Pep Guardiola surprises: Why doesn’t he see Manchester City as favorites despite $344M spending spree?

The best version of Pep Guardiola‘s Manchester City is back. Led by Erling Haaland, alongside strong performances from Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki, the reigning Premier League champions crushed Wolverhampton 4-0 away from home. Despite investing over €344 million in new signings this year, Pep Guardiola refused to label his team as the clear favorites for the league title. Rivals Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal are already taking note of City’s resurgence.

After the victory, Guardiola reflected: “Last season, people said we were favorites after beating Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, and look at what happened later. The first half today was good, the second not as much—it’s normal early in the season. They played well. We had a short preparation.”

Guardiola stressed that big spending doesn’t equal guaranteed success. He reminded reporters that last season ended up being one of the worst campaigns of his career despite a promising start. City finished with 33 wins, 11 draws, and 17 defeats, recording only 71 points in 38 matches, their lowest tally under the Spanish coach.

For the first time in 12 years, Manchester City failed to even reach the Champions League round of 16, a major blow for the club. This season, Guardiola is focused on rebuilding confidence, creating consistency, and avoiding the pitfalls that haunted the team throughout the previous year.

Massive spending but still not favorites

Context is everything. Since January 2025, Guardiola has spent €218 million on new arrivals including Omar Marmoush, Nico González, Khusanov, Vitor Reis, and Juma Bah. When adding summer reinforcements like Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Marcus Bettinelli, the bill rose another €126 million, much of it linked to preparing for the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

Even with such massive investment, Guardiola remains cautious. “Always tough to play here in Molineux. Two years ago we lost, last season we only won late thanks to Stones. I’m very happy, especially with the result, but we are still a team under construction,” he said.

Guardiola’s €2 billion career spending

No manager in football history has spent more than Pep Guardiola, whose transfer totals have surpassed €2 billion across Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City. While he has promoted world-class academy talents, he has also had access to the largest transfer budget in Europe.

The five most expensive signings of Guardiola’s career all came at Manchester City:

• Jack Grealish – €127 million
• Josko Gvardiol – €90 million
• Omar Marmoush – €75 million
• Rúben Dias – €71 million
• Rodri – €70 million

With rumors linking City to Rodrygo Goes and Gianluigi Donnarumma, the club’s spending could surpass €400 million in 2025 alone.