Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola warns the free-spending ways of clubs in the transfer market is “unsustainable”.
City are among the sides that have spent the most this summer, shelling out over €200m on five new players, but Guardiola made it clear such lavish activity was a one-off.
“I think it is unsustainable,” the former Barcelona Coach said at a Press conference.
“Sooner or later it’s going to finish. It started with Real Madrid and [Cristiano] Ronaldo going for £80m and then [Gareth] Bale for £85m.
“Everything went more expensive. Now with Neymar. But it is going to finish. We did it earlier and we are lucky because it would be more expensive now in the last weeks.
“The club was clever like that because we anticipated what we needed after last season and we will try to do our best.
“In the last six or seven years City didn’t buy full backs. We didn’t have full backs and you have to buy full backs. We bought three and the market is so demanding for all the teams, not just City.
“We needed to do that because it was one of the oldest teams in Europe. We were not able to find a solution with those players.
“The difference [this year] is the quality of the players. Hopefully next season I will be here and we are not going to spend how we spent this season.
“In the next three or four years City will buy one, two, maybe three players. Not what happened this summer.
“When it’s not possible, it’s not possible. If the chairman or CEO come and say it’s not possible then we work with the academy players, players we’ve had in the past.
“When you go to Germany, Spain or Italy to buy, it is £10-£15m more expensive. But if you go to England it’s £20-£25m more expensive.
“If it doesn’t work, it’s my responsibility. But we’ll do our best. We are here to win the games and titles. I’m honest in my job.
“Last season we were [favourites] too and we finished 15 points behind. Last season in my first press conference we were the favourites so nothing has changed.”
