Say what you will about Manchester City, but they certainly aren’t shy.
Splashing money around this summer like it’s going out of style — or indeed like Real Madrid — City is making a bold statement in the final month before the 2009-2010 Premier League campaign. So far the Abu Dhabi Group, the people bankrolling the whole affair, has spent close to $150 million to rebuild their first team and are hoping to loosen the Big Four’s stranglehold on the top of the table.
Their latest move came this week when they signed Arsenal and Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor for nearly $40 million. Add to that their early acquisitions of Carlos Tevez from Manchester United and and Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz and, out of the blue, there’s a whole new strike force.
And behind those three, City manager Mark Hughes will have Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry at his disposal. All this following his shopping during the January transfer window, which brought Robinho, Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, and Shay Given to the club.
Now if all those players gel, City could be dangerous. They seem to have the right blend of Premier League experience and top-level talent. But lost in the cash-happy frenzy are a whole host of questions whose answers could come back to haunt them.
Is Mark Hughes the man for the job?
Hughes has made a coaching career of working modest wonders with even more modest talent. In 2004, he took the Welsh national team to the bring of qualification for the European Championships — it was his first managerial position. And then at Blackburn, he first staved off relegation and made an F.A. Cup semi-final in his first season.
His next year was a rousing success by any measure when Blackburn finished in the top six in the Premier League, ensuring a place in the UEFA Cup. The 2006-2007 campaign was more disappointing as Rovers finished 10th and they only improved slightly to seventh in 2007-2008.
Still, it was enough for Manchester City to offer him a job with big ambitions behind it.
Now it remains to be seen whether or not he can manage a group of egos for the first time in his career. He certainly played in one in the early nineties at Manchester United, but can he keep everyone happy, particularly if results start going against him?
And of course there is the age-old chicken-or-the-egg question of how do you break into the top four if you haven’t broken into the top four before? Just ask Martin O’Neill. Both managers have similar pedigrees in England — though O’Neill was extremely successful in Scotland. And O’Neill had Aston Villa in fourth place ahead of Arsenal for most of last year until a late-season wilt. Can Hughes do him one better with an arguably better squad?
What about defenders?
For all their spending on big names, one section of the Manchester City squad still looks rather bare. Sure they have a classy set of attacking players, but their back four still includes the likes of Richard Dunne. They added Wayne Bridge in January, but it might take another big acquisition to make the whole side into a legitimate threat. The solution may be John Terry.
City has thrown astronomical sums of money at him, even though it seems Terry is leaning toward staying at Chelsea. Still, according to the BBC, Hughes has not given up the ghost and he believes Terry could be a City player yet.
Without him, or at least a defender of his caliber, any run at the top four could be quickly hamstrung.
Can you buy success?
The question was asked of Real Madrid earlier in the summer and now it must be asked of City. The good news for City is that in the Premier League’s recent history, the answer can be yes.
Chelsea stands out as the prime example. Within two years of Roman Abramovich’s sinking hundreds of millions of pounds into players, the Blues had a league title. (Of course, they also had the brilliant manager Jose Mourinho.) But for every Chelsea, there also seems to be a Liverpool, who have routinely made marquee signings, only to fall short year after year.
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