Here, we list Manchester City’s best January signings of all-time, whittling the list down to five incredible bargain transfers between 2009 and 2022.
Man City are not one of the most active Premier League clubs when it comes to the January transfer window – just four acquisitions since 2018. But when they do decide to strengthen their squad, nine times out of 10 they’ll nail it.
The Citizens have a vast amount of spending power at their disposal so it would be easy to assume that their best January signings meant splashing out ridiculous sums of money.
And while the fees paid for the players below are astronomical for some English outfits, they have to go down as pretty measly in Man City’s world. Just £139m was spent in total and all proved to live up to their price tags and them some.
So, let’s get stuck into Manchester City’s best January signings of all-time.
Julian Alvarez – £14.1m
The only current Manchester City star on the list, young striker Julian Alvarez was plucked from River Plate for an astonishingly low price of £14.1m in January 2022.
He did go back on loan to the Argentinian giants for the rest of that season but kickstarted his City career in the summer.
The unselfish Alvarez can be utilised in a variety of positions in attack, most prominently exemplified in the 2023/24 campaign when asked to fill in for the injured Kevin de Bruyne in the No10 role.
The 2022 World Cup winner has four major trophies and counting with City, the bulk of which is made up of the club’s historic Treble achieved in 2023. The value for money Alvarez has been for the Citizens is quite staggering.
Gabriel Jesus – £27m
Man City certainly love a South American bargain buy and Gabriel Jesus falls right into that category.
The hard-working Brazilian officially joined in January 2017 for a fee of £27m from Palmeiras and while his start to life in Manchester was disrupted by a metatarsal injury, Jesus finished his first campaign with 11 goal contributions in 11 games.
From thereon in, Jesus played at least 41 games in each subsequent campaign, becoming a key component of City’s Premier League dominance.
Jesus left for Arsenal after five years at the Etihad Stadium. All in all, the diminutive forward scored 95 goals in 236 games with eight major trophies under his belt.
Aymeric Laporte – £57m
It’s not very often a club breaks their transfer record during the January transfer window – but Aymeric Laporte helped Man City do so in 2018.
The Citizens shelled out £57m for the Frenchman turned Spaniard and it turned out to be money well spent. That was underlined when Laporte was included in the PFA team of the year for the 2018/19 campaign.
The complete centre-back, Laporte was central to City scooping up English football’s first-ever domestic treble in his first full season. He won 12 major trophies with City, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League.
Laporte’s last contribution for City was winning the 2023 UEFA Super Cup because he would soon after make a money-spinning switch to Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr.
Edin Dzeko – £27m
Perhaps one of City’s most underrated strikers since the takeover in 2008, the imposing Edin Dzeko was a prolific marksman.
His incredible goal-scoring form for VfL Wolfsburg earned him a £27m transfer to Manchester, making him the second-most expensive player in Man City’s history at the time – how things have changed now.
Dzeko will be best remembered for the equalising goal he netted against Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the 2011/12 Premier League season. That paved the way for Sergio Aguero to convert arguably the most dramatic winning goal in English football history, as City lifted the league crown for the first time in 44 years.
Dzeko scored 72 goals in 189 games for Man City across five years, contributing a goal or assist every 1.7 games for the club. The Bosnian departed for AS Roma in 2015 having won four major gongs with City.
Craig Bellamy – £14m
Bad boy Craig Bellamy was a mercurial talent who signed for Man City amid the club’s increased spending during the 2008/09 campaign.
Despite clashes with teammates and running into bother with manager Roberto Mancini, Bellamy was an important player despite lasting just two seasons before a switch to Cardiff City.
Bellamy was a speedy left-winger with a knack of racking up plenty of goals and assists. In 51 games with City, the Welshman scored or laid on 30 goals for the club.
He may not have won a major trophy at the Etihad but Bellamy will be remembered by fans for making a positive impact amid City’s journey to the top of English football.
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