Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes that the club's failure to bring in a number of transfer targets last summer has ultimately cost them their Premier League title.
The champions sit 15 points adrift of rivals Manchester United with just eight games remaining, heading into the clash between the two at Old Trafford on Monday.
City are believed to have been unsuccessful in making a number of big-name signings, including Robin van Persie, Eden Hazard, Daniele De Rossi, Javi Martinez and Daniel Agger, which Mancini feels has come back to haunt them.
"We would probably be at the top, probably also in a Champions League quarter-final," Mancini told BBC Sport.
"We had a chance to get three or four players that would have improved our team but now it is finished with.
"We had the chance to get important players, players that this year could have been the difference in this team. But it is useless to talk about this now."
City recruited Scott Sinclair, Richard Wright, Jack Rodwell, Javi Garcia, Maicon and Matija Nastasic in the summer.
Matt Cotton
