De Bruyne: City spending was needed

Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne believes the Premier League club's spending spree is just what they needed.

Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Danilo and Benjamin Mendy have been added to Pep Guardiola's squad, with City having spent more than a reported £200million.

City are desperate for improvement on last season after failing to win a trophy, finishing third in the Premier League and making a last-16 Champions League exit.

De Bruyne feels City needed to strengthen in the close-season, particularly after several departures – including the likes of Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov and Gael Clichy.

"It's how the market goes. There's a lot of money [going out], but there's a lot of money going in," the Belgian said, via the Manchester Evening News.

"Who can say that spending £200m is normal? It isn't. But how the league and football is going at the moment, it's normal prices.

"Obviously it's a lot of money, but it's things that we needed to do. The revenue that the club gets in will be more than the £200m."

After a 2-0 derby loss to Manchester United at the International Champions Cup, City crushed Real Madrid 4-1 on Wednesday.

De Bruyne, who starred by having a hand in three goals against Madrid, said it was a good sign for Guardiola's men.

"I think we're on the right way. Obviously this game doesn't say a lot, but it says that we're moving in the right direction," he said.

"Hopefully we can have a good performance against Tottenham [on Saturday] and then we will work hard in Manchester to be ready for August 12 [Premier League opener against Brighton and Hove Albion]."