Manchester City sign Ruben Dias and raise Pep Guardiola's spending on defenders to £408m

Pep Guardiola took his spending on defenders at Manchester City to a staggering £408 million in four years with the club record £65.2m capture of Portugal centre-half, Ruben Dias, from Benfica.

The outlay is almost double that of the Premier League’s next biggest spenders on defenders - Manchester United - over the same period and comes at a time when Guardiola is facing more scrutiny than ever over City’s pressing problems at the back following Sunday’s 5-2 capitulation at home to Leicester.

Dias, 23, is the seventh defender City have signed who will have cost the club in excess of £40m since Guardiola took charge in 2016 but too many of the club’s recruits in that department have failed to convince, a situation that also shone a spotlight on director of football Txiki Begiristain.

City will pay an initial £61.9m, with a further £3.3m payable in add ons for Dias, who has played 19 times for Portugal and replaces Rodri as the most expensive player in the club’s history. Benfica are signing Nicolás Otamendi in return in a separate £13.7m deal.

The Argentina defender, 32, underwent a medical with the Portuguese club on Monday and City were waiting for the final details of that transfer to be concluded before formally announcing Dias’s arrival.

City considered a number of players for the position and, given their chequered record of signing defenders in recent years, it remains to be seen if they have chosen the right man in Dias.

More than a year after balking at Leicester’s £85m valuation of Harry Maguire, who joined United instead, City backed away from a move for Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly after considering Napoli’s £80m asking price for a 29-year-old to be excessive, despite the huge sums already committed on defenders.

City also felt Atlético Madrid’s Jose Giménez, another player of interest, was overpriced, especially given the injury problems the 25-year-old has had, and scoffed at claims they bid £78m for the Uruguay centre-back.

Sevilla’s Jules Koundé was also considered but the 21-year-old was deemed to be too much of an unknown quantity.

Telegraph Sport understands that City were also determined to offload Otamendi in negotiations for a new central defender but the likes of Napoli, Atlético and Sevilla were reticent about taking the Argentine and that proved a complicating factor.

Guardiola has been waiting for a commanding right-sided centre-half since influential captain Vincent Kompany left in May 2019 and Dias has been on City’s radar for the past two years.

Manchester United and Juventus were understood to have been interested in Dias last summer and Arsenal are thought to have discussed triggering the £60m release clause in the player’s contract.

That release clause was increased to £80m after Dias signed a new contract last November and, as such, City feel they have done well to secure his signature for around £15m less than that sum and partially offset the cost through the sale of Otamendi.

City believe Dias has the leadership skills, quality and right age profile to be a success. He becomes the club’s second centre half arrival this summer after Nathan Ake, who joined from Bournemouth for £41m.

Despite the huge expenditure on defenders under Guardiola, Leicester became the latest side to expose the problems that have become increasingly pronounced over the past 12 months.

Guardiola’s cause has not been helped by injuries to key players, including his best defender Aymeric Laporte and star striker, Sergio Agüero, but many of the individual and collective defensive shortcomings evident in the dismal Champions League defeat by Lyon last month were on show again against Brendan Rodgers’ side, not least their susceptibility to pace on the counter-attack.

The teenage Spain international, Eric García, endured a torrid time against Jamie Vardy and left back Benjamin Mendy was similarly poor. García, Mendy and right back Kyle Walker all conceded penalties in the game. García is wanted by Barcelona but City have been holding out for £30m for the 19-year-old, who is out of contract next summer.

City have been linked with the Ajax left back, Nicolas Tagliafico, but it remains to be seen if they manage to add any more players before the close of the transfer window next Monday.