Pep Guardiola looking concerned alongside Khaldoon Al Mubarak with his hand on his chin
(Credit: Imago)
James Murray
Mon 2 February 2026 15:03, UK
Manchester City have invested heavily in their squad over the past year as part of Pep Guardiola’s rebuild.
Man City spent around £200million on new signings in January 2025, with Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Nico Gonzalez and Claudio Echeverri moving to the Etihad Stadium.
That was backed up by another spending spree last summer, with around £180m worth of additions arriving through the door.
Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Gianluigi Donnarumma, James Trafford, Sverre Nypan and Marcus Bettinelli joined Guardiola’s side.
FIFA’s Global Transfer Report has now revealed Man City spent the most money on international transfers across European clubs in 2025.
However, the analysis only takes into account transfers between clubs from different nations, meaning Liverpool’s record-breaking £125m signing of Alexander Isak from Newcastle United isn’t included.
Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium
Credit: Imago
Why Man City made transfer error after heavy spending spree
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Man City’s heavy spending has come after Etihad chiefs didn’t foresee issues their ageing squad would face.
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Man City have been crippled by injuries at various points over the past year, forcing Guardiola to work with a larger squad than he would like.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Man City’s spending, Borson said: “I think it’s simply that they’ve completely rebuilt the squad. There’s just been so many signings.
“I think they have gone through a period where they probably with hindsight should have spent more and should have sort of done a bit more planning. For some reason, I think they went overly conservative.
Man City
Credit: Getty Images
“Amazingly, given all the people that are involved in the process, they almost didn’t foresee that there would be this bottleneck of number of games, older players, and of course things like the Club World Cup, Euros and these sorts of things.”
Why Man City have ramped up transfer spending
Borson suggested Man City chiefs have been caught in a “panic” following their efforts to revamp the squad over the past year.
“I think the squad just got a little bit too old, and a little bit too injury prone as a whole,” said Borson.
“Obviously, they had to panic a little bit last January, and it’s continued since really, so it’s not a surprise that they’ve gone from a very cautious period where they probably slightly underinvested to a period where they needed to rebuild the squad and the age profile of the squad materially.
Pep Guardiola looking sad for Man City
Credit: Imago
“Obviously, the spending follows that. I don’t think any of it is a big surprise to anybody.”
Man City have signed Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi in the January transfer window, with those deals setting the club back more than £80m.
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