Former Manchester City midfielder Dietmar Hamman claims that his old club will not be able to buy their way to the Premier League title unless they realise a team, instead of stars, is needed to do so.
The MK Dons player coach claims that City are not spending their money with careful thought and have resorted to going for every big name star instead of considering what kind of player would improve their team on a whole. The former Germany international also believed that unless the club start to see the error of their ways, City could even struggle to finish above the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur this time, much less challenge Manchester United and Chelsea for the Premier League title.
City have come close to the £100 million mark in summer spending after bringing in the likes of Jerome Boateng, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Aleksandar Kolarov, with Mario Balotelli appearing to be the next multi-million pound signing to walk through the Citizen gates in the coming weeks. Hamann claims that the constant chopping and changing every summer would not bring the consistency that City needs to succeed in the Premier League.
“I really don’t agree with what City are doing,” Hamann said to the Sun.
“They change 10 to 15 players every year and if they keep doing that they are going nowhere.
“City have got bundles to spend on new players but you have to buy wisely and I’m not sure they’ve done that.
“They missed a massive trick when they let a player of Richard Dunne’s stature leave last year. He’s still better than all the centre-halves they’ve got yet they paid five or 10 times more money for the others.”
Dunne was flogged to Aston Villa last summer and went on to record a successful debut season at Villa Park, but City’s expensive replacements in Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott did not provide the same solidity at the back despite carrying a combined price tag of £38 million. Lescott was even replaced by defensive midfielder Vincent Kompany towards the end of last season when Mancini deemed him too much of a liability.
“I know the fans love to see their team making all these signings but big names don’t win you titles if you haven’t got a team.” Hamman added.
“If you look at the side which is likely to start the season against Tottenham, their longest-serving player will probably have been at the club for two years.I don’t see them as title contenders. If they keep doing what they’re doing at the moment, I can’t see how they can challenge Manchester United or Chelsea.
“The top four should be a formality for them after all the money they’ve spent but I’m not sure it will be.
“They should have qualified for the Champions League last season but didn’t manage it and there’s every chance they’ll miss out again this time.
“They are up against United, Chelsea and Arsenal but Liverpool will be stronger than they were. Spurs are right up there now and so will Everton if they get a better start than they did last time.”
Tags: Dietmar Hamann, English Premier League, Manchester City, Milton Keynes Dons, transfer news
