Pep Guardiola jokes Manchester City have 'not spent enough' after aiming dig at Premier League rivals

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has seemingly taken a dig at a number of Premier League clubs.

After one of the quietest winter transfer deadline days for a number of years, much was made of English top-flight clubs reining in their spending.

However, during January, Man City spent in the region of £84m to secure the signings of Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi and Bournemouth attacker Antoine Semenyo.

With City having also shelled out approximately £180m in the equivalent market 12 months ago, City have faced envy over their ability to significantly strengthen their squad at this stage of the season.

Nevertheless, at a press conference ahead of Man City facing Newcastle United in the second leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday night, Guardiola jokingly questioned why Man City officials did not spend more.

What did Guardiola say on Man City's spending?

Guardiola made a point of saying to the media that Man City were only in seventh place in terms of net spend over the past five years.

The Spaniard light-heatedly added that he was "grumpy" with City chiefs for not adding at least one more player to his squad.

He told reporters: "Really good (transfer window). Txiki [Bergiristain] before and Hugo [Viana] now.

"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 don't spend more money. I am a little bit grumpy with them.

"But like we won in the past because we spent a lot, now six teams have to win the Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues and FA Cups because they spend more in the last five years. These are facts. It's not an opinion.

"You can say an opinion, like you say you play good or bad against Spurs - we can agree or disagree. But they are facts. Good luck to the six teams who are in front of us for net spend for the last five years.

"Let's go. I'm waiting. That's a nice quote, eh?"

What was Guardiola's point?

Guardiola's intent appeared to be to play down the perception that Man City have the ability to spend freely in the market.

At a time when City's net spend is around £248m since January 2021, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur all have a net spend of in excess of £500m.

City have generated vast amount of money through the sales of players deemed to be homegrown talent, while cashing in on the likes of Raheem Sterling and Julian Alvarez could recoup £130m if the latter activates add-ons at Atletico Madrid.