Man City and Man Utd squad market values - how Guardiola's side have dominated since 2016

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On Sunday two of English football’s biggest clubs will lock horns as Manchester United play host to Manchester City at Old Trafford. As has become typical in recent years, Pep Guardiola’s title contenders take on a cross-city rival that remains inconsistent on and off the pitch, but is still perfectly capable of causing an upset in one-off games. The Red Devils have won two of the last five showdowns between these two sides in the English top-flight and Guardiola will be well aware that anything but all three points will play havoc with his side’s title aspirations. 

However, while Man Utd may prove to be a formidable opponent on the pitch on Sunday, there’s little doubt that since Guardiola started calling the shots at the Etihad Stadium in 2016 the rivalry between these two Manchester clubs has heavily fallen in favour of the light blue half of the city. In the time it has taken the Spanish manager to win 11 domestic trophies and the Champions League with Man City, Man Utd have worked their way through five head coaches and have just two League Cups and a Europa League trophy to show for their troubles. And if that isn’t enough proof of Man City dominance under Guardiola, both club’s squad market values over the past eight years certainly underlies the points even further. 

How Man Utd and Man City’s market values have changed since 2016

When Guardiola began his tenure at Man City his squad had an overall market value of €501.9 million. Although that was already higher than Man Utd’s squad market value of €422.8m, the gap between the two clubs was relatively small. And that balanced rivalry on and off the pitch seemingly remained in place until 2018, when Guardiola won his first league title with City and undoubtedly went from strength to strength with the club. 

Indeed, at the start of the 2017/18 season the gap between Man City and Man Utd’s squad values stood at just €76.8m but by the time Guardiola had wrapped up his first successful league campaign that difference had ballooned to €207.5m as Man City’s squad broke through the €1 billion figure for the first time. Since then Guardiola’s squad have maintained a comfortable lead over their rivals when it comes to market values, with Man Utd tending to hover around the €800m mark and Man City consistently boasting squad values of over €1b. Most worrying for Man Utd fans is the fact that the current gap between the two squads now stands at €387.4m, which is the largest difference between the two clubs since Guardiola arrived in English football. 

How much have Man Utd and Man City spent on transfer fees since 2016?

Fans of the Red Devils would undoubtedly argue that much of Guardiola’s success and the market values of his squad can largely be put down to the money that has been pumped into Man City since the club was taken over by the Abu Dhabi royal family. And while that money has undoubtedly had a transformative effect on the club, it doesn’t entirely explain why Man City have managed to consistently outperform Man Utd on and off the pitch in recent years. This is abundantly clear when we look at how much money has been spent on transfer fees since Guardiola moved to Manchester in 2016. 

Indeed, since the summer of 2016 only Chelsea have spent more money on transfer fees than Man City, who’ve worked up a bill of no less than €1.49b on transfers. However, that figure is only marginally higher than Man Utd’s own spending sum of €1.38b in the same period. And, crucially, when we look at the net spend of both clubs we find that Man Utd’s outgoings outweigh their income from player sales by an incredible €1.04b. In notable contrast, Man City’s net spend stands at €801m, which is €243m less than their rivals. And while that may not seem like a huge figure over the course of nine years, it does underline the fact that when it comes to buying players and building squads, Man Utd have actually spent more than their rivals and only have themselves to blame for falling behind Guardiola’s all-conquering side.