City have consistently been one of the biggest spenders in the top-flight since their 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour. After beating Arsenal to the top-flight summit last term, City spent over £200m on Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes, Jeremy Doku and Mateo Kovacic.
The club have often received criticism for their big spending, which Guardiola believes is unfair as other clubs have spent similar amounts. He points out that Arsenal were praised for their acquisition of England star Rice.
“Everyone knows we wanted him, we could play him when Rodri could not play,” Guardiola said of Rice ahead of Sunday’s game, for which Rodri is suspended.
“But in the end Arsenal pushed more, wanted him or maybe Mikel was more convincing than me, or the club itself. The offer they got we could not reach it because we thought about Josko Gvardiol in that position and we could not afford to pay that much. That is why.
“Normally when City spend this amount of money [the reaction is that it] is crazy. When others spend it, then it is how smart they are. That happens. But I am not denying anyone can do whatever they want. I never judge what the others do.
“We are judged all the time, but it is fine. If we were in the middle of the table that wouldn’t happen, we would not be a problem or under scrutiny from the rest. But Arsenal believed they had to do it. That is more than fine.
“They have lost important players but now their recruitment is really good and they have a young squad for many years.
“So the perspective for many now is that they will be there for a long time. Declan Rice is an exceptional holding midfielder with the national team, so he is an exceptional player.”
City face Arsenal without the suspended Rodri, who is still serving a three-match suspension for his red card against Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago. Meanwhile, Rice will likely line up in Arsenal’s midfield with the Gunners hoping to prove they come a long way from last season’s two title-race defeats against City.
