Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has defended his buying spree.
Although Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng, David Silva and Aleksandar Kolarov have cost City around £80million, Mancini considers it money well spent.
"In the past Manchester United have spent a lot of money on their players," he added. "The same is also true of Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool.
"We have spent a lot of money on good, young players. I am happy about that.
"They are all top players but you also have to take into account that when Manchester City try to sign someone, the price is not normal.
"We want to improve and we want to improve quickly. For this reason we have to buy."
There is also pressure on to sell, if not from City's mega-rich owners, then from disgruntled players who fear they will not even make Mancini's 25-man squad.
Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Nedum Onuoha are just three of the names who have been linked with moves away from Eastlands.
Mancini intends to speak with Santa Cruz but an approach from Sunderland for Onuoha has already been rebuffed because the Black Cats were felt to be trying to sign the England Under-21 star on the cheap.
"Having so many players is not a problem yet because the matches haven't started yet. After next Saturday it will become more difficult," Mancini added.
"From August 31 we can only have 25 players and at the moment I think we have 31. It is a problem."
