Gary Neville has been giving his thoughts ahead of the Manchester derby, and it doesn’t make good reading for City fans.
The Sky Sports pundit was writing in his Telegraph column, ahead of Sunday’s match at Old Trafford between the two Manchester sides, and he says, regardless of the result, United are in a stronger position as a club.
Neville says City’s current squad are ‘old’, UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations could seriously hamper their ambitions, and if potential signings are ‘given a straight choice’ between United, Chelsea, Arsenal or City, the Premier League champions would be last choice.
The former Manchester United defender said that: ‘unless City are bold and decide to take on Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations, they will find it difficult to compete with United, Chelsea and Arsenal for the players I believe could make the difference in next season’s title race.
‘There will be an intense fight between all of the top four clubs to secure the best players, but if that battle takes place on an even playing field, I don’t see how City can come out on top. The landscape has changed since City were able to blow everybody out of the water by paying big fees and big wages to sign the likes of Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri.
‘FFP has reined City back in and United and Arsenal have upped the ante by spending big themselves and raising the ceiling of their pay structures’.
Neville says FFP regulations have reduced the power of City owner’s considerable wealth, as they can no long pay exorbitant transfer or wage fees for players, without risking penalty from UEFA. Therefore, he feels club’s with arguably greater prestige are more likely destinations for top players.
‘When choosing a new club, players will always want to win trophies, live in the best location and play for a club with history and tradition.
‘London is such a huge draw, especially for foreign players, so Arsenal and Chelsea have an advantage over United and City in that respect. But United’s history and tradition is their trump card, one which will attract players to Old Trafford ahead of the capital’.
On the pitch, Neville called City’s current squad ‘old’, ‘stale’ and in need of renewal.
‘City cannot escape the fact that they have recruited badly in recent years and it has left them with a team that has grown old. Experience can be a good thing, but it can also be a negative because staleness is an issue’.
Neville wasn’t exactly complimentary of his old team either, saying that of their entire, expensively assembled squad, only David de Gea would be a contender for Premier League of the year. However, he feels, going forward, Untied look more likely to achieve success.
‘My gut feeling is that City currently have the better team and squad but unless they take on FFP this summer it will be the red half of Manchester that are next celebrating winning the Premier League title’.
H/T The Telegraph.
