Top 5 Manchester City signings of all time

A decade ago Manchester United were the kings of England and Manchester. The amount of success and glory the Red Devils achieved was adding salt to the wounds of their neighbors City who lived in their shadows.

But after the takeover by the Qatari owners, City have become very successful. They have finished above their rivals in 4 of the last 5 seasons, having won the Premier League title twice in the space of three years.

To put that into context, the Sky Blues had won the First Division only twice in their entire history up until that point. Now they are hoping to begin a new era of success under Pep Guardiola of whom great things are expected.

To win these two titles City needed star players and they surely had that in abundance during those campaigns. Let’s find out who many of them made it into the top 5 signings of all time.

5) Colin Bell

We start the list with a name most of you might not have even heard of. Colin Bell was a midfielder who played for the Citizens in 1960s. This was the time the club were able to achieve moderate success and for the first time could put themselves on a level playing field with their rivals.

Bell started his career at Bury FC. His performances impressed then Blues assistant manager Malcolm Allison. Allison realised he faced tough competition from rival clubs for his signature and hence decided to spread the word in the media that the player was not ver skilful saying things like “can't head it, can't pass it, he's hopeless".

The tactic worked and City managed to sign him in 1966. Bell went on to make 394 appearances for the club scoring 117 times for his team. One of the stands in the stadium is currently named the ‘Colin Bell stand; in his honour.

During his 13 years of service for the club, he managed to win a League Title, an FA Cup, two league cups and a European Cup winners cup. Not only that, he joined City when they were in the second division, helped them gain promotion before they could go on to win so much silverware.

Bell was also inducted into the English football Hall of fame in recognition of his contribution to the sport.

4) Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure is one of the greatest African Footballers of all time. The midfield powerhouse has brilliant skill and can single handed win games at times. Toure was a player for Catalan gianst Barcelona before coming to Manchester City.

The player had plied his tried for several clubs in Europe before making a sustained set of appearances for Barcelona.He was sued as not only a holding midfielder but also i defence but he never settled and was eventually shipped out by Pep Guardiola after he preferred Sergio Busquets in that role.

But at Manchester City the Ivory Coast gained a new lease of life. Yaya has gone on to make 192 appearances for the Sky Blues scoring 54 goals in the process. He has even been named African footballer of the year 4 times in a row since playing for the Citizens.

Toure helped City win the League title in 2012 and in 2014. His contribution in the 2014 season was arguably the greatest achievement in his career. He banged in 20 goals in 35 league appearances that campaign, with his trademark free-kick becoming one of the highlights of the season.

He has also added the FA Cup and the League Cup tp his trophy cabinet, with City finishing in the top four ever since he joined in 2010.

3) David Silva

Another one of Manchester CIty's new era signings, David Silva's contribution to the team cannot be understated by any means. The Spaniard was another signing along with Yay Toure in 2010 adding to the fire power that City had.

Silva was 24 and was at the peak of his powers. The little maestro is a delight to watch when he's on song and has been pulling the strings in that City midfield for many years now. He and David Villa become a dynamic duo at Valencia and City knew what they were getting for the money they paid Valencia.

Silva has so far racked up 186 appearances for City in his 6 season for the club and is still going strong. His ingenious reverse pass and the ability see things no one else could on the pitch is what makes him unique.

Toure provided tje power in midfield for City and Silva the elegance as he helped City win tow titles in the last six years. HIs best performance till date came against City's biggest rivals Manchester United.

The Spaniard was just unstoppable in the 6-1 demotion of their neighbours at the Theatre of dreams. His drop volley pass for Eden Dzeko in the dying minutes of the game was majestic in nature and highlighted what City had invested in.

Pep will consider himself lucky to have the services of such a fine wielder of passing magic.

2) Vincent Kompany.

Last season Manchester City performed well below the expected standard of their play. They were outthought and outfought by the big guns in the league and had a very poor record against the top 6.

A primary reason for that was their poor defensive co-ordination. Eliaquim Mangala, Martin Demichelis and Nicolas Otamendi could not forge the right partnerships and strikers gladly took advantage of this disarray in the back line.

That season highlighted the importance of Vincent Kompany to the City team. His leadership and coordination skills was there for all to see when he played and it was also backed up in the post match stats.

Kompany is one of those few genuine leaders who knows how to pick his teammates up when they're down. He has been a part of this outfit since 2008 and at 30 still has the ability to marshal his defence.

The two titles City have won would not have been possible without the commanding presence of their leader at the back. Kompany has made 220 appearances for the Citizens so far and Pep will hope he will have his captain back in the team as soon as possible.

1) Sergio Aguero

This choice is probably a unanimous one. There hasn’t been a single player who has been as influential as Sergio Aguero for Manchester City. His transfer in 2011 from Atletico Madrid sent out a statement of intent to their rivals that they were going for the title.

Kun Aguero was one of the sought after players in the transfer market at that point in time and to bring him to Manchester was a real power play. The striker became the reason several people used to pay the entry fee just to watch him play.

Aguero has ever since lived up to his billing having an incredible record of scoring 102 times in 150 appearances. He has one of the best goals to game ratios in the history of the Premier League and is still only 28.

Aguero only failed twice to not to hit the 20 goal mark during his time in the Premier League and has already won the Golden Boot. If it wasn’t for his injuries the Argentine would have surely gone on to score many more in the league.

City fans will always remember the moment he won them their first title in more than 40 years in 2012. If City go on to become one of the most successful teams in English football history it will that added-time winner against QPR that everyone will date back to as the beginning of their new era of football