Manchester City

Pep Guardiola defends Manchester City full-back spending

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 26 July 2017

Guardiola: 'Full-back spending necessary'

Pep Guardiola defends Manchester City's £120m outlay on full-backs by suggesting that it is necessary in the current transfer market.

Pep Guardiola has claimed that Manchester City's £120m outlay on full-backs this summer was necessary given the vast sums of money being spent in the current market.

Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo have all arrived at the Etihad Stadium, alongside the purchases of goalkeeper Ederson and midfielder Bernardo Silva to take City's overall expenditure to beyond £200m this summer.

"I could not imagine years ago, even two or three years ago, paying £100m or £120m for one player, now it has happened and will happen more," Guardiola said ahead of facing Real Madrid in a pre-season friendly on Thursday.

"It's a lot. I would like to pay less for the club, for everybody but the market is the market. Manchester City didn't invest in full-backs in the last six-seven years. We decided we had to make the squad younger and we tried to keep the best full-backs.

"All the clubs spend a lot of money, not just us. You will see until the 31st [of August], the amount of transfers coming, so we will see 70, 80, 90, 100 (million) - more than that. Maybe one day it will stop."

Man City lost out on the signing of another full-back, Dani Alves, to Paris Saint-Germain despite Guardiola having previously worked with the player at Barcelona.