Worst transfers in Manchester City history: only Mangala has been worse than Wilfried Bony

Fourfourtwo has ranked the worst signings in the history of top English clubs. The total list of Manchester City players is 33 names. In the list we can also find the Ballon d’Or winner George Weah. But let’s take a look at the worst five.

5. Yeah

With the new owners also came big money. One of the first reinforcements was the Brazilian striker Jo, who arrived in 2008 for €24 million from CSKA Moscow. He scored just 3 goals in the first six months, so he was sent on loan to Everton the very next winter.

He suffered the same fate from the winter of 2009 until the summer of 2010. So the Brazilian had a second attempt to show that he had something in him. Unfortunately, he scored only 3 goals for the season again. His total career at Cityiens thus stands at 42 games, 6 goals and 5 assists.

4. Benjani

The Zimbabwean striker came to Manchester City in January 2008 from Portsmouth, for whom he scored 20 goals in 95 games, and so the Manchester club put €5.2 million on the table for him. In the first six months of the year, only 3 goals came from that, one of them into the Manchester United net.

The next season was worse. He didn’t even get on the bench most of the time and scored 3 goals again in 12 games. He spent the 2009/10 season on loan at Sunderland. Stats? 0+0. So in the summer of 2010 he packed his bags and joined Blackburn for free.

3.Jack Rodwell

The defensive midfielder or central defender was at one time considered a great talent. In 2012, he was snapped up by Manchester City, who bought him from Everton for €15 million. Unfortunately, his career not only in the Citizens jersey was curtailed by injuries.

During the 2012/13 season he played only 670 minutes due to injury, and even just 337 minutes in the following season, which was his last as a Manchester City player. It wasn’t even that he wasn’t getting opportunities, but by the time he got fit from injury he was injured again and it was like this for 2 whole years. So he left for Sunderland for 12.5 million euros in the summer of 2014.

2. Wilfried Bony

This is a matter of the heart for Sparta fans. The skilful striker, who helped Sparta to titles, played at Manchester City alongside Sergio Aguero, for example. The transfer took place in the winter of 2015, the Ivorian footballer cost the Citizens 32.5 million euros.

He scored 2 goals in his first 10 games. In the following season, unfortunately, he did not convince the club’s management even with 9 goals and 6 assists. During his time in the blue jersey, he won only one league cup. After the season he moved to Stoke City, where he spent a season on loan. In 2017, he returned back to Swansea, but he didn’t build on his previous performances.

1. Eliaquim Mangala

The French defender arrived at Manchester City in the summer of 2014 for €45 million. Mangala particularly impressed on his debut against Chelsea when he delivered a very good performance. However, he lasted only 2 years in the Citizens team, after which he travelled on loan for 3 years and left as a free agent in the final.

The key factors that influenced his departure were the high salary the Frenchman was receiving. Add to that the very below average performances on the pitch, and we find that in Mangala’s case there was nothing to lose.

Source: Fourfourtwo, Manchester City, Premier League