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Manchester City’s financial clout has had a profound influence on the global football transfer market. Their readiness to offer significantly higher fees and wages led to an overall increase in prices, impacting clubs worldwide. However, having large sums of money readily available and being prepared to spend it does not necessarily guarantee successful acquisitions or positive outcomes.
When a club is widely known for its wealth, such as Manchester City, it becomes challenging for them to make transfers without inflated asking prices, as selling clubs tend to capitalize on the opportunity. Many teams that received large transfer fees from City during this era did not always benefit in the long term. For instance, Wolfsburg, after selling Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City in 2016, reinvested part of the funds by signing Julian Draxler and seasoned defender Dante. Despite this, Wolfsburg’s performance declined sharply, falling from second place to eighth in the Bundesliga and later struggling to avoid relegation.
Monaco, the second top recipient of funds from City, experienced a similarly difficult period. Following the transfers of Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva to Manchester City, their replacements Terence Kongolo and Keita Balde failed to make a lasting impact. Consequently, Monaco fell from winning Ligue 1 and reaching the Champions League semi-finals to nearly facing relegation within a couple of years. Meanwhile, Arsenal, from whom Manchester City bought the most players between 2009 and 2018, did not make a serious challenge for the Premier League title during this period.
The distribution of Manchester City’s spending also indirectly affected other clubs. Both Benfica and Porto received comparable sums from City, while Sporting, another major Portuguese club, did not benefit from similar financial injections. Sporting did not secure a league title between 2009 and 2018, and although various factors contributed to this, the financial disparity created by City’s dealings with rival clubs may have played some role.
There were additional financial flows linked to these transfers through sell-on clauses paid to clubs not directly involved in deals with City. For example, Queens Park Rangers earned approximately £9 million from Raheem Sterling’s transfer to City from Liverpool in 2015. Similarly, Barnsley gained around £7 million from John Stones’ move from Everton to Manchester City in 2016. Wolves also received about £2.5 million from Everton regarding Joleon Lescott’s transfer to City in 2009. While these sums significantly bolstered the finances of clubs like QPR and Barnsley, neither club fully capitalized on this windfall: QPR has yet to return to the Premier League, and Barnsley dropped to League One within two seasons.
Manchester City’s transfer activity during this era, which has been scrutinized for regulatory breaches, undoubtedly shaped their own rise and influenced numerous other clubs internationally, as well as impacting the broader football economy. However, the intricacies and far-reaching consequences of this period are complex, making it impossible to unravel all the effects completely. The financial and competitive ripples from City’s spending spree are likely to continue influencing the football world for many years ahead
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