City gear up to reap rewards of investments

Confident Pep Guardiola & Co start their quadruple quest with a last16 clash against Basel

LONDON: The club record £57 million capture of French centreback Aymeric Laporte took Manchester City’s spending on defence in the past year beyond the budgets of many nations.

But the Frenchman could be the final piece of a more than £200 million defensive overhaul to provide the foundations in City’s quest for a historic quadruple.

Pep Guardiola’s men kick off a run of four matches in four different competitions on Tuesday with a return to Champions League action at Basel in the first leg of their last 16 tie.

An FA Cup 5th round tie at Wigan follows before Arsenal await in the League Cup final and then another meeting with the Gunners in the Premier League — where City boast a 16-point lead at the top of the table.

However, it is for the Champions League stage that Guardiola was lured by City’s Abu-Dhabi owners and given enormous resources with which to mould an all-conquering squad.

City now boast four of the top six in that category with Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and John Stones also costing a combined £150 million over the past 18 months. Goalkeeper Ederson’s performances have justified his £35 million purchase from Benfica in the summer.

It is therefore little surprise that Guardiola’s complaints that he “had no players” with which to fill his bench in a recent 1-1 draw at Burnley were met with little sympathy. However, it does raise questions over whether another centre-back was what needed from a January window in which they missed out on more forward thinking targets in Alexis Sanchez and Riyad Mahrez.

Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus will miss both legs against Basel due to long term ankle and knee injuries respectively, whilst David Silva’s role in 2018 has been limited due to the premature birth of his son and injury.

“We have had a lot of injuries — Gabriel Jesus, David Silva, Benjamin Mendy — but hopefully we can fight for every game in all competitions,” said Guardiola. “We can try and do absolutely everything.”