Man City's transfer disasters before takeover glory – £42m wasted to player now in prison
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Manchester City might be the kings of English football these days, but even the best can slip up. From raising eyebrows over the sale of Cole Palmer to questions about losing Julian Alvarez, not every decision made has been a hit. Those particular exits will likely grate with City fans, who are experiencing a traumatic period of nine defeats in their last 13 matches in all competitions.
While many of their signings have inspired their dominance over the last 10 or 15 years, there have certainly been many duds - including huge money spent on a player who ended up in prison. Mirror Football takes you through nine of the worst signings of the Sheikh Mansour era, proving that even a club with endless cash can make a few howlers in the transfer department.
Signed in 2008 on a free transfer from FC Nurnberg, Glauber Berti's time at Manchester City was so quiet he became a cult hero. Dubbed "The Invisible Man" by fans, Berti made a grand total of one appearance for the club. His sole contribution came in a five-minute cameo on the final day of the 2008–09 season. Fans cheered his every touch, enjoying the novelty of his presence, but that brief moment on the pitch summed up a signing that offered zero value on the field. By the summer of 2009, he was released, leaving behind nothing but the memory of a bizarre footnote in City's history.
City splashed £5.75m on Valeri Bojinov in 2007, hoping the Bulgarian striker would deliver the goods. Unfortunately, his time at the club was derailed by injuries almost immediately. A serious cruciate ligament injury in his debut season sidelined him for nearly a year, and when he returned, another setback followed.
