Manchester City and the Top Four

June 6: Gareth Barry, £12 million from Aston Villa.
June 22: Roque Santa Cruz, £16 million from Blackburn Rovers.
July 14: Carlos Tevez, £25 million from Media Sports Investment (read: Manchester United).
July 21: Emmanuel Adebayor, £25 million from Arsenal.
July 29: Kolo Toure, £15 million from Arsenal.

With the transfer window still open and Manchester City still seeking some big name signings, the word around the blue side of Manchester is that Mark Hughes is building a team to shake up the natural order of the Premier League this season and make it to top four!

And I think I’ll have to disagree.

I actually see the new outfit doing far better; I actually see them as potential contenders for the Premier League title; although I know Sir Alex would not agree.

Man City have not just signed big stars, in doing so, they have weakened their opponents too, Arsenal in particular. Other transfer activity has also helped: Liverpool have lost the quality of Alonso and Arbeloa and have Torres as the only world-class striker left. Manchester United too have lost Ronaldo, their goal-scoring machine and arguably the best player in the world.

And although Chelsea have held onto their stars and made some good signings, adding more depth to their squad, they will lose a fair chunk of their first-teamers come the African Cup of Nations and that has to have some impact.

Besides, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United (Arsenal too if they qualify against Celtic) all have to play Champions League this season; and City don’t, meaning their fixture list is a lot less cluttered. And I’m sure City’s preference would not be the FA Cup or the Carling Cup either; they are rearing for the league.

The only question – apart from the never-predictable injuries – is whether these new players and the existing quality of Ireland, Given, Robinho and the like can gel together. Well, we saw it with Chelsea under Mourinho. We even saw it at Manchester City, two seasons ago under Sven Goran Eriksson; his new signings gelled wonderfully and started the season at the top, and stayed there for some time before their progress derailed in the later part of the season.

So, these things considered, I’d say watch out for the citizens!