How Bournemouth's spending compares to Manchester City's

By Alice Piper

Friday 25 August 2017 08:47, UK

As Bournemouth prepare to host Manchester City on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, we take a look at the stark contrast in transfer money spent by the Premier League sides…

With Pep Guardiola aiming to better the third-place finish his side managed during his first season at the helm, Manchester City have spent more money during this summer's transfer window than Bournemouth have in their 118-year history.

Guardiola last month defended the club's Premier League record £200m expenditure, claiming his £120m outlay on full-backs was necessary in the current transfer market.

City spent £50m on right-back Kyle Walker and £49.2m on left-back Benjamin Mendy. In contrast Bournemouth - City's opponents this weekend - completed a club-record signing of former Chelsea defender Nathan Ake for £20m.

That's less than half the amount of money City paid for their own club-record signing, Kevin De Bruyne, in 2015.

It's a reflection of the huge gulf between the sides when it comes to transfer spending. In total, City's top five most expensive signings cost £231m, whereas Bournemouth's five most expensive players amount to just £63m in transfer fees.

But City's big spending doesn't end with those top five players. A big-money Manchester City signing who doesn't even make it into the top five is £34.7m Ederson, who became the world's most expensive goalkeeper this summer. He has replaced Claudio Bravo - who arrived from Barcelona for £17.1m last year - as City's No 1.

In comparison, Bournemouth's No 1 Asmir Begovic joined the Cherries for less than a third of the price of Ederson, having kept 50 clean sheets from 192 league appearances since making his Premier League debut with Portsmouth in 2009.