NEIL MOXLEY Money no object as City bet the farm on Pep
BARKLEY BANKER
Fwolwloww. Tew. eurk: @peoplesport PEP GUARDIOLA – granted the freedom of Manchester City.
Seriously, does no one ever question this bloke? It doesn’t look like it.
Has any manager in living memory ever been indulged to the same extent?
It’s like handing a four-year-old a can of paint and wondering why he’s redecorated your brand new sofa.
And then just shrugging your shoulders and heading out to the retail park to buy another one.
Even by the excesses of post2008 Manchester City, the story of this summer verges on madness.
Honestly, £54.5million for rightback Kyle Walker? Supplemented by a £27m splurge on another one in Danilo. He can’t play both in the same position.
Not to mention his obsession with football-playing goalkeepers. Over £ 50m spent on Claudio Bravo and d Ederson.
“So whathat if the first replacement for Joe Hart didn’t work, go and sign another one...”
That’s over £ 130m. Mindboggling money for addressing t wo- f i f t hs of t he problem.
Now Monaco are demandingding over £50m for left-back Benjamin n Mendy (right) onn the basis that Walker went for the same money.
If you were to l ook at Manchester City pre-Guardiola, would you have said the areas that required urgent attention were right-back and goalkeeper?
It’s like fitting a brand new kitchen while rain lashes through the roof.
Manchester City’s problems are right at the heart of their defence.
Without Vincent Kompany – and a club of Manchester City’s standing surely cannot wait around forever for him to overcome injury problems – they come up short against their rivals.
Clock
Defeats against each of the top three. Four goals conceded twice on their travels against Everton and Leicester. Eighty per cent of the teams in the Premier League will be put to the sword – City are potent enough up front to do that against cannon fodder. But big trophiestr are not won by brilliant strikeforc strikeforces alone. They require brilliant defenders too. The clo clock is ticking and the pric prices are going up by the t However,minute. if Ma Manchester City ar are going to let the Spaniard l oose with their BlanketyBlank chequebook and pen, then he still has time to do something about it.
Lord knows he’ll be backed.
That’s primarily because the men actually backing Guardiola to carry out this splurge have nailed their reputations to his.
Director of football Txiki Begiristain couldn’t wait to welcome his compatriot over the threshold. Chief executive officer Ferran Soriano rubber-stamped his arrival.
It didn’t matter that Manuel Pellegrini, despite lifting the Premier League trophy, was shoved to one side to make way for the former Bayern Munich manager.
If this strategy of ‘choose the best players you can get no matter what the cost’ doesn’t pay off, Begiristain will be out of the exit door in double-quick time.
Five years and £500m in the hole. Therein lies the reason for the indulgence.
Guardiola is going to be given the best possible chance of succeeding.
hH And being given licence to spend £130m-plus on a goalkeeper and two right-backs looks to be just the start of it. MESSAGE to Ross Barkley: never mind that £150,000 a week you want from Spurs. Stay put. Seriously, stay at Everton. Play – and play well – and you’ll absolutely coin it in this time next year. You’ll be 24 years old. And if Spurs were going to pay Everton £25million for yyou this yyear,, gguess what? You can have half that money as a signing-on fee. For doing nothing other than signing a piece of paper.
All you have to do is play. And wait.
So, keep your eyes on the ball, Ross.
Work hard and the rest will follow. £15m plus your £150,000 a week.
It reallyy is that simple.p