Let’s All Hope for City Success

By Brian Lofrumento | 12th May 2009

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unhappy-manchester-city Before you harp on me for being a United fan that hopes Manchester City does well, hear me out. The English Premier League is enjoying its most dominant spell in Europe at the moment. With three of the four Champions League semifinalists hailing from the land of fish and chips and Ali G, English clubs are the most revered and powerful clubs in the continent and in the world.

Why is their success so great? It’s certainly not because of homegrown English talent. By all means, the likes of James Milner and David Bentley strike fear into the eyes of opponents, but the rest of the English contingent made up of the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry just can’t cut it on the world stage. Only kidding…

But in all honesty, English talent isn’t what makes the Premier League so special. Spain has much better domestic talent, and almost all of their homegrown talent is retained in La Liga. The few who don’t stay in Espana are in the Premiership: Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, and Xabi Alonso all ply their trade in the world’s greatest league. It’s these sort of stars that make the league what it is – it’s the diversity around the league that combines the very top talent from all countries.

While Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal all have their core of foreign stars, the rest of the league still lags behind. Aston Villa has enjoyed moderate success with a bulk of English talent, but when it came down to it their depth wasn’t good enough to outlast Arsene Wenger’s Frenchsenal.

There’s no doubt about it – foreign talent doesn’t come cheap. Outside of the Big Four, not many sides can afford such global superstars. The only team that can is Manchester City. Robinho thought he would start a worldwide trend by joining the blue side of Manchester, but superstars such as Kaka and David Villa have laughed off any approaches for the team that was teetering on the edge of the relegation zone earlier this season.

If we as fans want to see more of the world’s top talents in the Premiership, we all need to hope that Manchester City can pull off an unlikely revival and finish in that coveted seventh spot. Without the promise of European football at the City of Manchester Stadium next season there’s little chance that any other big names will join the Citizens.

Currently sitting in tenth place, City will need to overcome West Ham United, Tottenham, and Fulham to lock up a spot in next year’s Europa League. One problem facing Mark Hughes and his side is that even if they win their remaining two games, other results will need to go their way as well. If Fulham can manage to get four more points, it will spell the end for Manchester City’s European dreams.

I, for one, hope that City can pull it off to attract even more of the world’s top talent to the English Premier League. It can only bode well for the league to have yet another top team. Come on, City!

Will City ever be a top club? Have your say in the comments section below!