In a surprising twist to the ongoing debate about Manchester City’s financial strategies, Stefan Borson has openly challenged Pep Guardiola’s perspective on the club’s spending habits, which he described as somewhat simplistic.
Manchester City has made significant investments in reshaping their squad at the Etihad Stadium over the past year. According to FIFA’s Global Transfer Report, it was revealed that Man City topped the list of European clubs for expenditure on international transfers in 2025. Among their notable acquisitions were Antoine Semenyo, who joined from Bournemouth for a hefty £64 million, and Marc Guehi, whose transfer from Crystal Palace cost the club £20 million during the January transfer window.
During a recent press conference, Guardiola expressed his disappointment regarding the club’s net spending over the last five years, stating, "I am a little bit sad and upset because in net spend the last five years we are seventh in the Premier League. I want to be the first; I don’t understand why the club doesn’t spend more money. I am a little bit grumpy with them."
In a conversation with Football Insider, former financial adviser to Man City, Stefan Borson, provided an alternative viewpoint on Guardiola’s comments about net spending. He remarked, "Well, Pep’s being sarcastic, but net spend is not the way to look at it anyway. You can argue it from many angles, but there’s no question City have spent a fortune.
Borson further explained that it's misleading to say that City hasn’t been among the top spenders in football, emphasizing that net spend is a rather crude metric. He pointed out that how one interprets net spend largely depends on the squad's composition at the beginning of the five-year period and the assets available for sale just prior to its commencement. He stated, "Clearly, if you’ve got 15 players that you can ship out on the first day of the five-year period, then of course your net spend is going to look great. Moreover, City’s figures are inflated by youth players, many of whom have never appeared for the first team."
Borson argued that whether or not City’s academy produced players worth, say, £100 million for sale is somewhat irrelevant to the discussion of net spending.
He also advised Guardiola to disregard the ongoing chatter regarding Manchester City’s financial commitments. "I think City and Pep should be unbothered by people talking about spend, gross spend, net spend, whatever," Borson said. "If you look at all the teams at the top of the table, they’ve all invested heavily over the last few years, and they’re all in a similar financial ballpark. There are four or five clubs that are nearing £1 billion in total spend over the past few seasons, and that’s just the nature of modern football.
Borson emphasized the importance of considering wage bills alongside gross spending, as well as evaluating the overall returns generated from those investments. Since Guardiola took the helm in 2016, Manchester City has celebrated 18 trophy wins, and he is determined to add to that impressive tally this season.
As the conversation surrounding financial investments in football continues to heat up, do you agree with Borson’s insights on spending? Or do you side with Guardiola’s perspective? Let us know your thoughts!
