Breaking down Pep Guardiola's £425 million defence at Manchester City
With the arrival of Portuguese centre-back Ruben Dias from Benfica, Manchester City-boss Pep Guardiola has taken his spending on defenders to an astronomical sum of £425.8 million.
The £65m priced recruit is the second high-profile defender to arrive at the Etihad this summer, after the £41m acquisition of Nathan Ake from Bournemouth. His arrival comes after a humbling 5-2 Premier League defeat to Leicester City. It was the first time a Pep Guardiola coached team has conceded five goals and it was also the first time in two decades where the Cityzens has conceded five goals.
The Catalan manager succeeded an ageing defence when he took over the blue-half of Manchester involving the likes of then-captain Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala, Martin Demichelis. Jason Denayer, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, and Gael Clichy.
The task on his hands was rebuilding City's back-line. Four years on, he's still making new additions. The club as a whole has been striving for acquiring effective and consistent defenders since the start of the Sheikh Mansour era. Only Vincent Kompany stood the test of the time, and his departure in 2019 has left a huge void.
With Ruben Dias being officially unveiled, here we break down Manchester City's £425.8 million defensive spending spree under Pep Guardiola:
Oleksandr Zinchenko (£1.7m)
Initially brought in as a midfielder, Pep has used him more at the back when the likes of Angelino and Mendy were absent. The versatile Ukrainian has excelled at left-back and has grown into an important squad player for City. His 68 outings across three campaigns have fetched eight major trophies. With a £1.7 million price tag, the 23-year-old has been a decent success.
John Stones (£47.5m)
The highly-rated John Stones was Guardiola's final signing of the 2016 transfer window for Manchester City. The doe-eyed lynchpin of the Everton defence became the second most expensive defender of all-time in the process. Stones rarely gets into the match-day squad these days and has blown hot and cold during his four years at Etihad. The lanky centre-half possesses all the qualities to be a top-class defender but sadly, his stock has fallen considerably due to his high-profile mistakes and errors, for both club and country.
The overpriced Englishman has had his fair share of injuries and has fallen further down the pecking order with Nathan Ake's arrival. With age on his side, he could still be the player he was once touted to be and eventually justify his price-tag.