How Man City’s £ 428m squandering on defenders compares to their Big Six rivals …

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The signing of Ruben Dias It takes Pep Guardiola’s spending on defenders since it reached more than £ 400 million in 2016. How have been the great rivals of Manchester City? built his defenses with new signings during the same period …

Manchester City: £ 428.1 million in 11 transfers

Oleksandr Zinchenko (£ 1.7 million), John Stones (£ 50 million), Danilo (£ 27 million), Kyle Walker (£ 47.4 million), Benjamin Mendy (£ 51.75 million), Aymeric Laporte (£ 58 , 5 million), Philippe Sandler (£ 2.25m), Angelino (£ 10.8 million), Pedro Porro (£ 10.8 million), Joao Cancelo (£ 58.5 million), Yan Couto (£ 5, 4 million), Nathan Ake (£ 40 million), Ruben Dias (£ 64 million).

Zinchenko was bought as a midfielder, but Guardiola has used him more at the back when players like Mendy and Angelino have been injured or disabled. Guardiola considered doing the opposite for the Stones amid error-ridden seasons for the England star, who was unable to make the team of the day as City last won the title. Mendy, Danilo and Cancelo have been very disappointing. Cancel it may still be good, but the fact The city was willing to change it six months after his arrival from Juventus says it all. Porro, Angelino and Couto have been loaned to Sporting Lisbon, RB Leipzig and Girona respectively. The hope is that Guardiola can find a working partnership between Laporte, Ake and Dias, who together cost £ 162.5 million, more than half of the Big Six’s total defensive spending since City appointed Pep.

Manchester United: £ 215 million in five transfers

Eric Bailly (£ 30 million), Victor Lindelof (£ 31 million), Diogo Dalot (£ 19 million), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£ 50 million), Harry Maguire (£ 85 million).

United have signed a center-back in all but one of the last four summer windows and anyone with eyes … eg: Gary Neville – you can see that they need another to go alongside Maguire, the world’s most expensive defender. Bailly has yet to show consistency in his fitness or form, while Lindelof simply falls short of the standard required for any team with ambitions to challenge for top honors. He looks lovely in a dress, sure. Wan-Bissaka is perhaps the best one-on-one defender, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs a lot more from him in the future. Diogo Dalot has simply disappeared after Mourinho called him ‘the best right-back in Europe in his age group’ and the Portugal defender is one of the many players United are struggling to change.

Chelsea: £ 172.9 million in eight transfers

David Luiz (£ 34 million), Marcos Alonso (£ 23 million), Antonio Rudiger (£ 29 million), Davide Zappacosta (£ 23 million), Emerson (£ 17.6 million), Ethan Ampadu (£ 1.3 million) , Ben Chilwell (£ 45 million), Thiago Silva (free)

It is too early to judge Chilwell and Thiago Silva, although The first impressions of the Brazilian veteran were not good – and Ampadu is still extremely young, but it could be argued that Chelsea has had a succession of defensive failures since 2016. Frank Lampard is certainly not impressed. They shot David Luiz; broke into Alonso last weekend in the midst of doubts the Spaniard will return to play at Chelsea; Emerson was leaving before Alonso’s row; and the manager clearly doesn’t like Rudiger, even if Tottenham does.

Tottenham: £ 111.7 million in five transfers

Juan Foyth (£ 7 million), Serge Aurier (£ 23 million), Davinson Sanchez (£ 42 million), Matt Doherty (£ 14.7 million), Sergio Reguilon (£ 25 million)

The Spurs squandered on three defenders in 2017, but none of Foyth, Aurier or Sánchez have been able to show they are worthy of a regular spot in José Mourinho’s defense. Indeed, Mourinho has spent nearly £ 40m on a pair of new full-backs, while the Spurs boss also intends updating Eric Dier signing another central in the coming days, with another Sanchez-sized payout required to sign Milan Skriniar from Inter.

Arsenal: £ 105.5m in 10 transfers

Sead Kolasinac (free), Konstantinos Mavropanos (£ 1.9 million), Stephan Lichtsteiner (free), Sokratis (£ 17.6 million), Kieran Tierney (£ 25 million), David Luiz (£ 8 million), William Saliba ( £ 27 million), Cedric Soares (£ 5 million), Pablo Mari (£ 14 million), Gabriel Maghalhaes (£ 27 million)

Arsenal have tried to be smart by hiring young or cheap defenders, sometimes both, but it hasn’t worked. The only definitive success is Tierney, which is possibly Arsenal’s second most important player. Last year, the Gunners loosened the purse strings a bit with Mikel Arteta, presumably in the hopes of developing a future partnership between Saliba and Gabriel, a £ 54 million pair. The Brazilian looks comfortable in the center of Arsenal’s defense, not easy in such a chaotic environment, while Arteta plans to take her sweet time to bed in Saliba, 19 years old.

Liverpool: £ 102.25 million in six transfers

Ragnar Klavan (£ 4.2 million), Joel Matip (free), Andrew Robertson (£ 10 million), Virgil van Dijk (£ 75 million), Sepp van den Berg (£ 1.3 million), Konstantinos Tsimikas (£ 11 , 75 million)

Almost three-quarters of Klopp’s defensive spending since Guardiola arrived at City went to Van Dijk, but the Dutch center-back would have been cheap at twice the price. Robertson was an even bigger bargain coming from Hull for an initial £ 8 million, but given that he has been the first-choice left-back in Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League triumphs, we must assume that most of £ 2 million has been paid. Unless Michael Edwards got really creative with the terms. Tsimikas arrived this summer to cover for Robertson, while Matip has been extremely confident when he has played, but that was not enough.



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