City Stunted in Struggle to Rid Players

Roberto Mancini’s comments this week over his frustration Manchester City are yet to make a hallmark signing exposes the future problems the club will face after their rise to superstardom.

City, who have spent over £420m on players since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008, have seen their summer transfer dealings restricted as UEFA’s Financial Fair Play comes into effect. The biggest deal the Eastlands club have managed this summer is the six-year contract extension of captain, Vincent Kompany.

The problem for City is one various other clubs have had, once the intoxicating spending sprees come to a close. In four years, City have bought a squad ready to challenge for titles, a goal achieved last season by winning the Premier League.

But City’s swift rise up the footballing ladder has now come at a price. Over the years, the club has bought to replace undesirables, in order to move to the next level. These players have been lured to the club not on history, but money and title promises alone. But, players on long-term, big-money contracts like Roque Santa Cruz and Edin Dzeko have quickly fallen out of favour.

With their initial rise came the need to bring in better players on even bigger contracts, and the club now has a reserve squad of fallen stars, still on big wages.

With FFP, City are finding it difficult to bring in players unless they shift their rotting stars of the past. These former stars are unwilling to leave Eastlands and their huge contracts, with few clubs able to rival what City pay them.

It took Chelsea five years to overcome the Mourinho era and Madrid just as long to rid themselves of their Galacticos hangover. City have spent too much too soon and now have a backlog of players they cannot shift. Unable to bring in fresh talent, their financial books will spiral out of control while performances on the pitch only worsen.

The Betfair Champions League webpage expects City to be one of the top teams in Europe, next season. However, the Betfair Olympics Football site is seeing the most activity from fans, as Team GB struggle to get the London 2012 campaign off the ground.