The forgotten Man City transfer disasters from their Abu Dhabi owners' controversial spending era

Manchester City’s financial saga has entered a new phase, but the independent commission’s verdict has also reignited debate about just how much spending powered the club’s remarkable rise to the summit of English football.

The Premier League claim City artificially inflated revenues and reduced costs by more than £900m between 2009-10 and 2017-18, with £830.69m of disguised owner funding channelled through commercial arrangements which the commission deemed sham agreements.

City deny wrongdoing and have appealed the findings, while any sporting sanction will be decided separately.

City spent around £1.2bn on players between summer 2009 and January 2018, winning seven major trophies during that period.

The spending produced some of the greatest players in the club’s history, but there were also plenty of expensive mistakes along the way.

More recent disappointments such as Omar Marmoush, Kalvin Phillips, Nico Gonzalez and Savio have already been moved on, but they are far from the first big-money City recruits to fail.

Sports Mole takes a look at some of the forgotten transfer flops which help highlight the excess and unpredictability of the club’s controversial spending era.

Man City's forgotten transfer disasters

Eliaquim Mangala – £42m

Mangala became one of the most expensive defenders in Premier League history when he joined City from Porto in August 2014, with the initial fee reported at £32m rising to £42m.

The Frenchman impressed on his debut against Chelsea, but he never consistently lived up to that early display. Mangala was prone to costly errors and struggled to establish himself as a reliable first-choice centre-back.

After loan spells at Valencia and Everton, he eventually left City permanently for Valencia in 2019, bringing little return on a sizeable investment.

Stevan Jovetic – £22m

Jovetic arrived from Fiorentina in the same summer as Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Martin Demichelis and Alvaro Negredo, but proved comfortably the least successful of that group.

The £22m forward was viewed as part of the solution following the departures of Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli, yet injuries disrupted his two seasons in Manchester. Jovetic managed only 11 goals in 44 appearances before joining Inter Milan in 2015.

For a player expected to contribute to an increasingly star-studded attack, his return was underwhelming.

Wilfried Bony – £28m

Bony had scored 20 Premier League goals for Swansea before City paid £25m for his services in January 2015, with the fee potentially rising to £28m.

However, his City career never reached the heights of his Swansea spell. Africa Cup of Nations duty and injuries hampered his arrival, while competition for places behind Sergio Aguero made regular football difficult.

Bony eventually scored ten goals in 46 appearances. Not disastrous on paper, perhaps, but nowhere near enough for a striker costing more than £25m at that time.

Nolito – £14m

Nolito looked a clever signing when Guardiola brought him from Celta Vigo in 2016 following an excellent spell in Spain.

Yet the winger struggled to establish himself in England and started only nine Premier League matches during his sole season at the Etihad.

He also spoke publicly about how difficult his family had found life in Manchester, before returning to Spain with Sevilla after only one year.

Danilo – £26.5m

Danilo joined City from Real Madrid for £26.5m in 2017, but despite his versatility, he was largely used as a back-up option.

He made 34 Premier League appearances across two seasons before being included in City's deal to sign Joao Cancelo from Juventus in 2019. The transfer also later attracted attention because of the scrutiny surrounding Juventus' capital-gains accounting and the valuations placed on players in swap transactions.

Danilo was hardly a disaster on the pitch, but a £26.5m signing lasting just two seasons before being used as part of another deal hardly represented ideal value.

Benjamin Mendy – £52m

Mendy arrived from Monaco in 2017 for £52m, making him the world's most expensive defender at the time.

There were flashes of the attacking brilliance that had made him such a highly rated full-back in France, but injuries severely restricted his availability. He made 75 appearances for City before his final game in August 2021, after which he was suspended by the club following criminal charges.

Mendy left when his contract expired in June 2023, having won three Premier League titles, but his £52m transfer ultimately delivered far less football than City would have expected from such a major investment.

Man City's big spending hasn't always paid off

Taken together, these signings provide a useful counterpoint to City’s greatest successes.

Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Kevin De Bruyne turned huge transfer fees into trophies, but Mangala, Jovetic, Bony, Nolito, Danilo and Mendy show that even a club with enormous financial muscle could waste significant sums.

The flops do not prove that individual transfers were financed through the financial arrangements at the centre of the Premier League case. They do, however, underline the extraordinary scale of City's recruitment operation during the period now under scrutiny.

With the commission finding that the club had artificially inflated revenues and reduced costs by more than £900m during those nine seasons, the sheer volume of spending behind City's transformation from ambitious outsiders into Premier League royalty is inevitably being viewed through a different lens.

City deny wrongdoing and are appealing the verdict.