Manuel Pellegrini has defended Manchester City’s transfer activity during the period for which they face Financial Fair Play sanctions and claimed that Liverpool spent ‘a fortune’ at that time.
The reigning Premier League champions have been charged for numerous alleged breaches of FFP regulations across a nine-year timeframe from 2009 to 2018 (Sky Sports).
If they are found guilty of those allegations, the Etihad Stadium club face heavy punishments, which could include being stripped of any top-flight titles they won during the years specified (i News).
However, having won the league with City in 2014, Pellegrini has launched a passionate defence of his former employers, adamant that the silverware they won was not tainted, and also took aim at several of their rivals, including Liverpool.
The current Real Betis manager said (via Daily Mail): “The criticism of City has always been very unjust. If there had been an astronomical difference between clubs then maybe, but Chelsea were spending a fortune, Manchester United were spending a fortune, Liverpool were spending a fortune, Arsenal were spending a fortune.
“It’s not the case that one club wanted a player for 100m and City came along and paid 200m. That didn’t really happen.”
Let’s address those ‘spending a fortune’ comments first with a little side-by-side comparison, taking the respective spending of Manchester City and Liverpool (as per Transfermarkt) from seasons 2009/10 to 2017/18:
There you have it – the Sky Blues spend £517.8m more on incoming transfers than the Merseyside club during those nine years. If we spent ‘a fortune’, what description do you apply to their outlay?
Even honing on seasons 2013/14 to 2015/16, when Pellegrini was their manager, they still invested more in transfers than we did (£380.25m to £299.4m).
The Chilean wasn’t averse to some big-money deals himself when he was in charge at the Etihad. In the summer of 2015, he spent a then-club record £55m on the admittedly very shrewd capture of Kevin De Bruyne (BBC Sport).
And, how about this for irony – it was in the very same year that City raided Anfield for Raheem Sterling, who set them back £49m (BBC Sport). That’s £104m on those two players alone in one transfer window.
Pellegrini’s remarks bring to mind the adage that people in glass houses should not throw stones.