Man City two deals away from spending €1bn in just 18 months

Analysis

Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

Manchester City have long been known as one of football’s biggest spenders, but the scale of their transfer signings has accelerated to an unprecedented level since the beginning of 2025.

Enzo Maresca’s side are still aiming for big-money deals that will see them sign Iliman Ndiaye and Enzo Fernandez from Liverpool and Chelsea by the end of the transfer window. If completed, these moves would see City having invested more than €1 billion in the transfer market in a spell spanning little over a year-and-a-half.

It is spending on a scale football has never previously seen, and comes while the club is still under the shadow of an investigation into 115 accusations of financial misconduct, which it strenuously denies.

Man City’s January 2025 spending spree set the tone

City’s investment in their first-team squad really stepped up in January 2025, when they were playing catch-up to Liverpool in the Premier League title race. A record €218m was invested in their squad during that winter window, yet of the five major signings they made that winter, the two biggest, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez, have already departed.

The spending spree continued into the 2025/26 season, with more than €300m now spent across the two transfer windows. Again, the results were mixed. City’s marquee summer arrival in 2025 was Tijjani Reijnders, yet he has already moved on to the Saudi Pro League, while James Trafford is another big-money arrival who has departed. Promising midfielder Sverre Nypan, meanwhile, has been loaned out.

At least the January 2026 arrivals have fared better, with both Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi comparative success stories, even if they have yet to win their first silverware at the club.

Man City’s €313.7m summer spending spree is not over

Man City’s transfer business this summer has been equally big, with two particularly mega deals conducted to date.

Elliot Anderson was briefly the most expensive player in Premier League history when he was signed from Nottingham Forest for €135m while Ayyoub Bouaddi became the English top-flight’s most expensive teenager ever when he arrived from Lille for €95m.

City have also snapped up youngsters Mathys Detourbet from City Football Group club Troyes (€25m) and Jeremy Monga in an €11.7m deal from Leicester, alongside a €40m deal for 22-year-old Palmeiras winger Allan.

With little more than 24 hours left in the transfer window, City’s spending totals €313.7m, taking their total since January 2025 to €834m.

Man City

Man City summer signings

Man City summer sales

Ndiaye and Fernandez could push Man City beyond €1bn

But there is more to come. City have reopened talks with Everton over a deal for Iliman Ndiaye after having a bid for Liverpool's Cody Gakpo rejected, while Enzo Fernandez could well be on his way from Chelsea in a transfer worth at least €140m and potentially more.

Should these moves be completed, Man City will have smashed the €1bn spending barrier over the course of just 18 months in a move that will further bring into focus how little impact the Premier League’s financial restrictions have had in making a dent in the historic expenditure of the Abu Dhabi-owned club.

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