Jamie Carragher has said that he’s been baffled by what he’s heard about Manchester City and one key figure at the club.
The Manchester club are just two victories away from winning another Premier League and FA Cup.
If they beat West Ham United on Sunday in their final Premier League game of the season, the Blues will become the first side to win four league titles in a row.
The weekend after sees City take on Manchester United to try and win another FA Cup in a repeat of last season’s final.
In the buildup to these two big games, one pundit and former top-flight player has shared his views on the club’s recent successes and one of the key figures who has played a vital role in getting the club where they are.
Carragher dismisses specific Pep Guardiola criticism
In his latest column for The Telegraph, Carragher had this to say about Pep Guardiola and how he is viewed by certain people.
He said: “There are other churlish arguments thrown at City and Guardiola which do not stand up to scrutiny, like their success is solely a consequence of the money spent during his reign.
“It is absurd to describe Guardiola as a cheque-book manager.”
Guardiola denies City success is down to money
Guardiola, who is picking up a weekly wage of £378k-a-week, has been at the Etihad Stadium since 2016 and is approaching the end of his eighth season in charge of the Blues.
During his time at the club, the 53-year-old has overlooked 470 games in all competitions, winning 348, drawing 57 and losing 65 along the way.
Earlier this week, the Spaniard said that City’s success, which has seen them win five Premier League titles since the 2017/18 season, is not solely down to the money they have spent.
Guardiola then highlighted that if success were solely down to the money clubs spend on players, the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United would have won more trophies than City.
Even though the club have spent significant transfer fees to sign players such as Josko Gvardiol and Jack Grealish among others, the fact that they’ve seen names such as Phil Foden and Rico Lewis emerge from the youth ranks to become important first-team players shows that clubs don’t always need to sign players for big money to create a successful squad.