Quality comes at a price, warns Mancini

MANCHESTER CITY boss Roberto Mancini has admitted clubs have to pay over the odds if they want to get hold of decent players in January.

The two most expensive purchases of the current transfer window will be on show at Villa Park today when City visit Aston Villa. It will allow a direct comparison between the Blues’ £27 million (€31.7m) new-boy Edin Dzeko, and Darren Bent, who could cost Villa £24m (€28.2m) following his shock switch from Sunderland.

Spending of that magnitude is one of the reasons why Alex Ferguson is amongst those who feel there is no value in the transfer market.