Manchester City would be “under scrutiny like you cannot imagine” if they were spending like Chelsea, says boss Pep Guardiola.
Chelsea’s £53m signing of Romeo Lavia means they have now spent more than £850m since owner Todd Boehly took over last summer.
But Guardiola said his side would not get away with spending those sums in the same amount of time.
“What I’m saying is that if we do it we’re dead,” Guardiola said.
“For Chelsea, it’s easier than for us. I have no criticism. They can do what they want. But we would be under scrutiny like you cannot imagine.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here if we spent what Chelsea have spent in two transfer windows – you [media] would kill me.”
Chelsea have spent about £323m on eight players so far this transfer window, more than any other side in Europe, and have broken the record for the highest summer spend by any club in the world – eclipsing Real Madrid’s £292m in 2019.
The Blues have spent £857.3m on transfers since Boehly took over in May 2022 while City’s transfer spend in the same time frame is £233.2m.
City’s spending has been scrutinised since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover in 2008 and the club are facing charges from the Premier League of 115 breaches of financial rules.
They faced similar allegations of Financial Fair Play breaches in 2020 when a two-year ban from European competitions was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport following an investigation by Uefa.
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While City have spent significantly less than Chelsea in recent times they are weighing up their options after midfielder Kevin de Bruyne was ruled out for up to four months with a hamstring injury.
“The blow of Kevin changed the perspective,” said Guardiola. “Kevin is a really important player and we have to reflect on the squad a bit and think about what we need to do.”
Guardiola praised the way City have gone about their business in previous years, saying they have always paid what they deem is “fair” for players.
“If we are able to do it, we will do it. We will do what we have always done which is pay what we believe is fair,” he said.
“We wanted [Harry] Maguire, we didn’t find an agreement so we didn’t pay, we wanted [Marc] Cucurella, we wouldn’t pay, we wanted Alexis Sanchez, we wouldn’t pay.
“We want to pay what is fair, otherwise we have the academy.”
More recently, City have also backed down from transfers for Harry Kane and Declan Rice because of high transfer fees.
“I think the club is so smart doing what it’s done. We are here with the demand to win every game and play a fantastic game,” said Guardiola.
“The strategy is to win but we will not be desperate to do something if we don’t believe in it just to have one more player.
“There are a lot of clubs that have to get rid of a lot of players or they have lots of players coming back from loans – we don’t have that problem which is nice.
“That’s why the strategy we have done the last few years means the club is working really well with many things.”
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