Assessing the "threat" from City

A few people have told me they expect Man City to challenge for a top four spot next season with some going as far as to suggest they’ll be contenders for the title. I can’t see it myself. Chelsea have proven it is possible to buy success and it may well happen for City in the not too distant future but I believe next season and the season after are too soon for it to happen.

When Abramovich purchased Chelsea, they had just finished in the top four and already had players such as Fat Frank Lampard and John Terry who would be key players in the success the club went onto achieve. By comparison, City finished 9th in the season before the Arab bought in and their best players were probably Micah Richards and Richard Dunne. With all due respect, it’s hard to see that pair being key to a title-winning campaign.

Despite being in a better position and shape than City when the respective money men arrived, it took Chelsea a season of progress and the spending of over £200 million on players before the league was eventually won. It should also be noted that in the season Chelsea did win the league and the one that followed, they were significantly aided by the strength (or comparative lack of) of their opponents. At that time, Man Ure were in transition having finished outside the top 2 twice in the previous 3 seasons; Arsenal were defending champions which, given they have failed to retain the title in 9 attempts since 1938, effectively ruled them out, and Liverpool were as far away from challenging for the title as they had been since the Souness years.

City will need to compete with a Man United side that has just won 3 league’s on the bounce and reached 2 consecutive Champions League Finals; a resurgent Liverpool that just achieved the unwanted distinction of becoming the best performing team not to win the league title; a Chelsea side containing some of the best players of 5 years ago and still likely to spend big on quality players before the summer ends, and an Arsenal side which, despite looking incapable of challenging the other three next season, hasn’t finished outside the top four under Arsene Wenger (13 seasons now). The big four are, along with Barca and possibly Real next season, currently the strongest teams in Europe with each having reached at least one Champions League Final in the last four seasons. That is the size of the task facing City.

Watching City’s antics in this transfer window has so far provoked a variety of reactions: a sense of jealousy at the unlimited spending money at their disposal; annoyance that it enables them to bid for players of a calibre they have not earned the right to attract, and amusement when those same players flatly reject them.

Kaka, Samuel Eto’o, Carlos Tevez, John Terry… These are all players too good to ever turn out for Man City. To their credit, Kaka and Eto’o have recognised that fact and proven that classy footballers would rather earn sky-high salaries at European super clubs than earn super sky high salaries at a team few on the continent have even heard of.

It begs the questions, just what sort of player would sign for City and, where does that leave them looking ahead to next season?

It seems unlikely John Terry would consider swapping Chelsea for City but should, as the media claim he is likely to, Carlos Tevez move to the City of Manchester Stadium, he would be doing so for one reason alone – money. Tevez complained over his lack of first team action at Old Trafford after Berbatov was signed for £30 million to increase competition that already included Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. City already have Robinho, Santa-Cruz, Bellamy, Jo and Benjani and were hoping to sign Eto’o as well as Tevez. True, Tevez would expect to figure ahead of the likes of Bellamy, Jo and Benjani but there are no guarantees he will figure more than Robinho, Santa-Cruz and anyone else they sign between now and the closure of the transfer window. Throw in the fact that, having failed to qualify for any European competition next season, City will play fewer games than Man Ure average each season and it is clear that City represents a huge risk if first team football is high on Tevez’s list of priorities.

The truth is, any player good enough to be wanted by the top clubs in Europe is going to choose to play for one of the top clubs in Europe unless they value money over prestige, success and involvement in the Champions League.

That means the only players City can hope to sign are the self-interested mercenaries out there. Will those players give every ounce of sweat for the City cause? No. Will those players care where the club finishes next season? No. Will those players have respect for a manager like Mark Hughes who, with all due respect, is hardly one of the stellar names in football management? No. Will those players even deign to return from international duty on time? Possibly not and yes, I am referring to Robinho.

City’s transfer strategy limits them to players of a certain type of mentality of which Robinho is the embodiment. Disloyal, disrespectful and disinterested in everything other than their bank balance. Money will buy many things but they do not include team spirit, respect for club traditions, motivation and determination to succeed.

For that reason, give me a Dirk Kuyt over a Robinho any day.