One big club, not historically as yet, but with loads of quality footballers – in the playing 11 as well as on the bench – and money from the Gulf to spend like no other club can ever dream of… no doubt, we are talking about English revolution makers from Eastlands – Manchester City.
The rise and rise of Manchester City
City will now look to reach new heights this season as they will contest with top European clubs in the UEFA Champions League this time, after finishing strongly on the third spot at the end of last season.
Manchester City’s rise began with the club’s takeover by billionaire Sheikh Mansour. Though the Arab did not fully open his wallet for the first six months, City’s first season under his ownership started with the big money moves of players like Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure and some others from the other clubs in the Premier League. Soon, midfielders Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, David Silva and James Milner were added to the starting line-up.
The owner’s influence was good enough to remove the rather ineffective Mark Hughes from the manager’s post and land experienced ex-Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini. City, with their money power, were able to forcefully call back Joe Hart from Birmingham when needed, while they also got players like Alexander Kolarov and Eden Dzeko to add more depth and quality to their line-up as experienced goalkeeper Shay Given was left on the bench.
Well, all that was not enough, and the Eastlands side have landed Gael Clichy from Arsenal and Argentina’s sensational forward Sergio Kun Aguero, who showed his class in the first 30 min he played for City in the EPL opener against Swansea City as he netted two goals in the 4-0 win. Just a day ago, Mancini turned out to be victorious in getting Samir Nasri from Arsenal, thus adding to Arsene Wenger’s problems with Cesc Fabregas having already left for Barcelona.
And finally, it looks as if the club has convinced Captain Carlos Tevez to stay back, who failed in his attempt to return back to his youth club Corinthians, as an agreement was not reached over the transfer fee. That means Vincent Kompany, the most regular player for City in the past season, will have to be satisfied with the vice-captain’s role, unless and until Mancini intervenes and does something different.
In short, City looks like the perfect package you need to guarantee success. It will be very exciting to see if City can prove wrong the old famous statement associated with Real Madrid’s Galactiocs – “Money can’t buy you success.”
Tags: Carlos Tevez, Eastlands, Emmanuel Adebayor, EPL, Football, Kolo Toure, Manchester City, Premier League, Sheikh Mansour, UEFA Champions League
