Manchester City: Not Worried About United

With the transfer window well under way, many Manchester City fans are casting worried glances towards rivals United. We discuss why such concern isn’t necessary.

Rewind ten years ago or so and things were a little simpler being a Manchester City fan. Goals for the year, in order of importance, included – rewatch the City comeback against Spurs in the FA Cup as many times as possible till the VCR overheats, sign a couple of players that used to be good for other teams, try and avoid relegation (again?) and beat United at least once. The latter was so important, you probably could find a Blue keen enough to accept a relegation zone’d City which was always thumping their out-of-town neighbours.

Well, here we are in 2016, and we are still watching the comeback at Spurs, or at least I am, but our priorities have otherwise changed entirely and change seemingly by the season. Win games! OK, how about some trophies? Some good trophies? Well then, the Premier League if you please, just once is fine. Scratch that, win it every year. What’s going on in that European competition we all hate?

More from Man City Editorials

It’s understandable that as things have progressed on the pitch, the imagination of the club has increased to fill the void. Symbolic of that was the installation of Pep Guardiola as manager, arguably the greatest coach in the game today and a very big statement of intent from Manchester City ownership about where the club must be. City should be a force in world football, a global brand associated with playing at the highest level and winning. In short, we aren’t a small club any longer.

Yet many of our own still carry the small mentality. What’s the biggest talk of the off-season? Not the incoming signings hand-picked by Pep. Not the development opportunities for our academy talent. Not even the hideous new kits. It’s concern over what’s going with United.

I find the whole thing, frankly, to be remarkable. The situation is so far removed from ten years, or so, ago that the shoe is on entirely the other foot these days. Don’t believe me? Consider United sacking Louis Van Gaal, days after he won the FA Cup, to bring in Jose Mourinho. This too was a statement, but a different one, one of reaction and panic.

Mourinho brings success, but not like Pep. Short term success in a “win now, consequences later” style. With United failing to garner Champions League football for this season, a title within the next two years, three at most, is all but essential as they try to re-establish themselves. But Jose promises, and delivers, no more than that.

All that being said, even a single year of United pipping City to the post would be disastrous in the estimations of many, myself included. I just simply don’t see it happening. Arguably, Pep is a better manager than Mourinho, but at the end of the day you could make a case their strengths in the short term likely cancel each other out. What you’re left with, then, are the players.

For all of Manchester City’s underwhelming performances last year, compounded by the club’s announcement of the departure of the manager mid-way through the campaign, United were actually worse. Several aging or otherwise underperforming superstars, see Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata and more, padded the lineup and have left Mourinho with several holes to fill.

A cursory glance at their current transfer window does little to suggest Jose has completed the task, either. Their signings this summer started with bringing in Ivorian defender Eric Bailly from Villareal for an eye-watering fee north of £30million. Honestly, I’m not sure I even need to say this but, who is Eric Bailly? I couldn’t find any evidence of any other clubs interested in the signing, but not for lack of thirst for defenders this year.

Bailly seems to be a fairly average central defender on the whole. Mind you, of his stats for Villareal, not a single one stood out for any positive reason. His pass rate percentage of 76.9% is actually quite bad for a defender. He was yellow carded 9 times and saw red once in 25 La Liga games, which is somewhat foul-happy. This is backed up by an average 1.5 fouls committed per game, compared to only 1.8 clean tackles per game. Overall, a space filler, but for £30million plus? I don’t know.

Then you’ve got Zlatan Ibrahimovic. We all know the legendary Swedish striker by now, I’m sure he probably has a few autobiographies if you’re interested, but suffice it to say that this is as much a Mourinho signing as can be imagined. One year of Zlatan, a guy who at 34 years old still managed 38 goals in 29 Ligue 1 games for PSG last year, is putting your eggs in one basket. Win now or go home.

Zlatan, despite now playing in a far more competitive league with a team arguably less built around him, will bring goals, perhaps many goals. But he brings more with him than that too. His stadium-sized ego will undoubtedly cause much consternation in the dressing room and a confrontation with Mourinho seems inevitable. Nonetheless, if the Euros are anything to go by, or even Manchester City’s meetings with PSG in the Champions League last year, Zlatan is far from the game changer United need.

Finally, Henrikh Mkhitaryan was signed for around £26million from Borussia Dortmund. Mkhitaryan is a pretty good signing on the face of it, enjoying his first breakout year last season with 11 goals and 15 assists in 28 appearances in the Bundesliga. His previous two seasons, however, had been less impressive with only 3 goals and 4 assists in 21 games in 2014/2015. He could go either way.

Next: Manchester City Transfers/Rumours

A look at the above and I don’t see why anyone is scared. Even if United did go, cap in hand, knocking at Paul Pogba’s door to the tune of £100 million for a player they had in their Academy, it makes no difference. There’s still too many holes, too many underperforming and overpaid players, too many question marks over the future. Manchester City have a stronger squad, a more promising youth team and Pep Guardiola. Now what are we all worried about?