Manchester City stole the show on the final day of the transfer period and it wasn’t for signing a player.
City announced on Monday that Pep Guardiola would take over as manager next season, replacing Manuel Pellegrini. Guardiola had been linked with a move to the Premier League since announcing in December he would leave Bayern Munich in the summer.
Earlier this month he had said that his next job would be in England and City granted his wish with a three-year contract.
“He is one of the best managers in the world, no doubt about this,” Liverpool’s Juergen Klopp, who also made the move from Germany to England, said.
“He had two big, big clubs where he has worked at and now he will do his job at Manchester City.
“Pep won everything in Spain, nearly everything in Germany, so I think he wants to win everything in England, that is clear.”
One of Guardiola’s former players said the Spaniard could bring European success to City. “If they don’t win the Champions League this year, I think in the three years they will be very close to winning it,” Thierry Henry told Sky Sports.
“There is one thing you can be sure of, he wants to dominate and people associate his teams with the amount of goals that he scores. He always wants to be on the front foot, having the ball, possession, as we know, and he wants to dominate, so well done, Manchester City.”
The appointment fired up the rumour mill in the English press and, not surprisingly, many involved his former players.
The Guardian reported Guardiola will be given 150 million pounds ($216 million) to strengthen the squad and the Sun said City have interest in Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski. The Daily Express also linked Messi’s teammate Neymar with a move to the Etihad Stadium, while the Daily Mail said Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba is on City’s radar.
“If you’re a City fan right now, you can dream about having some great players,” Henry said. “Not only because it’s a great club and you have the resources, but Pep Guardiola will be the guy to attract any player in the world.”
Guardiola’s hiring was even humorously felt on the other side of Manchester.
“Pep signing for City has really messed up my day,” former Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand said on Twitter. “His records at Barca and Bayern are unreal.”
It’s a development the club’s billionaire owners hope will transform world football on and off the field.  
On it, the respected 44-year-old will be handed the simple target of winning the Champions League within the three-year contract he has agreed, and which will pay him a reported 20 million euros ($21 million) a season.
Off the field, and into the realm of football finance and commercialisation, City believe Guardiola will eventually help elevate them to the level of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona, not only because of his own profile and standing in the sports world but because of the quality of player he will be able to attract to Eastlands, armed with the bottomless wealth of their Abu Dhabi royal family ownership.
A mooted attempt to sign Barcelona’s star striker Messi has long since been back page gossip but now, with the world’s wealthiest club having signed, arguably, the world’s best manager, such a move no longer sounds quite so fanciful.  
It is precisely that kind of signing City will be hoping to pull off this year, in an attempt to improve on their displays in Europe which have so far seen them fail to progress beyond the last 16 of the Champions League.  
But, of more far-reaching importance, the arrival of a global footballing icon like Messi would help City in their aim to become the most famous and successful football club on the planet, instead of just the wealthiest.  
Signings such as David Silva and Sergio Aguero rank among the greatest talent ever seen in the Premier League but those players, and the rest of the current City squad, lack the commercial clout and presence carried by a Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar.  
A deal late last year saw Chinese consortium CMC invest £265 million for a stake in City, leading to reports the club will tour China later this year, where Guardiola may be unveiled for the first time.  
In such relatively ‘new’ football markets, Guardiola will carry far more impact than his predecessor Pellegrini and the level of high-class superstar City could now attract will lift the club even higher in terms of their global presence.
This was the vision City had in 2012 when they first approached Guardiola before being rebuffed and turning to Pellegrini as a distant second choice a year later.
City’s Spanish executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain continued to drive the courtship, with Guardiola’s move eventually developing into the worst-kept secret in the industry.