Skip to main content

New-look Manchester City see off Valencia

The scoreline was largely irrelevant for the crowd of over 27,000 who were more interested in seeing how Roberto Mancini's new-look side was shaping up after an investment of about 80 million pounds in the transfer window so far.

That figure is likely to top 100 million pounds if James Milner joins the blue revolution from Aston Villa and the England midfielder will only add yet more strength to what is shaping up as a potential title-challenging squad.

All four of City's expensive close-season signings - David Silva, Yaya Toure, Aleksandar Kolarov and Boateng - all started and, although Mancini used 10 of his 13 substitutes, City showed touches of occasional brilliance and real emerging teamwork.

Silva, a member of Spain's victorious World Cup squad, was outstanding in a 30-minute cameo, darting into space and linking almost telepathically with City's Argentina striker Carlos Tevez, who also shone in his half-an-hour.

One indication of the changes underway at the club was that only three of the players who started City's last competitive match in May against West Ham United were in the starting lineup - Emmanuel Adebayor, Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany.

They had three new players in their starting lineup - Turkey midfielder Mehmet Topal, Argentine-born midfielder Tino Costa and Villa's replaceme