Ranking the 5 best transfer windows of all time: Manchester City

#4: Summer 2009

Carlos Tevez was undoubtedly Mark Hughes's best signing at City

It’s almost bizarre to think that 2009’s summer transfer window could be considered so good for Man City considering it was the final one under the leadership of Mark Hughes, who was fired just five months into the season after a poor start.

And it’s true that some of the signings made didn’t work out at all – Emmanuel Adebayor started well, for instance, but was soon packed off to Real Madrid and then Tottenham Hotspur, while Sylvinho and Roque Santa Cruz barely figured at all as City ended the season in 5th place.

Once Roberto Mancini took over as boss at Eastlands, though, things looked up a lot both for the club and for the majority of Hughes’s signings. Defender Joleon Lescott was practically an ever-present as City won the Premier League in 2011/12, as was holding midfielder Gareth Barry, who actually played a remarkable 34 of 38 league games in the title-winning season. And while defender Kolo Toure had begin to fade by that season, he did play a lot in his first two seasons there.

The biggest signing of the summer of 2009, though? Striker Carlos Tevez, poached from under the nose of bitter rivals Manchester United. He became the poster-boy for the new Manchester City – literally, as he starred on the infamous ‘Welcome to Manchester’ billboard – and while his City career ended somewhat acrimoniously, he was incredible in his first season – scoring 29 goals in all competitions, and even after he’d fallen out with Mancini, he still played a large role in allowing the side to capture the league in 2011/12.

Hughes had a reputation as a money-waster but the signings of Tevez, Barry and Lescott were key to City’s success after he’d been removed from power.