The concluding moments of the 2011/2012 Premier League season are ones ingrained into the memories of most avid fanatics of the English football scene. Sergio Agüero’s last ditch attempt flashing past Paddy Kenny in the dying seconds of the season coupled with the celebrations that naturally ensued in light of Manchester City’s first top flight title since 1968 were scenes truly extraordinary. Never before had the title been seized in such sensational fashion and never before had it taken a team until the 94th minute of the final league game of the season to clinch the title.

No matter what angle you witnessed this from, the direction which City were heading in seemed to be one widely accepted as an undisputed eventuality by all. The Manchester City fans, the Manchester United fans, the neutrals and everybody seemed to agree the Citizens could only get stronger with no definitive cessation in sight. They’d conquered the English league, overthrowing Sir Alex’s United empire in the process and now they were ready to reach the summit of the European game.

When casting a glance back at City’s success since their Abu Dhabi United Group takeover in 2008, complacency is not a word that can often be linked with them or their tendencies in the transfer market. Transfers such as Sergio Agüero (£38m), Robinho (£32.5m) and Edin Džeko (£32m) set down a marker for City’s success and sent out a clear message from chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak that he would spend however much was needed for the blue half of Manchester to fill up their trophy cabinet. Needless to say, after banking their first EPL title in 2011/2012, the thought of City going out buying another host of world class, mega money superstars was not uncommon and not altogether far-fetched.

The reality of the situation, however, saw City have what can only be best described as an utterly passable summer in the transfer market and a similar modest approach to activity during January. The defensive pairing of Nastasic and Maicon were viewed as nothing more than cover to the starting eleven, while Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair proved to be as uninspiring as their transfers suggested, both struggling to even make the bench on a regular basis for City. Further to this City splashed £16m on Benfica’s Javi Garcia who, despite being City’s ‘big money summer signing’, has struggled majorly to imprint himself on the starting line-up. City then waved goodbye to a relatively forgettable January transfer window by selling on problem child Mario Balotelli to AC Milan. Of course the debate of whether Mario was too much of a hindrance to remain at the club is another story for another day, however the facts remain that Mario scored 13 league goals for City in the 2011/2012 season. The very same season in which City won the league by having a goal difference of 8 more goals than Manchester United. Without Balotelli’s goals City would not have won the league. To be selling players of this magnitude without replacement gave the impression that City felt the plateau which they had reached in the season previous would be enough to see them continue taking strides forward as a European force. By resting on their laurels however, City have somehow managed to make their season implode. Questionable performances in the Premier League has seen City slip 12 points behind league leaders Manchester United and Mancini’s imperious, almost arrogant approach to the Champions League saw his side take an early bow out of Europe at the first hurdle.

When addressing the Ferguson/Mancini battle it is clear to see where both sides may have felt it necessary to strengthen their side in the pre-season. United lost the league on goal difference, which naturally provoked Ferguson into making a play for arguably the best striker in the EPL in Robin van Persie. The transfer has subsequently paid dividends with the Dutchman netting an incredible 19 times in 27 appearances thus far. City however took a much more reserved approach to the transfer market and largely spent the summer covering up on their losses, Sinclair in for the outgoing Johnson, Garcia being seen as a means to replacing De Jong. It was most uncharacteristic of Mancini and a risk that appears to have backfired stupendously. Likewise City’s performances have reflected this unenthusiastic approach to the season on numerous occasions so far and left them floundering in an abyss of touch-and-go, half-baked domestic success.

To say the title race is dead in the water however would be a simplistic and somewhat bold statement to make considering the antics of both Manchester clubs last season. With United squandering an eight point lead with only six remaining games surely no title race is over after only 27 games. Or is it? City do not look like a side capable of overturning this deficit and should be looking anxiously over their shoulder at Chelsea and Spurs sniffing around their prized second place. Several off-key performances from Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany followed up by a dip in goalscoring output from familiar faces such as Tevez and Agüero begs the question of where exactly the blues are going to find that extra bit of inspiration or reserve to push on and overturn the 12 point gap. As it stands the points difference seems insurmountable for City and thus places an even greater onus on their FA Cup campaign. Having drummed up high-scoring victories against Championship outfits Leeds United and Watford, as well as grinding out a tricky win at Stoke, the Blues find themselves ready to face Barnsley in the 6th Round. Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton still remain in the competition but City will certainly see this as their most realistic focus for success now. A season trophyless would be viewed as catastrophic by all at the club, especially given City’s new found stature since winning the FA Cup two seasons ago.

Would it be too much to ask for Mancini to keep his managerial role should they not win a competition this season? In today’s footballing climate of knee-jerk reactions and constant interchanging of managers the answer is almost certainly not the one Roberto would be hoping for.

Since being jettisoned into the spotlight of European football in October 2010 following his remarkable hat-trick against Inter Milan, Gareth Bale has gone from strength to strength.

The year 2013 has seen Bale continue to churn out a string of similar profile boosting, eyebrow raising performances for both club and country, the latest of which being in Tottenham’s 2-1 Europa League victory against Lyon which saw Bale turn in two flashy freekick goals from range. Of course performing with such panache on the big stage week in, week out naturally brings the media whirlwind out in force. Jamie Redknapp was quoted recently as saying Bale was up there with the Messi’s and Ronaldo’s of this world, describing the scintillating wideman as “absolutely world class”. Soccer Saturday’s Jeff Stelling then usurped Redknapp’s words of praise just days later stating “it’s got to the stage where you can say that Bale is better than Ronaldo because he’s simply unplayable”. Harry Redknapp, having had firsthand experience of Bale’s expertise as ex manager of Tottenham, has also stuck his neck on the line several times hailing Bale as the next Messi or Ronaldo. Whether Gareth can be pigeon-holed into the category where Ronaldo and Messi have sat unopposed for the past 5 years remains to be seen, although it cannot be denied that the hype surrounding Bale is gathering pace at an alarming rate and unlikely to slow down any time soon.

Despite being centric to what can only be described as a media love-in right now things haven’t always been rosy for Bale during his Tottenham tenure however. In what later became known as ‘The Curse of Gareth Bale’ it took him 25 appearances for the north London club before being on the winning side. Nevertheless, after producing a succession of consistently excellent performances this season (notching an impressive 13 EPL goals in 23 appearances along the way) it is clear to see Bale is certainly bringing nothing but good fortune to AVB’s team currently. Bale, well renowned for his strength, pace and effective nature in one-on-one battles between attacker and defender, is surprisingly still only 23 and will turn 24 in July. Though whether the left-sided dynamo will still be a Spurs player then is a question that only time will answer. If reports are to be believed, both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are said to be interested in his signature and I’m sure there are more global footballing superpowers monitoring his performance on a weekly basis.

The idea of Madrid being interested in a Tottenham player is generally regarded as unsurprising by most, specifically in light of the events of August 2012. Following the transfer of a certain Croatian midfield maestro from Tottenham to Madrid, a partnership was revealed between the two clubs and subsequently widely publicised. The partnership agreement between the two clubs was heavily dumbed down with fluffy terms such as ‘respect of best practices’ and ‘commercial relationships’ to make the eventuality of Luka Modric’s transfer to Madrid a slightly less sensitive subject for Spurs fans. However the gravitas of the situation largely boils down to Madrid getting first refusal on Tottenham’s players and furthermore makes the Bale to Madrid transfer ever more likely. Not that Tottenham will leave empty-handed of course. A mix between the contemporary inflated price tag and the furor currently surrounding Bale leads to speculation that an exchange in excess of €50m could take place should the deal go ahead.

The question remains however, should a Madrid or Munich splash such extensive cash on Bale would they be acquiring the services of another Messi or Ronaldo? The answer simply put, is no. Undoubtedly they would be purchasing an incredibly rare talent and a player who, on his day, is a natural game changer and match winner. However they wouldn’t be purchasing a player likely to be pushing the two aforementioned footballing giants for the end of year world football awards anytime soon. In a world where fluidity and versatility must be innate in the modern-day midfielder what exactly sets Bale apart from the likes of Cavani, Ozil or Ribery? Undoubtedly the comparisons between Bale and Ronaldo during his EPL tenure cannot be disputed, their explosive nature up and down the flanks are second to none. However aside from said lazy comparisons is there really any evidence (minus two and half seasons worth of consistency) that corroborates with the idea of the Welsh White Hart Lane wonderboy being on par with Messi or Ronaldo? It’s clear to see Gareth has the talent, the ability and the mentality to be one of the Premier League’s best but Redknapp, Stelling and co. may be overstepping the mark to claim he’s in the top three players in the world right now.

In today’s modern football world, we are all programmed to lap up anything mentioning minimum fee release clauses or grandiose match-highest earner contracts. Therefore the recent trend of young English footballers being involved in huge mega money transfers has been something that we’ve all been largely exposed to; watching on partly in excitement and partly in bemusement.

Wilfried Zaha recently hit the headlines following the announcement of his proposed deal to Manchester United, joining up with the Red Devils from summer 2013 for a fee of up to £15m. The reasoning for why English players go for such extortionate prices mainly boils down to the ever-impending ‘homegrown’ rules looming over the EPL, whereby each club must have so many homegrown players within their 25 man squad. Meanwhile a shift in supporter ideology has also played a significant part. After the boom of foreign imports in the 1990’s, fans have recently been found adopting a ‘back to basics’ approach. The sexiness and style of signing a playmaker from Southern Europe or a speedy South American winger has somewhat lost a little of its glossiness since the turn of the decade, with fans appreciating local talent more and more.

Wilfried Zaha, whilst born in the Ivory Coast and spending most of his childhood in South London, has been capped at international level for England and played all of his professional footballing career in England. While he may not be a local Manchester lad like the Danny Welbecks and Paul Scholes’ of the team, I guess that’s close enough to constitute a local talent. Zaha, who can play both in an attacking left-wing or striker role, put in an incredible display in Palace’s equally impressive 2-1 win against Man Utd in the 2011 Carling Cup quarter final and has since gone from strength-to-strength notching up a handful of big name clubs vying for his signature. The jury is still out on whether Zaha will be a success under the authoritarian management of Sir Alex Ferguson and the weight of a £15m price tag. Although he has undoubtedly shown ability in abundance since his debut for Crystal Palace in March 2010, history has proven big money English youngsters don’t always proceed in living up to the potential they clearly had at some spell during their career.

The English Premier League has been in no shortage of clubs relinquishing their favoured homegrown youngsters over the past few seasons in exchange for often unfathomable price tags. Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson cost Liverpool a total sum of £36m in summer 2011, not forgetting Andy Carroll’s infamous £35m switch to Merseyside that same year. Connor Wickham similarly made a £13m switch to the Premier League with Sunderland, scoring once in his 22 appearances in his one and a half seasons as a Black Cats player so far. Even as recent as Summer 2012, Manchester City splashed out £20m for the services of bit-part squad players Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair. To say the pairing have been marginal at best would be doing them justice. It is undeniable that a lot of the risks taken on these homegrown British players have backfired over the years. Whether this be down to the player not being able to carry the pressure of an astronomical price tag or whether it’s more a casualty of not having the ability to play at the top level of English football, it cannot be argued these risks don’t always pay off.

However, as long as it is attractive for English teams to field English players, and as long as the FA continue to push for a football league sourced from grassroots level, these transfers will continue to roll in. To suggest that this is a problem would be misguided and the passion sparked on from local talent being pitted against each other in traditional English derbies is something even the most passé football fan could not turn his/her nose up at. Nevertheless it is a scary prospect to think that players can be sold on for in excess of £10-20m without even stepping foot onto a Premier League ground and furthermore begs the question of how much Jack Wilshere or Raheem Sterling would be ‘worth’ should they be made available on the transfer market.