Owner of the club since 2008 and financial backer of the ‘citizen’ project, the sheikh of the United Arab Emirates had not seen his team in the stadium for 13 years, until he attended the final of the League of Nations on Saturday. champions. During the seven seasons with the Spanish DT, the institution spent more than 1,200 million euros on transfers.
The wait is over. The main objective of the project Man City, when the investor sheikhs of the United Arab Emirates took control of the institution, it was to be European champion (an obvious parallel is marked with the history of PSG and Qatar). And on Saturday, he finally got it. Los Ciudadanos reached the Champions League for the first time beating Inter Milan in Istanbul with Rodrigo’s goal becoming historic and unforgettable, as well as Kun Agüero’s goal against QPR for the Premier League title in 2012 .
At the national level, the City is a more than competitive cast and host of local championships. But he needed to take a step forward on continental ground. He was close in 2021, but fell in the Champions League final against Chelsea. Two years later, he was able to do it. In this way to Olympus by the sky bluesThere are several protagonists. One of them is as picturesque as it is powerful.
The Sheikh’s presence made news in the final on Saturday Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahayan, the owner of the British team, who turned up at a stadium to watch his team for the first time in 13 years. For obvious reasons, his figure did not go unnoticed at the Atatürk Olympics in Istanbul. Who is the financial manager of the impressive Emirati project that finally reached port?
Sheikh Mansour is the owner of the Abu Dhabi United Group fund, which acquired Manchester City for a figure between 350 and 400 million dollars. It is the entity with the largest stake in the City Football Group (approximately 75%), a management company for a large portfolio of teams around the world (such as New York City, Melbourne City, Yokohama Marinos , Montevideo City Torque and many others). ), all under the aegis of the English club, emblem of this timeshare model.
The Sheikh is a member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family and was recently appointed vice president of the United Arab Emirates. Mansour, 52, had been Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates since 2009 and, since this year, he is President of Mubadala, one of the UAE’s sovereign wealth funds that manages assets worth $17 billion. Mansour bin Zayed is the son of Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al Nahyan, who took office as Emir of Abu Dhabi in 1966 and was elected President of the United Arab Emirates in 1971. He died in 2004, at the age 86 years old.
Another detail in this story: Sheikh Mansour shares the vice-presidency of the United Arab Emirates with the ruler of Dubai and the country’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 73, who is also his father-in-law.
the millions
“We are building a structure for the future, not just an all-star team.” This sentence was said by Mansour in 2008, the year when this union with Manchester City was born. Indeed, the club has gradually changed in appearance thanks to the signing of great players, taking advantage of the economic injection of Emirati capital.
However, with the arrival of Pep Guardiola on the bench in 2016 (replacing Manuel Pellegrini), this was accentuated. In other words, DT had a margin to mold a design that suited him. At present, almost nothing remains of the equipment left by the Engineer.
In the seven seasons with Guardiola on the bench, City have paid no less than 1,242 million euros (over $1,300 million) in sign-ups, according to data from Transfermarkt. In each of the campaigns, from 2016-2017 to 2022-2023, at least one transfer cost at least 50 million euros. The course with the most club spending was 2017-2018, with 317.5 million of European currency (340 million dollars). Aymeric Laporte, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva and Ederson, among others, have arrived in this window.
In this whole money dance, Erling Haaland involved the “modest sum” of 60 million euros ($64 million), from Borussia Dortmund. During Pep’s tenure, the club spent more on less prominent footballers, such as Portuguese defender Rúben Dias and Spaniard Rodri, who scored in the final. The most expensive addition was Jack Grealish: €117.5 million (US$126 million).
Obviously, there are no monetary issues here. And unlike other projects based on pompous numbers, here it paid off in sports, having as its highest expression the European title won in Turkey.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
