As we all know, Manchester City were fined by UEFA this summer for breach of their newly implemented ‘FairPlay’ regulations.
Punishment included a £49m fine, a reduction in their Champions League squad, from 25 to 21, and a cap on wages, which must not exceed those of last season.
After fast-tracking their way to success over the last 5 years you could easily argue that City have at least brought themselves level, in terms of squad quality, with most of Europe’s elite.
But, moving forward, they must try to spend less than they earn in revenue and sponsorships. Manchester City is, of course, a huge club with big turnover. But, moving forward, they will clearly have to tread carefully.
Reports over the last 24 hours suggest that they could be interested in bringing superstar striker Radamel Falcao, affectionately known to many as ‘El Tigre‘, to the club this summer. The Express reports:
It was thought that Falcao was on the brink of returning to Madrid – where he played previously for Atletico – to join Real.
But it now seems those negotiations have hit a snag and reports in France suggest that City are looking to capitalise.
Manchester City could undoubtedly improve their squad with such a player. The 28 year old has been devastating in front of goal for most of his career, with 199 goals in his 302 career club games – a great scoring ratio by any standards.
But he would cost a fortune in fees and wages and, with those FairPlay sanctions kicking in, you would imagine that City would have to have a serious cull of playing staff in order to balance the books on this one.
Sergio Aguero is, and will continue to be, a superb player for Manchester City. But every other striker in the squad arguably has a price. Edin Dzeko has proven to be a regular goal scorer. But he, along with Negredo and Jovetic, have been the subject of speculation over the last year.
City would want four squad strikers up top so they could only afford to get rid of one of the above, unless they recruited a young hopeful for peanuts, or promoted from within.
But they could also offload players like Rodwell, Javi Garcia and Micah Richards, along with a raft of other peripheral squad stars.
So perhaps a deal could be in the offing for this explosive talent after all.
Let’s see him in action. Manchester City fans: feasible acquisition?
