Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City’s £120m outlay on full backs was necessary in the current transfer market.
Defenders Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo have all arrived for hefty sums, alongside the purchases of goalkeeper Ederson and midfielder Bernardo Silva to take City’s overall expenditure to beyond £200m this summer.
Former Barcelona coach Guardiola defended his transfer activity at the Etihad, though, and believes other clubs will top their total before the window closes.
“I could not imagine years ago, even two or three years ago, paying £100m or £120m for one player, now it has happened and will happen more,” Guardiola said ahead of facing Real Madrid in a pre-season friendly on Thursday.
“It’s a lot. I would like to pay less for the club, for everybody but the market is the market. Manchester City didn’t invest in full backs in the last six-seven years. We decided we had to make the squad younger and we tried to keep the best full backs.
“All the clubs spend a lot of money, not just us. You will see until the 31st (of August), the amount of transfers coming, so we will see 70, 80, 90, 100 (million) – more than that. Maybe one day it will stop.”
City lost out on the signing of another full back, Dani Alves, to Paris Saint-Germain despite Guardiola having previously worked with the player at Barcelona.
Alves left Juventus for the Ligue 1 champions on a free transfer, but Guardiola said the club had to resort to more expensive options once the Brazilian right-back made up his mind.
“Dani was free but he decided to go to Paris,” said Guardiola. “With Kyle, Danilo and Mendy, they’re the best options we had. After that, the relations on the transfers, I am not involved in that.”
