There are things that don’t change when it comes to football. At each transfer window, Manchester City strengthens in defense by bringing in one or two new elements recruited at high prices. This summer of 2023 is no exception to this implacable rule since an agreement has been reached between the English champions and RB Leipzig for the transfer of Joško Gvardiol. The 21-year-old Croatian is even preparing to become the most expensive defender in the world. Enough to make Guardiola happy who risks losing Walker and Cancelo.
Exit the €87 million Manchester United spent in the summer of 2019 on Harry Maguire. Now it’s time for Gvardiol’s €120 million. It is downright the biggest transfer in the history of Cityzens since the record belonged to Jack Grealish with the 117 M€ spent with Aston Villa two years ago. The club is used to paying crazy sums and never hesitates to use drastic measures, especially for its rearguard where the players are, a priori, less expensive than for other positions.
More than €400m spent since 2014 on defense alone
Since the takeover by Sheikh Mansour and his Abu Dhabi United Group, 7 of the 20 most expensive defenders in the world have been the work of Manchester City. Before Gvardiol, there was Ruben Dias (€71m), Aymeric Laporte (€65m), João Cancelo (€65m), Benjamin Mendy (€57m), John Stones (€56m) and Kyle Walker (€51m). Nor are we forgetting Nathan Aké and his €45m, Eliaquim Mangala (€45m), Nicolas Otamendi (€44m), Danilo (€30m) and even, further back in time, Joleon Lescott (€27m).
It should be noted that from 2014 prices skyrocketed. Since that summer, almost €300 million (295.5 to be precise) has been spent on defense alone. We must add the 120 M€ of Gvardiol to obtain 415.5 M€. ‘Manchester City are buying full-backs at the cost of strikers’ complained José Mourinho in 2018. This method had its limits until then, but the last season when City achieved a historic hat-trick and finally lifted the Champions League shows that it has finally achieved its goal. Having money does not guarantee success, but it can greatly contribute to it.
