Former Manchester City defender Wayne Bridge has claimed that he thought the Blues paid too much for him when he made the switch from Chelsea in 2009.
Mark Hughes bought Bridge for £12m from the London club after a much publicised fallout with John Terry. Hughes would last just under a year at Eastlands before being sacked by Sheikh Mansour in December 2009, being replaced by Roberto Mancini.
After making the switch to the north west, Bridge told Planet Football that he struggled to see why City paid so much for him. He explained: "Everyone else has got the highlights, scoring for Chelsea and things like that, but most of my things I always think about are the mistakes I’ve made in games.
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"The West Ham one stands out, playing someone onside and giving the penalty away to Theo (Walcott). The worst thing about it is I’d only just got with my wife then, and her mum’s a West Ham fan and her dad’s an Arsenal fan, so her dad was buzzing and her mum was booing.
"Even I pinch myself at the career I had and the money you can earn, but I almost find it embarrassing to talk about. When I was going for £12m to Man City I remember speaking to Jamie Redknapp about the price, and saying: 'I think they’re paying too much.'
"He was like: 'Nah, you’re quality,’ but I didn't see it. But the prices you’re talking about these days for full-backs, £50m, I can’t get my head around it.
"I never would have thought it would keep going up and up and up and up, but it’s still going. You think: ‘When is it going to stop?’ And I really don’t know."
Bridge has previously spoken frankly about how he did not see eye to eye with Mancini. Last year, the ex-full-back explained how much he 'hated' the former Blues boss after Italy beat England in the Euro 2020 final.
The 42-year-old made 58 appearances for City before moving to Reading on a free transfer in 2013. During his spell in Manchester he was sent on loan to West Ham United, Sunderland and Brighton and Hove Albion.
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