all players in football with the world record transfer fee standing at AUD$360 million for Brazilian superstar Neymar. The owner of Manchester City is Emirati billionare, Sheikh Mansour. He invests his own money into the club, which he then recovers his money by raising the price of oil which he owns. The ability to do this so easily means that City can spend as much money as they want with no limitation of money. The desire to win has gone too far with City buying players like it is a video game. This creates a disadvantage for clubs who are unable to match City financially. City now operates by solving issues within the club by buying more and more players, usually the best that are available.
Not just for the sake of Manchester United but rather the whole of football, I hope that another team wins the Premier League next year to show that money can be beaten. Until then I am expecting City to spend another $200 million on players this coming transfer window.
Thanks for reading today's post. Stay tuned for more posts, including tomorrow's.
- Jonathan
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