Recall the first five reinforcements Manchester City brought in after being bought by a new owner in 2008

Manchester City got new owners in 2008 and things started to happen. Below, you can take a look at the first five arrivals made by the club’s wealthy management.

The club from the blue part of Manchester is currently one of the best clubs in the world and is an attractive destination for world-renowned footballers. Of course, not everything was immediate and even the journey to the top always has to start somewhere.

Robinho

The Brazilian winger transferred to England from Real Madrid for £32.5 million. Robinho was a highly talented footballer and was among those who were predicted to have a huge future. Unfortunately, the transfer to Manchester City alone showed his priorities at the time and football it really wasn’t.

The Brazilian footballer later admitted that he didn’t actually know that he was transferring to Manchester City because he didn’t know that there was another club in Manchester. Despite this, he had a successful first season in which he played over 40 games and scored 15 goals.

He became the club’s top scorer and the fourth overall top scorer in the Premier League at the time. The following season, Robinho’s career took a turn for the worse.

He missed the start of the season for three months due to injury. He missed 12 league games. His only goal on his return was scored against Scunthorpe United in the FA Cup. He even managed to be withdrawn as a substitute in a game against Everton.

Since leaving Manchester he has become a footballing journeyman. He has successively played for AC Milan, Santos, Guangzhou, Atletico-MG, Sivasspor, Basaksehir and now he is back at Santos.

Wayne Bridge

He joined the club in the January transfer window from Chelsea for £10m. For the first two seasons he was one of the regulars in the starting line-up.

Over time, the English defender has paid the price for the club’s ever-increasing ambitions and the arrival of two new faces on the left edge of defence. Manchester was first strengthened by Kolarov and later by Gaël Clichy.

He has played just eight games for City in total over the last two seasons and has finished both on loan since January. First at West Ham and then Sunderland. After engagements at Brighton and Reading, he retired from active career in 2014.

Craig Bellamy

The Welsh footballer came to the club in the same transfer window as Wayne Bridge and the transfer cost £14 million.

During his time at the club, he played 51 games and scored fifteen goals. Bellamy, however, was not there for any of the cup successes that started to come after his departure.

The former striker spent his last active years where he started and that was at Cardiff. After that, he was a terrier for Anderlecht’s youth team, where he was brought in by Vincent Kompany.

Their collaboration continues as Bellamy is his assistant on the bench of second division Burnley.

Nigel de Jong

The transfer of the Dutch midfielder was announced on the same day as Bellamy’s transfer. It was an investment of £16 million.

He stayed at the club for five years, during which he managed 137 games. Above all, for three and a half years he was one of the indispensable pillars of the Citizens line-up before he left the club in 2012. De Jong won three trophies there, which included winning the Premier League in the 2011-12 season.

He has changed a fair amount of employers since leaving. He first worked at AC Milan, then LA Galaxy, Galatasaray, Mainz 05, Al Ahli and most recently at Al-Shahania. At the moment, the former footballer is thirty-eight years old.

Shay Given

Manchester City’s first five signings have strengthened every position on the pitch. The latest to head to the club shortly before the end of the January transfer window was Shay Given.

The Irish goalkeeper arrived from Newcastle for nearly six million pounds and immediately became the club’s clear number one. That status lasted him well into the following season. He spent a total of three years at the club, during which he played a total of 69 games in all competitions.

He was replaced in goal by Joe Hart in 2010 and Given went on loan to Aston Villa a year later. He ended his active career in 2018 at the age of forty-two.

Source: Wikipedia, Transfermarkt