Roberto Mancini

Twelve months ago, his predecessor Mark Hughes had spent huge sums of money bringing the likes of Gareth Barry, Emmanuel Adebayor and Joleon Lescott to the club.

City were expected to battle for the title but a few months on Hughes was sacked, Mancini brought in and the club ended the season outside the Premier League top four.

After a long battle they were pipped to fourth spot and Champions League qualification by Spurs (33/1 to win the Premier League) though the club’s fans can take solace in the fact they lost the same amount of games as their rivals Manchester United throughout the season and it was too many draws which led to their downfall.

This summer, Mancini has already spent around £60 million bringing in Jerome Boateng, Yaya Toure and David Silva and claims all three are “good players” and a real “investment for the club”.

The Italian manager knows his side will battle both domestically and in the Europa League next season and he has issued a rallying cry by declaring he wants his players to bring silverware back to Eastlands next season.

“I think it will be a good season for us. I think we have a squad for success, and our supporters deserve this,” said Mancini.

“Up to now we have got Boateng, Yaya Toure and David Silva, all three of them good players. And Yaya has fantastic experience with Barcelona, where he won a lot of trophies.

“We need to have the players if we want to reduce the gap with the other teams. We need to bring in players with good quality. Now it is time that some trophies came to this club.”

Mancini has been linked with a number of players this summer and it looks like his spending may not end anytime soon.

One of his reported targets is Lazio defender Aleksandar Kolarov, also a player known to be admired by Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, however the Italian club’s president has said he wants £18.7 million for the Serbia international.

Another player strongly linked with City is Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli, who Mancini managed during his time at the San Siro.

City and also neighbours Manchester United (12/5 to win Premier League title) are interested in the 19-year-old, but if it came to a bidding war between the two rivals it is likely that Mancini would win the day.

Whatever happens, it seems City are prepared to spend big to go for the Premier League title, which could see a lot of their rivals nervously looking at Eastlands come the start of the season.

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