Pep will NEVER park the bus... we’ll win the beautiful way
CITY CHIEF SORIANO BLASTS MOURINHO
MANCHESTER CITY chief executive Ferran Soriano has fired a devastating blast at Jose Mourinho.
Soriano, the Catalan tasked with ensuring City’s success on the pitch is matched by booming revenues off it, insists the huge economic growth taking place at the Etihad is only possible because of the beautiful football played by Pep Guardiola.
In a thinly veiled dig at Manchester United boss Mourinho, he claimed that a defensive philosophy only brings hollow victories.
And when specifically asked about Mourinho’s fierce criticism of City’s spending in the transfer market, Soriano, 50, insisted the Portuguese’s words were just as flawed. “Our vision is to win playing beautiful football,” said Soriano (left), who was part of the Barcelona executive team that opted to give Guardiola his first senior coaching role when Mourinho was desperate for the job.
“The idea we have conceived in the last five years is the concept of always playing beautiful football.
“All the City Football Group teams have the basic principles – possession of the ball, a high defensive line, a 4-3-3 system with attacking intent.
“We adopted our philosophy with Manuel Pellegrini and now Pep Guardiola has taken it a step further.
“It is the recipe to win on the pitch and grown commercially as a club. Chelsea played defensively against City last week – and lost. But last year they won the league.
“What will take us to another level is to play beautiful football.
“It is not a theory, it is practical. When we went into Barcelona, they had finished seventh the previous season. Then, after the change began in 2003, we won everything.
“If we had won the same titles without playing beautifully, it would have been an empty victory.”
Soriano was brought in by City’s owners in September 2012 with a mandate to recreate the miracle he had overseen at the Nou Camp.
Former Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain followed him to Manchester. And Sheikh Mansour’s managerial dream team was complete in the summer of 2016 when Guardiola arrived.
His first season ended trophyless – while Mourinho (right) lifted the Europa League and FA Cup.
But United have been powerless to keep pace with City’s record-breaking title charge this year.
Mourinho insists the £300million he has invested in new players is not enough, compared to Guardiola’s spending. But, in an interview with the Argentine digital newspaper ‘infobae’, Soriano dismantled that argument. He said: “If you look at the 10 most expensive signings of all time, none of them play for City. “Do we have Pogba, Lukaku, Neymar or Mbappe? Of course, we made an important investment in the transfer market because we had to change the age of the squad. “But all of the players we bought would now be worth £100m. And, in addition, Manchester City now earns a lot of money.
“In the last three years, we have not spent more than we have raised economically, so I see no reason for criticism.”
Soriano is in Buenos Aires to address Argentine business leaders at a conference tomorrow.
He admitted that signing Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi was a dream that even he could not deliver.
But he reckons that the presence of Guardiola at the Etihad is a huge coup.
Soriano added: “We would all like to sign Messi, but he is where he wants to be and signing him is not possible.
“To have Messi would be like when Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls. He’s the best in the world.
“If you asked Guardiola if he is to Manchester City what Messi is to Barcelona he would say, ‘No’.
“His intent is that the team has its own identity, but if you asked people who you associate with Manchester City I think the answer would be Guardiola.
“It’s not comparable to Messi because he is the best in the world.
“We have some extraordinary players – but none like Messi.”