Israel Saria
Worth more than the German midfield?
Many people within the game of football question the amount of money paid for and to players. Most of those people point an accusing finger mainly in the direction of Manchester City.
Spent
In the two years since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought City they have spent more than £300 million on new players.
Amongst the critics of the club is Sir Alex Ferguson, who earlier this month said that some of Manchester United’s rivals were going on a ‘Kamikaze spending spree’. It should be pointed out that he didn’t mention City by name, but you don’t need the brains of a rocket scientist to know who he was talking about.
Defend
Speaking to the BBC, City manager Roberto Mancini has attempted to defend the spending they have undertaken.
“Sir Alex has spent a lot of money in the past. Not this year, but in the past I think United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool were like us this year. This year we bought good young players. Only Yaya is twenty-eight, the other players are aged twenty-four or twenty-three and a good investment for the club.”
The players referred to by Mancini, who have cost the club a cool £124 million, are, James Milner (£26 million), Aleksandar Kolarov (£16 million), David Silva (£24 million), Jerome Boateng (£10 million), Mario Balotelli (£24 million) and Yaya Toure (£24 million).
Wages
It is not just the cost of buying the players that makes people raise an eyebrow, it is the wages paid as well. It has been reported that Yaya Toure, for example, is being paid quite remarkably in excess of £200,000 a week.
I guess that Mancini has got a point. Whilst City hold the record with the £32.5 million purchase of Robinho, United and Chelsea paid in excess of £30 million for Berbatov and Shevchenko respectively and Liverpool paid over £20 million for Fernando Torres.
Wrongs
Of course, two wrongs do not make a right and the fact that others have spent big in the past does not mean that spending this much now, in dire financial times for most people, is in any way acceptable.
The club also seem to be an easy target for charging more than anyone else would be charged for players. Unbelievably, City paid more for England midfielder James Milner than Real Madrid did for German international midfielders Khedira and Ozil combined.
Thrilled
I know that if I was a Manchester City fan I would be thrilled by the new signings and would take the attitude that if you have got the money, why not spend it. However, looking on from the outside it all seems to be a little bit unsavoury.
What do you think? Is it good or bad that City are spending so much?
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