Man City have wasted €180m on signings, claims top pundit

Manchester City’s recent signings are ‘not up to it’, according to pundit Jamie Carragher, who says these transfers have seen the club’s dominance on the Premier League annihilated.

City find themselves in a battle to even qualify for the Champions League next term, with a 4-2 loss to PSG puts their place in the next round of this season’s competition in doubt.

Carragher, a former Liverpool and England defender, claims that Pep Guardiola’s side have been in decline for years and have only been propped up by the excellence of old heads such as Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne.

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With the former injured for the season and the latter finally starting to show some signs of age, the millions that Pep Guardiola’s side have wasted in the transfer window is now starting to become apparent.

“The excellence of those who inspired City to their heights camouflaged how disappointing many of the newer additions have been. Now the mainstays are unable to deliver every week – either through loss of form or in the case of Rodri serious injury – those entrusted to carry the torch have not been up to it,” Carragher writes in The Telegraph.

He then picked apart some of the big signings who have failed to deliver for Man City, with these deals totalling a massive €180 million.

“Kalvin Phillips cost £45 million but Guardiola decided quickly he was not good enough. In 2023, Matheus Nunes cost £54 million, but has never shown the form which made him so highly-rated at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Jeremy Doku has shown flashes of brilliance since joining for £55.5 million from Rennes, but not consistently,” Carragher added.

“Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan are brilliant midfielders at the tail end of their careers who – had Rodri not been injured – would have been able back-ups rather than definite starters.

“That’s a lot of money for underperforming players.”

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Man City’s in panic transfer spree

Carragher describes Man City’s current spending, which could see them top €200m this month alone, as a “panic transfer spree”.

“This is a state of emergency at the Etihad and an admission that most of their recent recruitment has been poor,” he says.

“Guardiola is acknowledging his mistake last summer by acting in January, although City may also be so keen to buy now because they are unsure of the outcome of their Premier League hearing related to their 115 charges. If they are punished it is conceivable they will be under a transfer embargo before next season.”

Man City have already signed Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis this month, while Juventus defender Andreas Cambiaso is rumoured to be of interest around the €65m mark.