‘Grumpy’ Guardiola jokes about Man City spending

Pep Guardiola mischievously said he is “a little bit sad and upset” that Manchester City have only the seventh highest net spend on transfers in the Premier League over the last five years.

City were the heaviest spenders in January for a second year running, signing Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi for around £84m after shelling out £180m last January.

But City’s ability to generate money from sales has seen them bring in £550m over the last five years, according to numbers from Transfermarkt.

Asked how much praise director of football Hugo Viana should be given for the transfer activity, Guardiola replied: “Really good. Txiki [Bergiristain] before and Hugo now.

“But like we won in the past because we spent a lot, now six teams have to win the Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues and FA Cups because they spend more in the last five years. These are facts. It’s not an opinion.

“You can say an opinion, like you say you play good or bad against Spurs – we can agree or disagree. But they are facts. Good luck to the six teams who are in front of us for net spend for the last five years.

“Let’s go. I’m waiting. That’s a nice quote, eh?”

Guardiola and City failed to win a major trophy last season, but have claimed six of the past nine Premier League titles.

City have broken the £100m mark once in their history to sign Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in 2022.

But the club have recouped cash astutely in recent years, making more than £250m from the sale of academy products alone since 2020.