London – Tension is already growing between Roberto Mancini and Manchester City’s new executives from Barcelona over their vision for the club.
Chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who held similar posts at the Nou Camp before moving to England this season, have prioritised building up City’s academy to try to emulate Barcelona’s famous La Masia.
It was there that Lionel Messi was recruited as a 13-year-old and developed into the best player in the world.
But Mancini is fuming because he feels the benefits will not be seen during his five-year contract. He believes signing players in their early teens is a wasted investment because the quality of City’s junior coaching is inferior to that of Barcelona.
He fears the financial outlay on the academy will stop him signing up Europe’s best teenagers who he can push into the first team within two seasons.
The difference in strategy is causing friction, with Mancini aware Begiristain wants all City teams eventually to play the tiki-taka style favoured by Barcelona.
Mancini prefers to play a 4-2-3-1 and is sticking to his guns.
City’s financial results last week showed a annual loss of £97million and, while that is a big improvement on the previous year, the club know they have to fit in with Uefa financial fairplay regulations.
The stand-off is unlikely to lead to a major bust-up in January and Mancini respects Begiristain’s ability to recruit first-team players more highly than his predecessor, Brian Marwood, who oversaw the signings of Javi Garcia, Scott Sinclair and Jack Rodwell in the last window. But their relationship is a ticking timebomb, with Mancini believing the £37m contract he signed in the summer would lead to greater control.
However, the Abu Dhabi owners have not brought in Soriano and Begiristain to be dictated to by the manager.
As a sop to Mancini, he is likely to get the top-class midfielder he has asked for in the new year.
Italy’s Daniele de Rossi and Corinthians’ Paulinho, in action on Sunday against Chelsea in the Club World Cup final, are under consideration, with Yaya Toure missing much of January playing for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Other buys will have to be self-financed by sales of squad players such as Joleon Lescott, Sinclair or Edin Dzeko.
Mancini has made it clear he is unhappy with some of Begiristain’s plans and has shown less interest in City’s elite development squad, who are bottom of their Barclays Under-21 Premier League group. – Mail On Sunday