On The Ball | Manchester United must spend as wisely as rivals City and PSG if they want to keep up
- At their best, Solskjaer’s men beat anyone, but they have to tighten up on their player ins and outs like Europe’s best
- Rashford, Martial and Greenwood are promising youngsters but they need to recruit more Fernandes-level talent
Reality struck this week in European football. PSG’s 4-1 victory at the Camp Nou was a watershed, showing the Parisians have the quality to outclass Barcelona away, and the Catalans, so long a pre-eminent force with 13 consecutive Champions League quarter-finals, will not add another this year unless they can produce a comeback even more dramatic than 2017. PSG are better, Barça weaker and the image of Gerard Pique trying to cling onto Kylian Mbappe’s shirt was a microcosm of the shift.
PSG have a rich state behind them, Barça are supporter-owned, but the presidents those supporters voted for made too many rash financial decisions. Covid-19 exacerbated the dire financial position at a club who have the biggest stadium in football and had attracted more free-spending football tourists to games than any other.
In England, Manchester City moved 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League. Everton played well, but City blew them away. Manchester United played well against Everton recently, yet let them equalise in the last seconds. Small margins; big differences.
City’s winning machine is more ominous with Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero back and their revival coincided with champions Liverpool’s two wins in 10 league games, while neighbours United stuttered after hitting top of the league. Liverpool have regressed, United are improving, but City are well ahead.
That PSG and City, football’s two best-funded clubs, are rising is little surprise. Money always talked in football – sometimes too loudly. It’s been a year since City’s two-year European ban for breaching Financial Fair Play rules, but such bans are seldom upheld and City’s was quashed.
