Show me the money! Manchester City will trot out a £321.85 million squad on Saturday. Their opponents, Manchester United will be up the ante to £350.55 million. Yes, those are the two combined transfer fees of the two clubs set for a good old fashioned top of the table clash.
Money talks, and it performs too, as the two Manchester derby clubs are tied for first place (we know it’s still very very early), with each club having taken all three points from all three matches thus far.
https://twitter.com/mr_fadiya/status/773448578035507200
Is Manchester Red or Blue? It’s truly whatever the color of the specific currency you’re using. When the two teams take the field Saturday afternoon, it will be two clubs that boast over £670 in transfer fees. All summer long, you’ve heard prominent managers such as Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp, among many others, refer to the market as crazy.
Just how crazy?
FanSided on the FOX network broke it down for us:
Mourinho broke the transfer record this summer by signing Paul Pogba, who returned to United for £89m. He also signed Eric Bailly (£30m), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£26m) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In addition, they also have Anthony Martial (£57m), Luke Shaw (£28m), Marouane Fellaini (£27.5m), Juan Mata (£37m) and Wayne Rooney (£27m), all of whom cost over £25m each.
While Pep Guardiola signed John Stones (£50m), who became the world’s most expensive defender at £50m, winger Nolito (£14m), Leroy Sane (£37m), Ilkay Gundogan and Claudio Bravo (£17m). City can also count on Raheem Sterling (£49m), Kevin de Bruyne (£54.5m), Nicolás Otamendi (£33m) and Fernandinho (£30m), who have been some of their expensive additions over the past few years.
Does money buy a league title? We’ll see. The Manchester derby game, both of which, could provide a good litmus test.
In the words of comedian Daniel Tosh “they say money doesn’t buy happiness. Yeah, but it buys a wave-runner.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.