Are Manchester City overpaying for their targets?

Fernandinho (L), who will wear the No.25 shirt, with new City manager Manuel Pellegrini. (Getty Images)

Manchester City surrendered the Premier League title to cross-town rivals Manchester United last season. In an attempt to put the club back on top of things, changes have been ushered in by the management. A new manager and four huge signings to complement the existing squad of players have been added as City look to once again challenge for major honours.

A total of £87 million Euros has been spent on four top players – Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic. The club backed by the ultra-rich Abu Dhabi United Group and owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan – a member of the Abu Dhabi Royal family – has no issues whatsoever when it comes to the question of transfer funds.

But are City being ripped off by the other clubs because of this precise reason? And are they paying more than they should for some of these players?

City paid Shakhtar Donetsk £30 million for midfielder Fernandinho’s services, making him their first acquisition of the close season. Fernandinho was a key part of the Shakhtar side for over seven years.

However, he is 28 years old and has only been capped by native Brazil a mere five times. More importantly, only one of those caps has come in the last two years. Add to that the fact that no other clubs were really in the race, and that £30 million figure looks rather inflated.

The other question is where does Fernandinho fit in at City? He could cover for the absence of Yaya Toure whenever the Ivorian is missing in action and perhaps the two of them could play together against lesser teams. Otherwise, it is difficult to see him starting a majority of the games with David Silva, James Milner and fellow newcomer Jesus Navas all expected to feature in a midfield heavy City side.

Navas’s case in comparison is a case in point. The Spaniard is a year younger than Fernandinho at the time of signing (he too will be 28 by the end of the year) and is a very well decorated footballer at that, having won the UEFA Cup twice (2005-06 & 2006-07), the UEFA Super Cup (2006), the Copa del Rey twice (2006-07 & 2009-10), the FIFA World Cup (2010) and the European Championship (2012).

Navas also has 28 caps for La Roja, which would surely be much more if not for the abundance of talent in that Spanish squad. He was bought for a whole £15 million lesser than Fernandinho.

Jesus Navas in action for Spain during the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. (Getty Images)

With Montenegrin Jovetic, who arrived from Fiorentina for £22 million, the price tag is justified as City are buying potential as the forward – who can also play in the hole – is still only 23 and already is one of the mainstays of his national side with 27 caps and 10 goals.

City paid more for Fernandinho than what Chelsea paid for Eden Hazard or for that matter what Bayern Munich paid for Mario Götze.

This follows the trend set by the signings of Joleon Lescott in 2009 for £22 million, James Milner in 2010 for £24 million and Javi Garcia last year for £16 million (which is by the way more than what they paid for Navas).

Alvaro Negredo was bought for £20 million for Sevilla, to go into a line-up where they already have two strikers worth upwards of £25 million in Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero.

With Financial Fair Play over the horizon, one wonders how much longer City can keep going for such deals where they end up overpaying in a big way. It would only get much worse if they end up paying as much and not give the new signing much game time.

What is also does is set a precedent for other teams looking to sell to City in the future, secure in the knowledge that the Sky Blues are willing to pay a premium on players.

City should stop inflating the transfer values of players for other teams as well as for themselves and adopt a more calculated approach even in the case where they are flush with funds.