More than a billion pounds and 76 deals: Manchester City's huge spending during the sanctions period
How much has City spent over the nine seasons?
Manchester City spent a huge sum of £1.243 billion on signing 76 players across nine seasons, spanning from 2009/2010 to 2017/2018, the period linked to the series of financial charges brought against the English club.
According to reports published by "The Athletic", a commission found Manchester City guilty of almost all 115 financial breaches, with the exception of one. The panel has yet to decide on a penalty proportionate to the scale of those breaches.
City completed 76 deals during the nine seasons under investigation, and the most expensive of them cost just £55 million. The profile of the team then changed gradually with the arrival of some of the most prominent stars in the club's history.
Some of those arrivals turned into legends at the Etihad. Others exited the scene quickly and left no such mark, according to the report by "The Sun".
The real beginning of this era came with the Argentine Carlos Tevez.
Tevez opens the door to a new age
Tevez moved to Manchester City for £25.5 million in the 2009/10 season, announcing the start of a new phase for the club after two seasons on loan at Manchester United.
The Argentine striker played 42 matches in his first season with City, scoring 29 goals and providing 7 assists. He helped the team climb from tenth the previous season to fifth, securing a place in the Europa League.
City then began building a team capable of competing for titles, with the arrival of the Ivorian Yaya Touré and the Spaniard David Silva in two deals each worth £24 million.
Manchester City's annual bill
2009/10: £126.78 million
2010/11: £158.03 million
2011/12: £78.37 million
2012/13: £53.32 million
2013/14: £99.41 million
2014/15: £88.48 million
2015/16: £179.43 million
2016/17: £186.13 million
2017/18: £273.27 million
Total spending: £1.243 billion
Touré and Silva soon began making new history for the club. Touré scored the winning goal against Manchester United in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final, then struck again against Stoke City at Wembley to lead City to their first major title in 35 years.
Across their careers with the club, Touré and Silva helped win 3 Premier League titles, 3 League Cups and the FA Cup, plus the Community Shield.
Agüero: the deal that changed everything
Then came 2011, and the name that changed Manchester City's history forever: Sergio Agüero.
The club paid around £38 million to Atlético Madrid for the 23-year-old Argentine striker, a record fee at the time.
Agüero spoke immediately upon his arrival: "We are a team that will fight in the future every year to win the major titles".
His words were no mere statement. He went on to become City's all-time top scorer, but even had he achieved nothing else in the shirt, his famous goal in the 93:20 minute was enough to immortalise him, sealing the Premier League title in 2011/12.
A less glamorous season: a title escapes to United
City's transfer market did not always feature big names of Agüero's stature. The 2012/13 season came as a quieter one for signings.
Javi García was the most prominent arrival, coming from Benfica for around £16 million.
That season, City were forced to watch neighbours Manchester United clinch the Premier League title, finishing 11 points clear and prompting Roberto Mancini's departure.
Fernandinho: a bridge between two eras
City returned strongly in the summer of 2013, with Manuel Pellegrini leading a rebuild that ended in a double.
The Brazilian Fernandinho was one of the most prominent signings, arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk for £30 million, a fee that initially looked steep for a 28-year-old.
Fernandinho quickly proved his worth, becoming one of the team's key players and bridging the transition from the Pellegrini era to the age of Pep Guardiola.
In the following window, City spent £62.42 million more than they received from player sales.
Eliaquim Mangala was the most expensive deal of that period, costing the club £38.75 million.
The French defender arrived in England amid hopes he would become a long-term partner for captain Vincent Kompany. Instead he spent two seasons in the Premier League before beginning a loan journey between a number of European clubs.
De Bruyne and Sterling: the start of the big blows
Then City began landing the big deals.
The club broke their transfer record by signing the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg for £55 million, bringing him back to England after his previous spell with Chelsea.
In parallel, City signed the English winger Raheem Sterling from Liverpool for £44 million, making him one of the most expensive English players in the history of football at the time.
Guardiola's arrival: the project enters a different phase
Pep Guardiola needed little time at Manchester City to begin building a team capable of dominating for years.
The German İlkay Gündoğan was Guardiola's first signing, joining from Borussia Dortmund for around £21 million.
Severe injuries dogged the start of his spell, yet Gündoğan later turned into a captain, a serial title winner and one of the most influential midfielders in the club's history.
City also signed John Stones from Everton for around £47.5 million, making him one of the most expensive defenders in the world at that time.
Next came the deal for the German Leroy Sané, who arrived from Schalke for £37 million. The winger produced a striking first season, crowned with the Premier League Young Player of the Year award from the Professional Footballers' Association "PFA", in another campaign that ended with Manchester City champions in 2017/18.
Deals worth millions: a team that breaks records
Guardiola and City did not stop there.
The club kept spending heavily, signing Kyle Walker for £45 million, Bernardo Silva for £43 million and goalkeeper Ederson for £35 million.
City also paid £49.5 million for the French left-back Benjamin Mendy and £25.8 million to bring in the Brazilian Danilo from Real Madrid, before Aymeric Laporte arrived in January 2018 for £55.9 million.
The results on the pitch were clear. City finished the 2017/18 season on 100 points, the first team in Premier League history to reach that figure.
They did not stop there, ending the season a full 19 points clear of the runner-up and laying the foundation for the period of dominance that would make Manchester City one of the most successful teams in the history of English football.
