Moneybags Blues’ failure to buy cover for Fernandinho & Mendy is now hurting them

MANCHESTER CITY have often been criticised for splashing the cash, but are now paying the price for not spending in the transfer market.

Failure in the summer to bring in cover for Fernandinho and Benjamin Mendy has returned to bite them.

Pep Guardiola knew he needed to lift some of the burden off 33-year-old Fernandinho in the key midfield holding role and targeted Napoli’s Jorginho.

Yet when Maurizio Sarri gazumped Guardiola at the last minute to take the Italy international with him to Chelsea, the City boss refused to sign any midfielder.

Mateo Kovacic (right, top), who subsequently joined Chelsea from Real Madrid, Juventus’ Miralem Pjanic (middle) and Mario Lemina of Southampton (bottom) were all touted and rejected by Guardiola.

Guardiola, buoyed by City’s record-breaking title success, felt he could cope with the players he had.

The folly of that decision has been exposed with Fernandinho out injured for the back-to-back defeats against Crystal Palace and Leicester City, dumping City seven points off Liverpool’s pace.

Guardiola pushed John Stones into midfield against Palace and used Ilkay Gundogan there at Leicester, but neither plugged the gap left by Fernandinho.

The Brazilian is sidelined with a groin injury suffered in training on Friday last week and there is no word on when he will return, with City’s titanic match against Liverpool on January 3 fast approaching.

City also failed to sign cover for Mendy, with Guardiola believing Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko could deputise for the Frenchman, who is out for at least another month after having knee surgery.

The champions were lulled into a false sense of security because they managed to cope without Mendy for most of last season.

But Delph showed with his poor display at Leicester, culminating in a red card which rules him out of tomorrow’s trip to Southampton, that he is not a left-back.

Despite the two glaring holes in his squad, Guardiola continues to insist he will not plunge into the transfer market next month.

City do not do panic buys and are adamant every signing must be carefully thought through to ensure they fit Guardiola’s philosophy.

That is a massive gamble given City have lost three of their last four games to slip behind Liverpool and Tottenham in the title race.

Yet Craig Bellamy, the former striker who played for both City and Liverpool, believes Guardiola’s men will retain their title.

“I don’t believe Liverpool will go unbeaten,” said the ex-Wales international. “They will lose one or two games and I personally think Man City will win the league.

“I think Pep Guardiola will be rubbing his hands saying, ‘Game on. Last year we won it so comfortably, now let’s see what we’ve got’.

“They have a manager who is a serial winner so they have a lot of factors they can look back on.

“With seven points to make up, especially over the Christmas period, you can get that back.

“Don’t write Man City off yet.”