Under Guardiola, the Citizens have won eleven trophies and have also reached a Champions League final, while this season they are well on-track for a fourth Premier League title under the Spaniard.
The Citizens have also been consistently one of the biggest spenders in the transfer market, with last summer Guardiola’s side forking out a huge chunk of money for Jack Grealish, who has received mixed reviews at the Etihad, and the club have also put huge investment into their backline.
Aldridge thinks that Guardiola’s success at the Etihad must be examined while keeping in mind that he gets luxuries no other manager can afford, as the Citizens’ big-money owners can bail him out no matter what.
“While Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has to balance the books in the transfer market, Guardiola can just spend, spend and spend until he gets it right”, Aldridge wrote in his Sunday World column.
“It is the dream position for any manager, but only Guardiola finds himself working with an open cheque book.
“We have seen City making so many mistakes in the transfer market in recent years, but it’s not a problem for Guardiola, as gets another £200m from the club’s owners from Abu Dhabi to try again.”
The Reds legend compared Guardiola to Klopp, reasoning the latter sometimes has to work with an operating budget that would be used by Guardiola for just buying a fringe player and he fears the Premier League could become monotonous as the Citizens run away with the title every year.
“This is money no other club in England can find and the end result is City are going to run away with the Premier League title year after year”, Aldrige added.
“Liverpool would have won another two or three titles if everyone was playing to the same rules, but you look at Klopp’s net spend since he arrived at Anfield and compare it to Guardiola’s spending at City and the gap is enormous.
“Guardiola went through the €1 billion mark for spending at City when they completed the Grealish deal last summer.
“Compare that to Klopp and his net spend over the last five years is around €30m-a-year, which is what City would pay for their third-choice left-back!”
The Citizens got into trouble with Financial Fair Play in 2020 but were able to get over the line to win their case and continue enjoying the benefits of their owners’ spending.
