Pep Guardiola willing to break world record to beat Manchester United to marquee signing

Pep Guardiola is going to have more money than he knows what to do with this summer.

So he could be  forgiven for making ambitious plans ahead of his arrival in Manchester as the successor to Manuel Pellegrini. We'd expect that one, if not two, players from Bayern Munich will follow him to England, while the Spaniard is also likely to look to La Liga to bolster his squad. Just yesterday it was revealed that Manchester United had bid an outrageous £145m for Neymar last year. It ultimately failed, but that hasn't put off City trying their own luck this summer. The fee, which translates to around €190million, is just Neymar's buy-out clause, and according to the Daily Mirror, Guardiola is demanding that City chiefs splash the cash to make a huge statement about the ambition of the club this summer. The newspaper quotes Ronaldinho as stating that Neymar's desire to work with Pep Guardiola could sway him towards a move to the blue half of Manchester.

“There has been a lot of talk about Neymar’s future recently, but I believe rumours of a move to Real Madrid are false. “I will advise him to stay at Barcelona for at least a few more years, but if he wants City and they want him, we know they have the power to make it happen.”

Neymar's tax woes in Spain have led many to believe that he could be forced out of Barcelona despite enjoying the best season of his career in Spain playing alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. Ronaldinho feels that wages, or a fee, will be no concern to City, which may leave Manchester United fans feeling blue in more ways than one.

“That was a big statement with most people knowing that Pep would be joining Manchester City in the summer. “We know they can pay wages that no other club in Europe has the power to do."