Before Sheikh Mansour bought the team and instantly displayed his financial might, Zabaleta was City’s final acquisition. Robinho, a Brazilian attacker, was quickly snatched up from Real Madrid despite the winger’s desire to join Chelsea. Man City, were also said to be interested in signing Dimitar Berbatov and Franck Ribery.
Robinho’s arrival at the Etihad rocked the locker room. Zabaleta said that the players “were s******** themselves” since they would soon be replaced.
He previously told La Nacion:
“I was seduced by going to England.”
“And I thought, ‘I am a couple of years older, I have another experience, and there will be time to go back to Spain or go to Italy’.”
“Ten days after my transfer, the purchase of the club by the people of Abu Dhabi was executed, and four days later they invested £40million for Robinho.“
“And there I said. ‘Now what do I do? I’m going to last six months here!“
the Man City player told.
“We took it a bit as a joke and to the free lockers in the locker room we started putting ‘Messi‘, ‘Cristiano Ronaldo‘, we were s****ing ourselves.”
When City told Barcelona they were willing to pay £100 million for Messi’s services in 2017, Zabaleta’s prediction that he would join almost came true.
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Zabaleta on Man City potentially signing Messi and Ronaldo
After winning two Premier League championships and the FA Cup with the Etihad in 2017, Zabaleta left the club. However, Messi ultimately decided to sign a new contract that would last until 2021. City once more tried to sign him on a free transfer, but Paris Saint-Germain beat them to it.
Ronaldo came close to joining Man City later in that summer transfer window. But Sir Alex Ferguson’s intervention allowed rivals Manchester United to sabotage the deal.
Zabaleta joined the team in the same summer as club great Vincent Kompany. He left in 2017 after winning two Premier League championships, two League Cups, and the FA Cup.
In the 2008–09 season, Mansour’s ownership saw a number of high-profile signings in addition to Robinho, including Wayne Bridge, Craig Bellamy, Nigel de Jong, and Shay Given.
However, they ultimately came in at number ten, which forced Mansour to reach into his wallet and recruit Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry, and Carlos Tevez.
And City has kept on splurging money year after year, to the point where they are now acknowledged as one of Europe’s premier clubs. Only the Champions League has eluded Man City. But even without Ronaldo and Messi, Pep Guardiola’s team is the favorite to win the European Cup. They have Erling Haaland at the head of the line.
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