Pep Guardiola must have been expecting his first season at Manchester City to go a little better than it did.

The Catalan looked all set to live up to the hype in the early part of the campaign, winning his first six league games on the bounce.

What followed was disappointing. The early favourites for the title quickly began to fall away, and Guardiola lost six games in a single season for the first time in his managerial career.

Anyone who has even vaguely followed the club's activities over the past nine years or so could have predicted how Sheikh Mansour and co. would respond.

Over £115million has been spent on full-backs alone - and that's without add-ons.

City fans might well point to the fact that the squad hadn't been properly strengthened since the days of Roberto Mancini, but Guardiola's critics are going to use this summer as another stick to beat him with.

Yes, he benefited from having Lionel Messi at his peak at Barcelona, and yes, Bayern Munich nearly always win the Bundesliga. That shouldn't take away from some of his phenomenal achievements.

However, there's no denying that the money the 46-year-old has spent is eye-watering, to say the least. In fact, it's approaching £1billion.

Take a look at his 10 most extravagant buys, as per the Sun.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (£59m)

The decision to take Zlatan to Barca initially paid off, with the Swede scoring 16 goals in 29 appearances. That was before a falling out saw the striker loaned to AC Milan.

Benjamin Mendy (£49m)

The former Monaco man is now the most expensive defender in the world.

John Stones (£47.5m)

It's fair to say the centre-back has struggled to live up to his price tag since leaving Everton last summer.

Kyle Walker (£45m)

Bizarrely, Walker isn't even guaranteed a spot in the starting XI thanks to the signing of Danilo.

Bernardo Silva (£43m)

Another acquisition from Monaco, Silva was City's first signing of the summer.

Leroy Sane (£37m)

The Germany international started to come good in the second half of last season.

David Villa (£37m)

At his peak, the Spanish international was incredible and had a ratio of nearly a goal every two games at Barca.

Ederson (£35m)

Presumably, the Brazilian will be an improvement on Claudio Bravo, even if he struggled on his debut against Manchester United.

Mario Gotze (£34m)

Despite his impressive fee, the World Cup winner never really settled at Bayern and has since returned to Borussia Dortmund.

Arturo Vidal (£30m)

In today's market, £30m for the Chilean has to be considered a bargain, which is more than can be said for some of Guardiola's other signings.

What do you make of Guardiola's spending? Have your say in the comments.