Pep Guardiola has defended the lavish spending by Manchester City in the summer.

City have been the most active in the summer transfer window after bringing in several talent worth £ 222 million. Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, and Danilo are some of the players who have joined City in the summer. Only a few years ago, the club were found guilty of failing to comply with the financial fair play regulations. Yet, Guardiola has been backed quite impressively in the market by the club owners after having spent a reasonable sum of money even last summer.

Most of the signings have been in defence, as Pep Guardiola saw his team concede numerous goals in the league last season. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager says that this vast expenditure from the club is primarily due to the way the transfer market has shaped up in the last few months. Prices of the players have gone up quite drastically and this has led to City overpaying for players like Walker – in the own admission of Guardiola. Kyle Walker has been one of the most expensive defenders in the world after joining City from Tottenham for £ 50 million. Yet, he will be suspended for the upcoming game against Bournemouth after receiving a sending-off against Everton.

“Everyone who makes a deal would like to do it in two minutes. But sometimes the clubs take their time, they make their strategy to earn more money and it’s normal.In that moment we decided to do that, so I think Bernardo would be more expensive now. Maybe not just Bernardo, maybe Kyle, maybe Mendy or maybe others would be more expensive now.It is difficult in the transfer market now but it was difficult before. You have to spend more money to buy the players right now – not just Manchester City, all the clubs,” said Guardiola.