ESPN FC's Rob Dawson compares United's spending to Manchester City's.


Mourinho vs Guardiola

The key line from Mourinho's post-Burnley press conference was that the money he has spent on his United team is 'not enough' to properly challenge City. Mourinho is only talking about United vs City and in that context, he is right that Guardiola has spent more. Since taking over at the Etihad Stadium in 2016, Guardiola has spent £361.1m on 12 players. Over the same span, Mourinho has spent £286.3m on seven players.


Mourinho's gripe

As well as saying he has not had enough money, Mourinho also made mention of City 'buying full-backs for the price of strikers,' a reference to City spending £120.8m on Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo in the summer. What will annoy Mourinho most, though, is not the fees but the fact that Guardiola got what he wanted. City initially tried to haggle with Tottenham over Walker but ended up paying £45 million because Guardiola made it clear how important he would be this season.
By contrast, United refused to meet Inter Milan's price for Perisic. Mourinho was clear he wanted four new signings in the summer but only got three. Of those, only two (Lukaku and Nemanja Matic) have been able to go straight into the team. It is not the first time this season that Mourinho has referenced money.


The end product

The numbers, £360m compared to £280m, are comparable. It's just that City's spending has had more of an impact. The United team that started Boxing Day's 1-1 against Burnley included seven players that Mourinho inherited. The City team Guardiola fielded against Tottenham the same weekend contained eight players brought in over the past three summers. In the five years since Ferguson retired, United have spent £609.5m on 22 players. Louis van Gaal brought in 13, of which six have already left. Mourinho can at least be happy that the majority of his signings seem to have paid off.



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