Manchester City aim to turn pounds into prizes

At a time of acute financial uncertainty for football clubs across the globe, Manchester City continue to buck the trend.

After failing to achieve Champions League qualification last term, City turned to the chequebook once again and Roberto Mancini will approach the new Premier League campaign with a squad brimming with world-class talent.

Spain winger David Silva, Germany full-back Jerome Boateng, Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure and Serbia left-back Aleksandar Kolarov have all arrived at Eastlands during the close-season.

It means that owner Sheikh Mansour has now spent in excess of 284 million pounds (339 million euros) on transfer fees alone since taking over the club in August 2008.

With traditional powerhouses like Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich all currently reluctant to splash the cash, City are the only major side in Europe with the resources to make waves in the transfer market.

The result is that they repeatedly find themselves linked with jaw-dropping moves for some of the continent’s biggest names, but Mancini believes they must speculate in order to accumulate.

“Of course we have spent a lot of money this summer,” he said.

“Everyone can see that is the case, but all the teams who have won the Premier League, or La Liga or Serie A in recent years have spent a lot of money. This is not a new thing.

“It is hard to win trophies anywhere if you do not invest in the team in areas where you can improve. That’s what we have done this summer.”

The stockpiling of high-profile international players at the club makes it impossible for Mancini to accommodate all of his big-money stars into the starting line-up.

Central midfield is particularly congested and Toure will be vying with England’s Gareth Barry, Dutch international Nigel de Jong and former France captain Patrick Vieira for one of two likely starting places.

Home-grown talents such as Micah Richards, Nedum Onuoha and Michael Johnson, meanwhile, are likely to find first-team opportunities even harder to come by.

Mancini must also decide how to configure his attack.

Carlos Tevez seems a certain starter after netting 29 goals in a sensational debut season, but Emmanuel Adebayor, Craig Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz, Jo, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson and Vladimir Weiss give the Italian a huge variety of attacking options.

Record signing Robinho is also scheduled to return to City in August following a six-month loan spell at his formative club Santos, brought about by his failure to impose himself in England.

That City have managed to attract talents like Toure and Silva despite not qualifying for the Champions League demonstrates both their financial clout and their ambition, but Mancini may not survive if City fall short again.

The former Inter Milan coach succeeded Mark Hughes last December and was philosophical when City were pipped to the final Champions League berth by Tottenham, but such failure will not be tolerated a second time.