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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

Liverpool FC and Arsenal's £265m transfer spending shows new reality Man City face next season

Manchester City are riding higher than they ever have, winning the European Cup for the first time to secure the treble. That has unlocked the chance to win the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, and the Blues finally have the trophy they have long desired.

Look online, though, and there is a degree of restlessness at the lack of transfer activity at the Etihad. Mateo Kovacic has come in, Ilkay Gundogan has left, and Declan Rice will join Arsenal.

"When we don't like a deal, we walk away and we don't panic," said CEO Ferran Soriano this week. As Pep Guardiola often reminds fans in the opening months of the season that titles are not won early on, City's bosses will say that transfer windows are not 'won' or 'lost' in the first week of July.

Look at City last season, who began the campaign without Manu Akanji or Sergio Gomez. Both arrived late in the window, and Akanji in particular proved essential in winning the treble. City won't be panicking at their transfer activity so far.

ALSO READ: City have three signings to make this summer that they can't afford to get wrong

However, a look around the Premier League shows that other sides are acting quicker to strengthen their squads. Liverpool moved swiftly to sign Brighton's World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister on an initial £35m deal, and now look like taking their summer spend close to £100m with the expected arrival of Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig.

The Liverpool Echo and others report the Reds will trigger the £60m release clause for winger Szoboszlai to continue their attacking rebuild after Roberto Firmino's departure. They will be looking to avoid a repeat of last season's struggles and attempt to challenge for the title again.

Their early activity in the transfer window suggests they will look to offer more of a threat next season after dropping out of the Champions League, and are willing to spend money to do that.

Arsenal ended just five points adrift of City in second last season and know that despite their end of season collapse, they were ultimately not too far away from the Blues, and will rue the six points lost in the two head-to-head matches. With European football back on their schedule, they also need to add depth.

Kai Havertz has arrived from Chelsea for £65m to offer an alternative to Gabriel Jesus in attack, while Declan Rice looks set to join after City dropped out of the race. He will cost £105m, including add-ons, so Arsenal will throw at least £170m at their summer rebuild to catch City.

With Liverpool and Arsenal's spend approaching £265m on just four players, they are not the only sides looking to get stronger and stop City winning the treble again. Tottenham have spent £40m on James Maddison, while Manchester United will put £60m towards Chelsea's Mason Mount. Newcastle are set to spend a reported £52m on AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali as they prepare for the Champions League. Chelsea's unpredictable and extravagant business has also continued this summer, with their preferred starting XI for next season anyone's guess at this point.

Compare those spends to City's current outlay of £25m on Mateo Kovacic - although they will surely increase that should a current player leave or someone like Josko Gvardiol become available.

City won't panic, as Soriano said, although they will also expect all of their rivals to improve next season. As brilliant as City were, they were aided by Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool in particular being fairly poor all season.

Guardiola always says the next season will be harder than the previous one, and the early signs this summer suggest he will be proved right again in 2023.

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