Pep Guardiola’s side are the highest transfer spenders in world football having amassed an enormous £1.38bn transfer outlay since 2012, while United are the fourth highest with £1.24bn.
Almost £1bn of City’s transfer business of the last decade has been spent by Guardiola alone, as Grealish’s arrival took the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss’ total spending to £918m.
And Guardiola would have easily surpassed that astronomical figure had City managed to purchase Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Harry Kane in the previous window.
City’s total spending means they have recorded an average outlay of £138m per season in the last decade, according to Transfermarkt.
Despite having to operate under a transfer bar in the 2019-20 season, Chelsea are a very close second in the total spending having splashed out £1.33bn on 342 arrivals in the last ten years.
Their £98m acquisition of Romelu Lukaku was not only their record transfer by quite some distance, but it was also the second most expensive transfer in Premier League history.