Let’s not lie, Pep Guardiola is a genius. What he did at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City has changed the way football has been played for a number of years and changed the way football will be thought of for years to come. The ‘tiki-taka’ way of playing, with a possession heavy style, has dominated almost every team that it’s come across. With two Champions leagues to his name and eight league titles across three different leagues, Guardiola’s talent is unquestionable.
Since joining Manchester City, however, the amount of money he’s spent on defenders is obscene. Inheriting City’s best-ever defender, Vincent Kompany, Pep has struggled to find a replacement for the Belgian since his 2019 move to Anderlecht.
Spending Habits
In his first season, Pep shelled out over £50 million on defenders. Only two new names were brought in on this occasion, one centre back and one left-back. There was a further £20 million spent on goalkeepers.
The second season Pep was at the helm saw further spending on defenders, with £184.68 million spent on those tasked with keeping the opposition out. On top of this, £36 million was spent on a goalkeeper, despite investing the previous season.
During the 2018/19 season, little was spent on the defence for a change, with no real signings to report, however, the 2019/20 season saw almost £80 million again spent on defenders, this time in the form of two right-backs and a left-back.
Already in the summer transfer window of the 2020/21 season, Guardiola has gone to the board at City and again shelled out huge sums of money on defensive players. Over £110 million pounds has been spent in the summer transfer window, bringing in two established centre backs and two promising wing-backs.
Here begs the question, season on season is Pep just trying to throw money at the problem of consistently picking the wrong transfers to make, defensively? Or do we have to accept that teams are picking up on frailties in Pep’s possession heavy system and exploiting his tactical style? There can be no denying how devastating City are going forward, out-scoring every team in the Premier League for the past three seasons, but are teams seeing past his tactical style and exploiting weaknesses when it comes to defending?
First Season
Pep’s first transfer window at City saw him spend big. £193 million in all was spent, with over a quarter of this being on the defence. Everton and England international, John Stones was brought in for £50 million, making him the second most expensive defender ever. What Pep liked about Stones was his ability to dribble out of defence with the ball and play it forward. The classic ‘ball-playing defender’ seemed a perfect fit for Pep...So why has there been rumours that Stones may leave Man City? Only Pep knows but he’s strongly suggested that: ‘as long as I’m in Manchester, John Stones will be as well’. Stones is far from world class. He wouldn’t make anyones ‘World 11’ and lately, he’s struggled to break into the England set up, despite earning 39 caps. Stones is just 26 years old and is still yet to hit his playing prime. If he can consistently perform for City this season, the £50 million price tag will look like a bargain.
The second defender purchased in the 2016/17 was 19 year old Oleksandr Zinchenko. Immediately loaned out twice, Zinchenko has been a regular face in the City side in his second season. It’s important to remember that Zinchenko only cost City £1.8 million and is still only 23 years old. This looks to have been a quality bit of business with the Ukrainian’s stock rising year on year.
Pep also gained the signature of experienced goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, whom he worked with at Barcelona. Bravo came in to replace England’s Joe Hart, who had been City’s #1 for a number of years previously.
Big Spends
If a team shells out over £285 million over a season, including an insane £220 million on defenders and goalkeepers, you’d better hope there are some results.
Benfica and Brazil international goalkeeper, Ederson was signed for a fee of £35 million, becoming the second most expensive goalkeeper of all time. Ederson has arguably been Pep’s greatest signing at City, consistently performing, playing in a way in which he can almost never be dropped from the squad and ultimately proving to be the perfect goalkeeper to play in Pep’s style. Good with his feet and with solid distribution, Ederson is also quick off his line, leading to almost playing as a sweeper at times.
In the same season, however, having already shelled out for a world renowned goalkeeper, Pep still wasn’t happy with his defence. Three wing-backs and a centre back were all purchased, totaling over £180 million. Kyle Walker was wrestled away from Tottenham for £47 million, Real Madrid’s Danilo joined him for £27 million, as did Monaco’s Benjamin Mendy, this time for a fee of £51 million. These were all purchases during the summer transfer window...but come the winter transfer period, thing’s still weren’t right for Pep. One of the Spaniard’s best signings during his time at Manchester City, Aymeric Laporte came in for a record breaking fee of £58 million from Athletic Bilbao.
The impact that these defensive signings were immediately evident. During the first season under Pep, City conceded 39 goals on their way to a third place finish. Fast forward to the second season and five new defensive signings, only 27 goals were conceded, a title was won and City hit 100 points in the Premier League.
Walker made 32 appearances in the league for City and 48 overall club appearances this year also. Danilo notched 38 overall appearances, Mendy managed only eight due to injury and January transfer, Laporte saw nine appearances before suffering injury.
2018-2019 - Finally Some Progress
The 2018-2019 season was arguably the most successful in Manchester City’s history. Coincidentally, it is also the season where they spent the least under Pep Guardiola. Only two defensive signings were brought in, of which none have played in the Premier League for City yet.
They were able to improve upon the 27 goals that were conceded in the league the season prior by only picking the ball out the back of the net 23 times in the league. They won the domestic treble, but still failed to live up to expectations in the Champions League. For the second successive season, City crashed out in the quarter finals, this time to Tottenham Hotspur on away goals. Clearly, if City were to become a force in Europe, something more had to be done.
Still Not Happy
From the summer of 2019 to the summer of 2020, it is obvious that Pep Guardiola is still not happy with his defence. City failed to defend their title in the 2019-2020 season, losing it convincingly to Liverpool. On this journey of loss, they conceded a whopping (for them) 35 goals. During this season, an additional three defenders were purchased. Joao Cancelo signed for £60 million, with previous signing Danilo going the other way to Juventus. Youngsters, Angelino and Pedro Porro were each purchased for £10.8 million a piece. Porro hasn’t played a professional game for the club and is currently out on a two year loan at Sporting SP.
Questions have to be asked of Pep if ludicrous amounts of money are being spent on defenders, yet they are still seeming to struggle in Europe and in the past season conceded a huge 13 more goals than the previous season. City, under Pep have never progressed past the quarter final of the Champions League. It’s no hidden secret that City brought Pep in to win the Champion League. They can never be considered one of the best teams in the world if this feat hasn’t been achieved. Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea have all lifted the trophy within recent memory, with City not even coming close. Their legacy is tarnished from the perspective of English fans as a direct result of their European frailties.
Will the 2020-2021 campaign lead to a different outcome? Well the same blueprint seems to be resurfacing. During the summer transfer window, City have spent over £100 million on two marquee centre backs. Nathan Ake came in from relegated Bournmouth for a fee of £40 million and has already settled into life at City. He started their game against Leicester City, scoring his first goal for the club. The outcome of this game, however, highlighted yet more defensive frailties. City lost 5-2, despite going ahead in the match.
The solution to this? Throw money at the defence of course. Despite constantly being linked with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and seemingly putting all their eggs in the Senegalese captain’s basket, nothing came to light. Suddenly, almost overnight with no forewarning, they contacted Benfica and managed to sign renowned centre back Ruben Dias. £61 million was spent on a player that City were seemingly not linked with and happened to be brought in shortly after a five goal thrashing against Leicester City…
So, with all these defensive signings, are City going to be the rock solid force at the back that the money would suggest? It doesn’t look likely. They’ve already conceded seven goals this season and are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league. Their Champions League group is far from straight forward, being matched up with Portugese champions Porto FC, Greek champions Olympiacos and Marseille, who finished second in the French league. Although they should qualify, any below par performances are certainly going to be highlighted, especially considering the money that has been spent on the squad.
With all this money spent improving the defence, including insane amounts of money on centre backs, despite their best centre back being their defensive midfielder, Fernandinho, you’d think that City would possibly address defensive problems on the training pitch, rather than throwing money at the problem.
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