Manchester City focus on youth revolution
Manuel Pellegrini admits part of his remit as Manchester City manager will be to help nurture young talent and save the club spending heavily on transfer fees in the future.
City, who were bought by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, have been the Premier League’s highest spenders in the transfer market in recent years.
But new financial fair-play rules have been introduced in a bid to curtail the spending of clubs like City and Pellegrini, who on Wednesday spoke to the media for the first time since he was appointed as Roberto Mancini’s successor, seemed to suggest a slight departure from that policy in the long term.
“We have to have a different style here in the club,” Pellegrini said. “I mean a different style in the way Man City must work in the next few years.
“It is impossible every year to buy three, four, five expensive players. We need a mix with young players, who work exactly the same as the first team, and as the Under 21s.
“There are a lot of things we can improve. What Roberto Mancini and the other coaches have done we will continue working at and adding different things.”
Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano was recently quoted as saying that he wanted Pellegrini to win five trophies in the next five years.
Former Malaga boss Pellegrini knows he will be under pressure to compete for all trophies on all fronts, but the 59-year-old Chilean believes that is only part of his mandate at Eastlands.
“As a coach of course we always want immediate success,” he added.
“If that will bring us trophies, perfect, we have more chances to win that way. In the same way we are working with young players and we will continue to.
“I’m here not only to win trophies — the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup — I am here to work with young players.
“To win trophies is very important but I am not here just for that. I will do my job here completely with Ferran, with Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City sporting director), with Patrick Vieira (elite development squad manager) also working with young players.”
Pellegrini has already boosted his squad with the signings of Brazil midfielder Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk for £30 million and Spain winger Jesus Navas from Sevilla for £15 million.
And the City manager confirmed a player’s nationality will not be an important issue when asked whether he would target any English players.
“We need good players, yes. Good English, Argentinian, South American players. We are trying to have a strong squad in all positions,” Pellegrini said.
“I think that all the clubs have the same problem with English players. Arsenal or Chelsea do not have a lot of English players but we have here very important young players.”
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