'Lucky' Pep Guardiola Admits Man City's Amazing Season Down to Spending Splurge on Top Talent

Pep Guardiola has readily admitted that Manchester City would not be able to play their brand of football and win titles without 'a lot of money'.

The City boss spoke to the press (via the Mirror) ahead of his team's derby clash with fierce rivals Manchester United on Saturday - a match that could see the Citizens clinch the Premier League trophy, if they win.

City lie 16 points clear of their rivals with six games to go and will end any faint hopes of that their fellow top clubs have of reeling them in if they beat United, but have amassed their unassailable lead through yet another spending spree under owner Sheikh Mansour.

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Guardiola has splashed out £450m since he took over almost two seasons ago to bring in some of the world's best talent, and he stated that those 'top player's - coupled with a seemingly endless supply of cash - was the reason behind his side's dominance.

He said: “I’m a lucky guy. I am so, so happy with what we have done this year.

“I can assure you one thing, it’s impossible to play the way we play, achieve the results we achieved without top players. It’s impossible, and today the top players cost a lot of money.

“When the people say, ‘You win because you spend €600m’... I don’t know how much money we spent in these two years, but I say they are right. It’s impossible to do that without money.

“We need money to buy top players to play at that level all the time. To achieve these results, you need this investment. If not, you need a miracle and I am not able to do that.

“The only thing I would say is that all the big teams around the world - maybe in the last two years we spent more - on average, over the last five or 10 years, have spent a lot of money.”

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City will beat United's own top flight record of securing the title so early in a season if they beat the Red Devils, and Guardiola added that he couldn't see his side's stunning campaign as being a feat they could repeat again next term.

He said: “No way. Never is it going to happen again. Never. To win 18 games in a row? No way. It’s impossible.

“The opponents want to beat you, you’re a little bit more relaxed, the big achievement is already done, so your intensity is sometimes lower... I have experience of that. I was in Barcelona four years and handled when you win, you win, you win. It’s much more demanding.

“Next season will be so, so complicated for us. This is not going to happen again. It’s impossible.”