Roberto Mancini must deliver NOW, says Steven Howard
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Roberto Mancini must deliver NOW, says Steven Howard
NO EXCUSES ... City boss Mancini has to battle for the titleROBERTO MANCINI caused a few lower jaws to hit the deck in Los Angeles last week.
It was the moment the Manchester City boss said: "Right now, we aren't ready to compete for the title."
He then added: "Maybe in two weeks we will be."
Well, there can be no excuses now. If City are not ready to contest the title after their latest bit of transfer business then they never will be.
On Wednesday their transfer outlay in the Sheikh Mansour era headed towards the £400million mark when they splashed a club record £38m on Atletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero.
The Argentine international became the TENTH player on whom City have spent more than £20m - EIGHT of them signed by Mancini in the greatest spending spree in history.
The others are Joleon Lescott (£24m), Alexsandar Kolarov (£20m), James Milner (£24m), David Silva (£26m), Yaya Toure (£24m), Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m), Mario Balotelli (£24.5m), Edin Dzeko (£27m) and Carlos Tevez (£25m).
This is not an anti-City rant. This is just a relaying of the facts.
In comparison, Manchester United have just three players costing £20m-plus - Dimitar Berbatov (£30m), Wayne Rooney (£30m) and, way back in 2002, Rio Ferdinand (£29m).
Chelsea have four - Fernando Torres (£50m), Didier Drogba (£24m), Michael Essien (£24m) and David Luiz (£21m).
Arsenal, the last of the Champions League qualifiers, have... NONE.
On the Continent, Champions League winners Barcelona have four - David Villa (£38m), Alexis Sanchez (£33m), Dani Alves (£23.5m) and Javier Mascherano (£22m).
In fact, the closest any club comes to City are Real Madrid with six - Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m), Kaka (£55m), Karim Benzema (£32m), Xabi Alonso (£28m), Angel di Maria (£21m) and Lassana Diarra (£20m).
What does it all mean?
Well, for one, Mancini can hardly get away with a statement like: "Teams like Manchester United and Chelsea don't need to buy six players - they only need two or three.
"Maybe next summer we will only need two or three."
If any team does need a clear-out then it probably IS Chelsea. While City can hardly fit any more signings into their squad.
Second, if I was a Manchester City fan I would be seriously upset if they DIDN'T so much challenge for the title as win it.
Apologies for repeating myself but Jose Mourinho won Chelsea's first championship in 50 years in his debut season at Stamford Bridge.
He then repeated the feat 12 months later.
City fans point out that Chelsea were far closer to the finished article when Mourinho arrived than was the case when Mancini pitched up at, well, whatever they call their stadium these days.
So Mancini has had his bedding-in time.
Yes, he ended 35 years of pain when City won the FA Cup last season (then, again, Portsmouth won it in 2008).
And City fans, who have endured so much for so long in United's shadow, are more than happy to be breaking the barriers down one by one, season by season.
But now the time has arrived.
With or without Tevez they will be expected to make a serious challenge this season.
If they don't, something will be seriously wrong.
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Roberto Mancini says he needs two more players to compete at top level
..ROBERTO MANCINI is tipping Sergio Aguero to push Manchester City closer to the title but insists he still needs TWO more players to win it.
City's boss said: "Sergio is another striker, a young one. We need a player like him and he can make a difference.
"But if we want to compete with all the other top teams at home and in the Champions League, we will need other players.
"We are working on this. We need someone in the middle and the right wing. One midfielder and one winger."
Argentinian Aguero will cost the FA Cup winners around £38million.
But those new signings Mancini still wants could add another £40m to the bill, with £23m-rated Arsenal star Samir Nasri his next target to fill that midfield role.
If Inter Milan opt to swoop for City skipper Carlos Tevez at around £50m, Mancini could even consider a swap involving Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o if the cash adjustment was right.
With both City and Inter staying at the same Dublin hotel this weekend, a deal could be cooked up.
Mancini added: "Carlos will remain a full part of the squad. He comes back from holiday next week. I don't know about a deal with Inter."