With several new signings this transfer window, Stewart Robson tips Man City to win the Prem in Pep Guardiola's second season at the helm. Stewart Robson shares his thoughts on how Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus should be utilised by Pep Guardiola this season.
MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola says he is not under any greater pressure after finishing his first season at Manchester City without a trophy.
City have spent around £200 million on new signings this summer after finishing 15 points behind champions Chelsea in the Premier League last season.
Many pundits have made City their preseason favourites but, ahead of their Premier League opener at Brighton on Saturday, Guardiola does not feel under any more strain to deliver silverware.
"Last season we were [favourites] too and we finished 15 points behind," he told a news conference. "Last season in my first news conference we were the favourites so nothing has changed. I was confident last season too."
Asked about extra pressure, he added: "It's the same pressure as I had last season. We are here to win the games and titles. The big failure now takes one week in football.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side finished 15 points behind Chelsea last season.
"People say in the first news conference we are favourites. We have to deal with that and handle that. We are going to see at the end of the season what happens knowing how difficult it is."
Guardiola will travel to Brighton with new signings Bernardo Silva, Ederson Moraes, Kyle Walker and Danilo, although Benjamin Mendy is still working his way back to fitness after a thigh injury.
Four of those new players cost more than £40m but that pales into insignificance compared to the €222m (£197m) Paris Saint-Germain paid Barcelona for Neymar.
The City boss says that transfer fees cannot continue to grow at the current case and expects them to level off at some point.
"I think it is unsustainable. Sooner or later it's going to finish," he said. "For example, hopefully next season I will be here and we are not going to spend how we spent this season. In the next three or four years Manchester City will buy one, two, maybe three players. But not what happened this summer.
"We needed to do that because it was one of the oldest teams in Europe not just the Premier League and we need to change it. We were not able with those players to find a solution. But the solution is not changing players every season. The group of players this season are going to stay here for a long time."
Jonathan is ESPN FC's Manchester City correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @jonnysmiffy.
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Source: espn.co.uk