City’s last 10 record signings

This is a guest post by Celia Roche.

Raheem Sterling’s record-breaking move to Manchester City has again demonstrated how the club are able to compete financially for the best players.

In becoming the most expensive British footballer in history, Sterling’s transfer from Liverpool has also seen City smash their own transfer record by around £10 million.

Sterling was quick to demonstrate what he is bringing with him by scoring after just a few minutes on his first appearance for the club in a friendly against Roma in Australia. But, given the outlay lavished on the England international, City will be expecting much more than a goal in a friendly in the years to come.

Yet history hasn’t always been kind to the players who have been City’s record signing. Here, we take a look at the last 10 players who cost City a record fee prior to the deal for Sterling.

MICHAEL ROBINSON

Perhaps the one consolation for Robinson is that he didn’t have to carry the burden of being City’s record signing for long after being signed for around £750,000 from Preston North End in the summer of 1979. He was just 21 at the time of the move and he had no prior experience of playing in the top flight when he was signed by City boss Malcolm Allison. He was unable to make any impact at City and he joined Brighton for £400,000 just a year later. The striker went on to play for Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup final against Manchester United before joining Liverpool that summer. He was part of the Liverpool squad which won the league, the League Cup and the European Cup in the 1983/84 season before moving on again.

STEVE DALEY

Daley joined City not long after Robinson and he cost a British record £1,450,277 from Wolves which left many people in the game staggered. Given his contribution during his time at City, it’s not hard to see why there was such disbelief at the amount that was paid. Allison and chairman Peter Swales are both said to blame each other for the fee being so high and Daley’s record at Wolves certainly didn’t suggest he would be worth so much. He was a solid goalscoring midfielder at Wolves, but hadn’t played for England, and had won just the League Cup in his career. The departure of several key players from City, such as Asa Hartford and Peter Barnes, didn’t help Daley to impress, nor did playing on the left wing. But for the money, City would have still expected a return of more than four goals and Daley left the club to join the Seattle Sounders less than two years later. He was named the ‘biggest waste of money in football history’ by The Observer, although their claim it was part of one-upmanship with United is a bit disingenuous given Bryan Robson didn’t move to Old Trafford until 1981!

KEITH CURLE

City’s record signing remained Daley for 12 years until the club spent £2.5 million to make Curle the joint-most expensive defender in the country in August 1991. Curle was 27 when he joined from Wimbledon and at a prime age in his career as he took Colin Hendry’s place in the team. He certainly justified the outlay in his first season – the last before the start of the Premier League – as City finished fifth in the table. Curle was also called up to the England squad, although he wasn’t helped by manager Graham Taylor when he was played at right-back against Denmark in the 1992 European Championship. He was subsequently handed the captaincy at City, but was unable to prevent the club from being relegated from the top flight in 1996. That same year, he lost the captain’s armband, was put on the transfer list and subsequently joined Wolves. Curle made over 200 appearances for City and probably did prove he was worth the fee during the course of his five years at the club.

LEE BRADBURY

Some of the names on this list never cease to surprise and Bradbury’s is one of those. Bradbury cost £3 million from Portsmouth in 1997 when he was signed by then manager Frank Clark. He had recently turned 22 and had scored 17 goals in all competitions for Pompey in the previous season, including the equaliser in a 2-1 home win over City. He made his City debut against his former club, but he failed to score in his first eight appearances. Goals against Norwich and Swindon followed before Bradbury was ruled out for nearly four months with a back strain. When he returned from injury, he was unable to score regularly enough to avert the humiliation of relegation to the third tier. He did score in his final two appearances of the season against QPR and Stoke, who finished 21st and 23rd in the table, respectively. In October 1998, Bradbury joined Crystal Palace for £1.5million and less than a year later he was back at Portsmouth for a tenth of the fee they had sold him for. Who knows what might have happened had it not been for Bradbury’s back injury?

PAULO WANCHOPE

A mercurial talent, Wanchope announced his arrival in English football by scoring a memorable goal for Derby County on his debut against United at Old Trafford in 1997. He later moved to West Ham before heading to City for a club record £3.65 million in the summer of 2000 after just one season at Upton Park. Wanchope scored a hat-trick against Sunderland on his first home appearance for City and scored nine goals in all that year as the club were relegated from the Premier League. However, that first season wasn’t without incident as he was placed on the transfer list by Joe Royle for his reaction to being substituted in an FA Cup tie against Coventry. It was Wanchope, though, who eventually stuck around and he scored 11 goals en route to City winning the First Division title in 2001/02. But Wanchope missed City’s first season back in the Premier League through injury before returning for the 2003/04 campaign. He scored a last minute equaliser at Fulham and a decisive only goal at home to Newcastle late in the campaign to help City stay up. He also scored two in the 5-1 win over Everton on the final day. That was his final appearance for City as he joined Malaga that summer, but with 27 goals in 64 league games for the club, he returned the investment in him.

JON MACKEN

City failed to heed the lesson of spending a record amount on a striker from Preston when Macken joined the club for £5 million in the spring of 2002. He had been a regular scorer for Preston and was an integral member of the team which won the Second Division title in 2000. Macken was also quick to make an impact for City, scoring on his debut in a 2-0 win at Bradford just 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute. He scored five goals in eight appearances, including against Stockport and Barnsley, who he would later play for, at the  end of the 2001/02 season. But stepping up to the Premier League proved too much for the former United youngster. Injuries restricted Macken to just five appearances and no goals in the 2002/03 season and he managed only two Premier League goals during his time at City. But he was still involved in a couple of memorable matches in City’s history. In February 2004, Macken scored the last-minute winner as 10-man City came from 3-0 down at half-time to beat Tottenham 4-3 in a thrilling FA Cup replay at White Hart Lane. A month later, Macken scored the second goal as City thrashed United 4-1 in the derby. His only other Premier League goal came in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa in November 2004 and he left for Palace the following year for £1.1 million.

NICOLAS ANELKA

With City back in the Premier League, Anelka was the club’s stellar summer signing in 2002 as he joined from Paris Saint Germain in a £13 million deal. Anelka had finished the previous season on loan at Liverpool and he quickly found his feet back in the Premier League. He scored 14 goals in his first year at City and opened the scoring after just five minutes of the last derby at Maine Road as Shaun Goater’s famous double secured a 3-1 win over United. Anelka also scored both goals, including a last-minute winner, in a 2-1 victory at Liverpool late in the season. In his second year at the club, Anelka rattled in 25 goals in all competitions. He scored a hat-trick against Aston Villa and also scored against his former club Arsenal. However, he was then sent off after scoring for grabbing Ashley Cole. In the 2004/05 season, Anelka scored the goal which inflicted Jose Mourinho’s first defeat as Chelsea manager, but the seemingly nomadic Frenchman was on the move again in January 2005 when he left for Fenerbahce in a £7 million deal. He later played for Bolton, Chelsea and West Brom in the Premier League and, while City ultimately took a loss on Anelka, his record of 46 goals in 103 appearances puts him in the bracket of one of the club’s better striker signings.

JO

A striker who doesn’t fall into the category of one of City’s better signings is Jo. Announced as a club record capture from CSKA Moscow in 2008, for a fee reported to be in the region of £19 million but since disputed, Jo came nowhere near close to repaying that fee. His only goal in 21 Premier League appearances for City was the opener in the 6-0 mauling of Portsmouth in September 2008. He made such little impact in those first few months that he spent the second half of his debut season in England on loan at Everton. Jo returned to Everton the following season, but that loan was cut short and he was farmed out to Galatasaray. He was given a chance in the 2010/11 campaign, but was still unable to find his feet in front of goal or in the Premier League. Jo did score against West Brom in the League Cup, and against Red Bull Salzburg and Juventus in the Europa League, but he returned to Brazil in 2011 to join Internacional. Someone, somewhere, though, saw something in Jo as he played for Brazil at last year’s World Cup.

ROBINHO

It started with a goal 13 minutes into his debut against Chelsea and finished with a goal away to Scunthorpe as Robinho tried to prove he was worthy of the £32.5 million British record fee City paid to Real Madrid in September 2008. The first marquee signing by the current owners, Robinho had initially appeared likely to join Chelsea and his comments prior to signing for City hardly encouraged confidence. Still, it was all about doing the talking on the pitch and Robinho did that when he scored on his debut, although City lost the game 3-1. Robinho scored a hat-trick against Stoke and in an excellent home win over Arsenal, but he then went 17 games without a goal in the second half of the season. Fitness troubles also hampered the forward as he struggled to demonstrate his undoubted ability on a consistent basis. In January 2010, Robinho marked his last appearance for City with a goal in the 4-2 FA Cup win at Glanford Park. He then joined Santos on loan before completing a permanent move to AC Milan that summer.

SERGIO AGUERO

The undoubted success story of City’s record signings and the one Sterling will be hoping to emulate. Aguero has scored 78 goals in 103 Premier League starts since joining City from Atletico Madrid four years ago and it’s no wonder he’s 3/1 with betfair at the time of writing to finish top scorer this season. His class was instantly apparent when he scored twice on his debut as a substitute in a 4-0 win over Swansea City. He then scored a hat-trick against Wigan on just his fourth appearance before also finding the target against United in the joyous 6-1 demolition at Old Trafford. But that first season will always be remembered for his last-minute winner at home to QPR on the final day which won the title for City. Aguero started slowly in his second season, scoring just twice in his first 10 appearances, but he did score the winner in the derby at Old Trafford that season. The Argentine continued his love of scoring against United by netting twice in the 4-1 home win in 2013/14 as he embarked on a run of 25 goals in 21 appearances before injury struck. Last season, Aguero scored the winner at home to United, all four goals against Tottenham and also hit a hat-trick against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. He finished the campaign with nine goals in his last seven appearances and, while £38 million was a lot of money to spend on him, Aguero has certainly repaid that fee many times over.