Highlights

• Erling Haaland is currently scoring goal after goal for Manchester City, but they haven't always relied on him for goals.
• Some players, like Sergio Aguero, proved to be worth every penny for the Premier League club.
• Others, such as Roque Santa Cruz, failed to deliver on their promise, with disappointing goal-scoring records.

Since Sheikh Mansour acquired Manchester City for a fairly modest £210 million in September 2008, the Premier League club has hardly been shy about splashing the cash. Among their big-money signings, Erling Haaland stands out as one of the finest.

Arriving from Borussia Dortmund, the young striker has smashed in goal after goal at the Etihad, firing Pep Guardiola and co to an era-defining treble in his debut season. With that being the case, it's hard to even picture City before Haaland – but they achieved plenty before the Norwegian was signed in the summer of 2022.

The £51m fee that City parted with for the prolific Haaland might be an absolute bargain in today's market, but it still ranks as the largest fee the club has ever paid for a centre-forward. And while it's fair to say they've got good value for money on that purchase, the same can't be said about other arrivals.

And so, GIVEMESPORT has taken a look back at the 10 previous most-expensive strikers to come through the door at the Etihad and ranked them based on their success at the club.

Ranking factors

• Goals
• Assists
• Appearances
• Importance in the team
• Transfer cost

10 Wilfried Bony

Swansea City - January 2015 | £29.07m

Wilfried Bony always looked an odd fit for Manuel Pellegrini’s slick passing-heavy side and so it proved to be that way. Contributing just six goals in 36 Premier League appearances, this move really couldn't have gone much worse.

In fact, not only does he rank last on this list, but he also goes down as arguably the club's worst-ever January transfer window purchase. Having been the Premier League’s top scorer in 2014 – bagging 20 goals for Swansea that season – he failed to get anywhere close to that level at the Etihad.

9 Roque Santa Cruz

Blackburn - June 2009 | £19.08m

Roque Santa Cruz might have been a success at City if it wasn't for the fact that he was constantly injured during his time at the Etihad. That said, there were hardly fireworks when he did make it onto the pitch.

Four goals in 24 outings was not the sort of return the club were hoping for when they shelled out close to £20m for his services, he couldn't even muster an assist either. Now aged 42, the Paraguayuan is still remarkably playing – perhaps trying to make up for all the minutes he missed out on during his time in Manchester.

8 Jo

CSKA Moscow - July 2008 | £21.6m

Jo ranks a little higher on this list simply because he wasn't surrounded by quite the same level of talent as some others on this list. That said, he was a transfer record at the time, arriving in the months leading up to Sheikh Mansour's takeover.

He managed just one Premier League goal for the club and failed to establish himself as a reliable option up top as City embarked on a new era in their history. Jo was loaned out to Everton and Galatasaray before, three years after first signing, being sold to Sport Club Internacional of his native Brazil.

7 Stevan Jovetic

Fiorentina - July 2013 | £23.4m

Stevan Jovetic landed in Manchester a little over a month after club legend Fernandinho. The Brazilian midfielder stayed for nine years, while the Montenegrin striker didn't even manage nine league goals before departing City in 2015.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Jovetic has never been booked in his entire club career.

He had bagged 14 times in 27 Serie A games for Fiorentina the season prior, so arrived with plenty expecting to see big things from the technically gifted player. Sadly, he failed to deliver on his potential and left without making much of an impression on English football.

6 Emmanuel Adebayor

Arsenal - July 2009 | £26.1m

Emmanuel Adebayor's time at City is infamously remembered for the time he decided to run the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the visiting Arsenal fans after scoring against his former club. That goal, however, would prove to be one of only 19 that he would score across his entire time at the Etihad.

Such a paltry return wasn't exactly what fans were hoping for after an investment of more than £25m back in 2009. Still, that knee slide will go down as one of the iconic moments in Premier League history, so nearly makes up for his less-than-inspired time as a Man City player.

5 Alvaro Negredo

Sevilla - July 2013 | £22.5m

Alvaro Negredo came through the Real Madrid academy and after impressing at senior level with Sevilla, he earned a move in 2013 to Man City. That he lasted a barely year at the Etihad, returning to La Liga with Valencia a season later, tells you all you need to know about his time with the English club.

Just three years after joining the Cityzens, he returned to England for a spell on loan at Middlesbrough – which suggests he probably wasn't of the requisite level to play for a team at the top of the Premier League. Still, he delivered a more than respectable 31 goal contributions in 49 appearances for City.

4 Mario Balotelli

Inter Milan - August 2010 | £26.55m

If there's one thing you can say about Mario Balotelli's time at City, it is that it wasn't dull! His 30 goals in 80 games for the club were largely overshadowed by his antics away from the pitch – which included nearly burning his house down with fireworks on the eve of the Manchester derby.

Famously, he picked the perfect time for his only Premier League assist at City, setting up Sergio Aguero for that last-gasp goal which secured Roberto Mancini's side their first top-flight title in 44 years in 2011/12. He is remembered fondly at the Etihad for many reasons, but his overall quality shouldn't be overlooked.

3 Edin Dzeko

Wolfsburg - January 2011 | £33.3m

Edin Dzeko proved himself to be one of the finest strikers in Europe when he fired Wolfsburg to the Bundesliga title in 2008/09, scoring 26 goals and grabbing 10 assists overall in 32 league matches. This was enough to see a move to Man City a few seasons later.

A member of the 2011/12 and 2013/14 title-winning squads, Dzeko contributed 72 crucial goals as City began to pile up the trophies. You get the sense that he was a little underrated in England, overshadowed somewhat by strike-partner Aguero.

2 Gabriel Jesus

Palmeiras - August 2016 | £28.8m

Gabriel Jesus might never truly have been the main man in City's attack, but he still clocked up 236 appearances for the club, falling just four shy of a century of goals. Talking about centuries, he scored the winning goal (in the 93rd minute) as City reached 100 points in the 2017/18 season.

As centre-forwards at the Etihad Stadium go, that's an impressive resume. Four Premier League titles are nothing to be sniffed at either. The Brazilian certainly proved to be value for money after arriving from Palmeiras in 2016 for a little under £30m.

1 Sergio Aguero

Atletico Madrid - July 2011 | £36m

Man City's record goalscorer with 260 goals in 390 games, there was never any doubt that Sergio Aguero was going to scoop the top spot here. Five Premier League titles, together with the most famous goal in club history against QPR to win the first of those crowns, ensures that the Argentine's name will live on for generations to come.

Averaging 0.67 goals per game in the Premier League – only bettered by Erling Haaland and Thierry Henry – Aguero is right up with the very best forwards to ever grace English football. They don't come much better than the diminutive Argentinian.

Data provided by Transfermarkt (as of 30/03/24).