The unofficial title of 'World's richest club' sat uneasily with
Manchester City last season. It provided opportunities for mockery
from their detractors whenever Benjani or Darius Vassell found
themselves the supposed spearhead of a blunt attack, when a
creaking Dietmar Hamann or a labouring Gelson Fernandes was handed
a pivotal role in an overpowered midfield or when Richard Dunne was
at his blundering worst in an error-prone defence. Wealth provided
City, no strangers to embarrassment, with new indignities.
All that should change. City being City, it was perhaps apt that
the moment to start taking them seriously came on Saturday, around
the time they were being beaten by Orlando Pirates. It was another
reminder that this is a club where achievement and ignominy can go
hand in hand. Yet more significant than the pre-season setback in
South Africa was the signing of Emmanuel Adebayor. The arrival of
the giant Togolese, subject of interest from AC Milan in the recent
past, represents something of a coup. More significantly, it
completed a grand slam of sorts at Eastlands.
It means that each of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester
United now have first-hand experience of City's new-found power.
Chelsea were gazumped for Robinho on transfer deadline day in
September; Liverpool, to Rafa Benitez's evident displeasure,
discovered that their long-term target Gareth Barry had opted to
sign for City rather than waiting for a possible move to Anfield;
Manchester United belatedly concluded they were willing to spend
£25m on Carlos Tevez, only for the Argentine to opt for their
neighbours instead; Arsenal, at least, acquiesced in the transfer
of Adebayor, though as the most fallible of English football's
ruling quartet, they appear to have the most to lose if City can
convert pounds into points.
If Adebayor proved as awkward to team-mates as he was to
opposing defenders, his sale nonetheless involves an element of
risk. City's new No. 25 scored 46 goals in his final two seasons in
North London. His addition shows City's recruitment drive has a
dual impact, strengthening them and weakening potential rivals in
the process.
Aston Villa finished four places ahead of City last season, but
their midfield fulcrum, Barry, has swapped the Midlands for
Manchester. Everton, fifth to City's 10th, are displaying the sort
of defiance that David Moyes' side frequently show as they seek to
prevent Joleon Lescott joining him in Mark Hughes' side. West Ham
lost Craig Bellamy in January.
But given the objectives involved in such hefty expenditure,
there is greater intrigue in a possible change in the balance of
power with the established top four. It is a reason why the
squabble for John Terry's services is more than simply a search for
a central defender. The battle of the nouveau riche can leave some
disenchanted with both clubs, plus a multi-millionaire footballer
who stands to become still wealthier, but it is a sign of City's
growing stature.
Their desire for an injury-prone player can be questioned, but
the ridicule has ceased. Bidding for Kaka merely proved City had a
surfeit of money. Now ambition has been blended with realism.
Unlike the surreal conclusion to the transfer window last summer,
when City's haphazard attempts to sign a star were coupled with
Robinho's desperation to leave Real Madrid, now there is a sense
that targets have been identified and pursued with a purpose.
Forwards have been secured - some would say too many - leaving
Hughes to focus on the defence. With Dunne enduring his annus
horribilis last season, it represented City's soft underbelly and a
principal cause of City's defeats to less fancied opposition. Yet
with a new partnership at the heart of the back four, the solidity
Hughes clearly covets could give them a platform to attack.
Amid the debate about how the many strikers can be accommodated,
the statistics alone suggest they should be prolific. Adebayor's
best haul in a Premier League season is 24, Roque Santa Cruz's 19,
Tevez and Robinho have both mustered 14 and Bellamy 13. With a
combined cost of around £110m, they have not come cheap, but while
there is an inevitability about City often having to pay a premium,
Sir Alex Ferguson's verdict that Tevez was overpriced does not rank
among his more convincing criticisms, given that he was willing to
pay the same fee.
It has caught the eye of Ferguson, among others, that City now
possess 10 strikers. Yet the squad has been pruned and presumably
will continue to be; without last season's interminable Uefa Cup
campaign, a more select core of players should suffice for the
majority of the season.
It is telling that such players have spurned ostensibly more
successful sides. It helps, of course, that the remuneration
packages at the City of Manchester Stadium are attractive (and it
can't have hindered City's cause when they made Chelsea's
second-choice left-back, Wayne Bridge, the best paid full-back in
the world in January).
But even as City continue to pursue Terry and Lescott, the
summer amounts to a demonstration of substance. Credibility is not
a word that tends to be associated with them but the cumulative
effect of their signings might be that, while Real Madrid attempt
to reclaim their reputation as the wealthiest club around, City
shed the still more unwanted tag of a joke side.
