Rafael van der Vaart Offers Alternative Opinion on Pep Guardiola's Success at Manchester City

Former Premier League star Rafael van der Vaart has claimed Manchester City's success under Pep Guardiola this season is mainly due to their financial muscle.

The ex-Barcelona manager's side is having one of the best ever Premier League seasons, currently leading their fierce rivals Manchester United in second place by a mammoth 16 points with just eight games to go. 

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Their European form has also been admirable, cruising through to the quarter finals of the Champions League where they will face Premier League rivals Liverpool for a place in the semi finals.

Many have heaped the praise on Guardiola for transforming the club's style of play and have credited him for the recent success of the club. However, speaking in an interview with Goal former Tottenham midfielder Van der Vaart has suggested City's success has been down to the vast amounts of money spent by the club in the summer.

He said: “Everybody nowadays is praising Manchester City and complaining about Arsenal, but to be fair, you have to see things.

“When you or me take charge at Manchester City and have €500m to spend, we could lead the team to the last four in the Champions League.

"When you have that kind of money, you can buy everything. It’s a pity nowadays that [clubs are allowed] to buy a player for €222m.”

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“[Guardiola] showed that he is a great coach in Barcelona, and I think he needs one or two years everywhere to build the team and let the players know what he wants from them,” Van der Vaart added. “They might be unbeatable in the Premier League, but they won’t make it in the Champions League.”

Manchester City have spent £269.2m on players this season as well as the £168.85m Guardiola spent on players last season, meaning their total spending over the last two seasons comes to £438m.

Despite the astonishing amounts of money spent on players, it clearly seems to be working with the league and cup treble still on for Guardiola's men as they look to cap off what has been a truly incredible season in style.