Football News: What Can We Expect From Manchester City

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With the recent rash of new signings at Manchester City, mostly of young, English players, what can we really expect from them for next season? They struggled badly last season and were in need of new blood, but it is questionable whether they have brought in the right players. Their transfer policy has been suspect, at best in recent years, never really focusing on the right players.

Now they seem to have realised that the average age was going up and that the squad lacked English players and resolved to change that. It does seem to have been a case of buying players for those two reasons first and foremost, rather than focusing on who would best suit the club's needs on the pitch first. Would any of Patrick Roberts, Raheem Sterling or Fabian Delph have been targeted if they were not English?

You would have to think that none of those players would have been first choice in the positions they play, none are top bracket, yet. It is the same old story with City, all that money but no intelligent, thought out recruitment process to spend it. There is a reason why they have failed to retain the Premier League title or look even remotely near to being competitive in European football, and it is this transfer policy of spending huge sums on second rate players.

This is a club who managed to attract Sergio Aguero, who is simply world class, but then surrounded him with second rate players like the two left backs, Gael Clichy and Aleksandr Kolarov, instead of buying one top class left back. The two Brazilian midfielders, Fernando and Fernandinho are good players, but they are nowhere near close to Nemanja Matic in quality. It really does seem that Citeh are content to sign second rank players, rather than pushing to get the best in.

Until the blue half of Manchester stops setting its sights on players like Stevan Jovetic, Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri, and instead goes out and competes for the really top players in these positions, they will always struggle in Europe. They might never have been able to sign him, but the difference it could have made picking up Alexis Sanchez, instead of him joining Arsenal last summer would have been huge. The money spent on adding Fernando and Fernandinho to the squad was wasted, as only one was needed.

At a time when the club was hamstrung by FFP, it just highlights how poorly thought out Man City's transfer policy is. Are Sterling, Delph and Roberts enough to close the huge yawning chasm that opened up between Chelsea and Citeh? It not just seems unlikely, it seems ridiculous to even suggest it could have done.

With Petr Cech joining Arsenal, Manchester United rebuilding their midfield has really put pressure on City. Last season Pellegrini was clearly feeling the pressure of just being behind Chelsea, can he cope with the added pressure of United and Arsenal too? This might even be a season where City's only aim is a top four finish, however much of a surprise that would be after all their spending.

They will need Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta to recover from their poor form last time out if they are to have any chance of a title challenge. Even then, it might not be enough to keep them in the running.

Written by Tris Burke July 23 2015 12:10:20