Declan Rice to Arsenal transfer smashes four terrible Man City myths

'Manchester City just sign who they want and ruin the Premier League'.

Except they won't be signing Declan Rice. Or Jude Bellingham, or Marc Cucrella, or a number of players who either the selling club wanted more than Pep Guardiola's side were willing to pay or another bidder presented a better offer.

'Manchester City just stockpile players and ruin the Premier League'. Except they won the title last year using the smallest number of players, not least because they had sold three players to rivals Arsenal and Chelsea and then not just signed who they wanted to replace them.

'Manchester City have ruined the Premier League by turning it into the Bundesliga'. Admittedly, five titles in six years, a core group of squad members that have played in Germany does give a whiff of truth to that, but that is not why the argument is made.

Also read: Man City walk away to give Arsenal green light to £105m Declan Rice

City are accused of creating another Bundesliga or Ligue 1 by being cast as Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain - not just the best teams in the division but the ones with such staggering financial supremacy that they can bully every other club in the division with signings and win the league even when they are far from the best. Bayern sacking Julian Nagelsmann in March and still winning the league and then signing Dortmund full-back Raphael Guerreiro on a free transfer is a handy reminder.

Had City spent £100m on a player for the second time in three years to once again break the transfer record for a British player there would have been more of a comparison, but Rice and Arsenal are handy reminders of why this too is a nonsense claim. Having sold two players to Arsenal last summer that helped their