Manchester United Or Manchester City: Who Won The Transfer Battle This Summer?

For the starters, the presence of good transfer moves or the lack of it is an interesting corollary of the two highly distinguished fates in football management. While one is known to have won 4 different European League Cups, the other has helmed the biggest of clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich to have successfully led victorious European Championship campaigns. It is because of the mettle of the two masterminds in charge of these intensely matched and super stiff competitors in the name of the two Manchester clubs. Yes, I am referring to the newly appointed superstar managers of the Manchester clubs. The Special One – Mourinho for UNITED! The Successful One – Pep Guardiola for CITY!

Jose Mourinho has impacted Old Trafford in a way most pundits predicted. By raising the bar of potential signings and capital invested in the likes of globally acclaimed footballers like Ibrahimovic and Pogba, he has not only pushed the fans expectations from him but has also drawn major flak from critics citing over-expenditure and waste of funds in acquiring superstar player profiles. As of now, United’s transfer window seems sharper than that of an equally high-spending Manchester City that has a rather balanced side but lacking the match-winning ability that keeps the United’s armour shining as their main knight Mourinho knows what he does when in the office of a great club. ‘Seriously, nothing can go wrong at a level like that’, he says.

On the other hand, take special note of the comparisons; every transfer deal has had in the market if seen position-wise. There are loose matches as well as steep mismatches in terms of the money being offered and the role being played out on the field. City man Guardiola has signed a fewer more player than Mourinho but as it stands, the money spent does not differ by much. He has wisely spent on the balance that he needs to restore in the attack-defense equilibrium and has been low-key as far as individual goals or honours is concerned. Although he has his strike players in quite a few, he belives the combinations of a deadly trio or a lethal duo or four-man defensive wall should be able to withstand/break any deadlock that comes their way at the Etihad.

He has wisely spent on the balance that he needs to restore in the attack-defense equilibrium and has been low-key as far as individual goals or honours is concerned. Although he has his strike players in quite a few, he belives the combinations of a deadly trio or a lethal duo or four-man defensive wall should be able to withstand/break any deadlock that comes their way at the Etihad.

Manchester City Transfer Window Summer 2016:

Manchester United Transfer Window Summer 2016:

Although the Manchester Blues have an extra influx of a couple players, it does not necessarily mean that there must be an upscale immediate effect in the way the team gets selected and performs. As they have hired more personnel in the summer window, Pep has more options to give debuts to the newer players whereas Mourinho could just strike the right balance by introducing Pogba and Zlatan into the already existing Manchester Reds squad to square up any difference with any other club whatsoever at least on paper.

Also, it is very clear that United have shelled out more of the pound than City by breaking the all-time world record transfer fee set by Gareth Bale earlier. Paul Pogba has officially made Jose Mourinho’s summer window a huge success and Zlatan’s arrival just adds the icing on the EPL cake that the Portuguese has been eagerly waiting for quite a while. The players can be compared on a one-to-one basis and it still turns out that United has just edged the summer transfer in the coolest yet the most apprehensive of ways.