Aguero, Balotelli, Jesus: Man City's most expensive strikers pre-Haaland ranked

Since Sheikh Mansour acquired Manchester City for a fairly modest £210 million in September 2008, the club has hardly been shy about splashing the cash.

In recent years, though, City’s recruitment has rarely focused on the centre-forward role, leaving Pep Guardiola lacking in options when it came to a player to lead the line for the reigning Premier League champions.

After missing out on top target Harry Kane last summer, City were determined not to be left short up top again this season, acting swiftly to bring in Julian Alvarez from River Plate – alongside Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland.

The £51m fee that City parted with for the prolific Haaland might be an absolute bargain in today’s market, but it still ranks as the largest fee the club has ever paid for a centre-forward.

As the 21-year-old embarks on his career at City, we’ve decided take a look back at the 10 previous most-expensive strikers to come through the door at the Etihad (using data provided by Transfermarkt) and rank them based on their success at the club.

Realistically, Haaland won’t have to do much to surpass a few of the lower-ranked entries here.

10. Wilfried Bony | Swansea City – January 2015 | £29.07m

Bony always looked an odd fit for Manuel Pellegrini’s slick passing-heavy side and so it proved.

Contributing just six goals in 36 Premier League appearances, this move really couldn’t have gone much worse.

9. Roque Santa Cruz | Blackburn – June 2009 | £19.08m

Santa Cruz might have been a success at City if it wasn’t for the fact that he was pretty much constantly injured during his time at the Etihad. That said, there were hardly fireworks when he did make it on to the pitch. Four goals in 24 outings was not the sort of return the club were