Pep Guardiola responds to Man City's financial fears ahead of Champions League decider
Pep Guardiola responds to Man City's financial fears ahead of Champions League decider
Share:
Pep Guardiola insists he has made too much money for Manchester City to panic about the financial consequences of Champions League humiliation. For the City boss, the must-win clash with Club Brugge at the Etihad, is about kudos rather than cash. Failure to beat the Belgians would see the four-in-a-row Premier League champions dumped out in the group stages and cost the club a minimum of around £10million after budgeting to at least make the last 16.
But the bottom line for Guardiola is about rescuing City’s floundering season after suffering the biggest crisis of his managerial career over the last three months. Guardiola said: “I don't know about the finances. I didn't speak with my CEO about that.
“In the last two, three or four years we have always made money in the transfer windows and they always say that the budget is positive. Of course, I'm not naive enough to not know how important it is financially for the club to go through in this competition.
“We want to try to go through - but especially for sporting reasons. Like I have said many times recently, for five or six years, the net spend has been amazing at this club.”. City have been the only Premier League club to flex their financial muscles during the current transfer window, investing more than £130million to bring in Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Juma Bah.
The quartet are ineligible for the clash against a Brugge side that is unbeaten in 20 matches. The Belgians need just a draw to reach the play-offs and could even sneak into the top eight to claim an automatic place in the last 16 if they win and other results go their way.
