Hehe, will just consider this as joke of the day sha. Manuel Pellegrini insists Manchester City don't buy English players because they are too expensive and claims Liverpool starlet Raheem Sterling would cost €139 million.
The Premier League champions have come under fire in recent years for
the lack of domestic and home-grown players in their starting XI, with
James Milner the only England international who regularly features for
the first-team.
But Pellegrini is adamant that Financial Fair
Play restrictions prevent City from pursuing the best young English
talent because selling clubs demand a big premium on the cream of their
domestic crop.
"It is important to have English players but can you sign them?" the Chilean told the Daily Mail.
"You are talking about trying to sign players from clubs that won’t
sell them. Let’s say you want to buy [Luke] Shaw: €49m for a left-back.
I’m not sure about spending that much money when we have [Gael] Clichy
and [Aleksandar] Kolarov.
"Can you get [Raheem] Sterling? Maybe
if you go to Liverpool with €139m you can. If I want an English player
in the position of [David] Silva who is there? Maybe [Wayne] Rooney, but
who else?"
Pellegrini also had words of praise for Milner, who
is yet to agree a new contract at City and is free to leave at the end
of this season.
"It would be very difficult to find a more
complete player than [James] Milner’ he added. "There are players who
are better technically. There are quicker players. There are players who
head the ball better.
"But show me a player who does all the things that Milner does well and there isn’t one.
"And whatever position I put him in he plays well: at full-back – which
is the only place he doesn’t like playing– attacking midfield, wide, or
as a striker. I used him this season as a forward and the team was
scoring three goals a game.
"You leave him on the bench and he
is furious, but watch him during the game, encouraging and shouting. And
in the next training session he kills it for 95 minutes.
"It’s very difficult to find another Milner – an intelligent player, with big balls and a massive heart."
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