PEP GUARDIOLA was in a fiery mood yesterday, as he faced the press for the first time since Manchester City’s Champions League ban was revoked.
The Spaniard, combative as ever, pulled no punches as he defended his club following criticism from Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho – even bringing other Premier League sides into the debate.
Guardiola, 49, said: “Listen – a lot of clubs invested. [Manchester] United, Arsenal – in periods before winning the leagues – invested more money than the other ones. When Chelsea started to win Premier Leagues, they invested more money than the other ones.
“I’m a good manager but I don’t win titles if I don’t have good players and good players are expensive. All the clubs spend a lot of money: Barcelona spend a lot of money, Madrid spend a lot of money, English teams spend a lot of money.
“If we build the club, in terms of the last decade, to compete with the elite of the Premier League or Champions League, we need to invest.”
Some Gunners fans couldn’t believe Guardiola’s audacity to bring Wenger’s spend into the mix.
One sarcastically wrote: “Ah yes, 1990 when Arsene Wenger spent £800m in four years”.
While another joked: “Wenger was out here bargain hunting in the streets of Marseille/Monaco for Pep to act like he was sanctioning big money deals streets are cold bruh”.
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While obviously inflation has to be taken into account, Guardiola appears to hardly have a leg to stand on when it comes to comparing City’s situation to Arsenal’s under Wenger.
The Gunners’ net expenditure over the Frenchman’s first two seasons was just £8.5m.
Meanwhile, Guardiola spent around six times this figure on John Stones alone in his first campaign at the Etihad.
In fact, according to Transfermarkt, Guardiola has spent £703m in four years – only £157m behind Wenger’s total in 18 more seasons.
Wenger’s total net spend stood at around £260m, while Guardiola’s is £569m and likely to rise higher still.
City last summer spent £58m on backup full-back Joao Cancelo
On average, Wenger spent £39m per season, compared to Guardiola’s £142m.
And again, owing for inflation, Wenger spent just £8.7m per player on average, compared to Guardiola’s £22.6m at City.
Fittingly, Wenger’s record signing was his last, when he spent £57m on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January 2018.
City have spent more than £40m on a player nine times in Guardiola’s tenure – while Wenger did it just four times in 22 years.
Wenger spent £57m on his final signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Guardiola’s record-buy is £63m-man Rodri – while £58m was spent last summer on backup full-back Joao Cancelo.
City’s spending has seen them hoover up domestic silverware of late – having won eight trophies with Guardiola at the helm.
But even in their 100-point record-smashing campaign two years ago, they failed to match Arsenal’s “Invincibles” triumph under Wenger from 2004.
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By: Etienne Fermie
Title: Guardiola blast that Wenger spent a lot of money sends Arsenal fans into meltdown… but how do transfer deals compare?
Sourced From: www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/12131119/guardiola-wenger-spend-arsenal-meltdown/
Published Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2020 14:08:50 +0000