Man City boss insists there is no excuse for failing to win a trophy amid De Bruyne deal

Manuel Pellegrini insists that Manchester City have no excuse for failing to win a trophy this term

MANUEL PELLEGRINI admits Manchester City will have no excuses for failing to win a trophy this season as they prepared to take their summer spending to around the £150m mark.

 

City are expected to further strengthen their table-topping squad by completing a £50m-plus deal with Wolfsburg for Kevin De Bruyne before the transfer window closes on Tuesday.

The addition of attacking midfielder De Bruyne will give City the strongest and most expensive squad in the Premier League with two top stars competing for every position - as well as world class training facilities at the £200m Etihad Campus and a recent stadium expansion taking their capacity to 55,000.

 

And Pellegrini admits the level of investment from the club's Abu Dhabi's owners means failure is not an option.

"Last season we had some [financial fair play] restrictions but I didn't use that as an excuse why we did not win the title," he said.

"This team must try to win titles every year. It's not so easy because you have strong teams here in the Premier League and in the Champions League. But we must try to do it.

 

"The best way to at least try is to have a good squad. That's what we are trying to build now and we finish on Tuesday when the transfer window is closed. After it is very important to have good performances both as individual players and as a team.

"So whether we get more players or not, I never have excuses about not winning titles."

As City prepared to set a new club record of 10 consecutive League wins against Watford today, Pellegrini insists competition for places and squad rotation is key to their success this season.

 

"If you have just 11 good players you are not going to win anything," he added, "because you play too many games. At the moment we are playing only one game a week but in September, October and November the players will be playing eight or nine games a month, including internationals, and it is important to rotate to avoid injuries. I aways say you get the best performances when there is competition."

City helped clear the way for De Bruyne's impending arrival by selling talented Portugeuse youngster Marcos Lopes to Monaco for £7m yesterday.

Wilfried Bony misses today's game after suffering a gashed leg in training while new boy Nicolas Otamendi is still waiting for his work permit.