There now exists, more than ever before, a two-team competition in oneupmanship in Manchester. No sooner have Manchester City appointed Pep Guardiola then Manchester United are appointing Jose Mourinho.
City sign Ilkay Gundogan and United sign Henrikh Mhkitaryan, both from Borussia Dortmund and neither of whom will have the fans singing their names for a while.
United are reportedly looking to sign Paul Pogba so City are immediately linked with Luis Suarez.
United will break the world transfer record, but only if City don’t!
This is all well and good but care needs to be taken. If the winner of this mini battle is also the winner of the Premier League title in May of next year then everything is fine. Whether United or City finish first or second is not really of massive importance to Manchester, as long as those are the two positions in which they finish.
The problem arises if the two teams become obsessed with each other. As Jose Mourinho has already mentioned, for the two to concentrate solely on each other would be a dangerous game. This would open the door for the likes of the Southern softies of Chelsea, Tottenham or even West Ham to sneak in and grab the title. Maybe even Everton under their new manager, or Liverpool.
The only team unaffected by a United-City duel would be Arsenal. As everybody knows, if you were to offer Arsene Wenger 4th place and a decent cup run now, he would snatch your hand off.
Anyway, back to the rivalry in Manchester. I read the other day in an article about Zlatan Ibrahimovic that Mourinho hates Guardiola. I would be very surprised if feelings actually ran that deep. Maybe they are not the best of friends but hatred?Why would that be the case?
I would think that there is more a feeling of mutual respect for what they have both achieved and this is what will prevent the two concentrating too much on each other. In fact, don’t be surprised if they hardly mention each other in the media in an attempt to play it down even more.
As for who will actually win the Premier League one of two things will happen. Either United and City will be too good for everybody else and will take the top two places relatively easily or, they will blow it and finish out of the top two places. The strange thing is I think they will either both blow it, or both be successful, not just one or the other.
Whatever happens, next season is going to be one of the most interesting the Premier League has ever seen and Manchester, without doubt, has cemented it’s place as the European capital of football with Madrid running a distant second!
Source: Why say anything