Manchester City has the monetary power to buy La Liga stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi claims Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho.
According to CIES Football Observatory, Barcelona star Messi's worth is £163m and Real Madrid forward Ronaldo's current market value is £106m.
The 32-year-old City midfielder believes that although his club is capable enough to acquire these two-star players, they would not be fit into the club's philosophy. But he is not sure about the final decision.
"Could we sign Messi or Ronaldo? I guess so, but then you have to consider the club's priorities first. We have the financial power, everyone knows that, but there's the priority issue that must be considered," Fernandinho told Goal.com.
"Are we aiming to sign one player or to assemble a strong, competitive team to achieve our goals? Sometimes people mistake some things regarding that, thinking just one player would make up for the needs of an entire club. Maybe it's not supposed to be like that," he added.
Fernandinho was a former player of the Ukraine club FC Shakhtar Donetsk. In 2013, he was taken by the England club reportedly for £34m. He also mentioned that the objective of the club is not only signing big stars but to improve the team structure.
"City has been working throughout the years to mount competitive teams and pursue titles. Of course, the club made some big and strong investments in the beginning, with top-level and well-known players, but the project itself is based on having a strong team, on developing a top academy structure to reveal new players," Fernandinho continued.
"The City project is much more than about signing a single player with a strong name, which would eventually cost a lot more," he further added.
In this case, a recent example would be the signing of the Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus in 2016 for £27m. He played 16 games and scored 11 goals for the club in the Premier League in 2017.
"With the market we're facing nowadays, not only regarding the Neymar deal but also the players that arrived in England this season, a market well-known for spending huge sums... for what Gabriel has shown back in Brazil and what he's been doing so far, I think he ended up being a real bargain for us," he said.
"We are happy with that because the club managed to pay little for a wonderful player with a huge future ahead of him, whose perspectives are the best possible. Somehow, Gabriel managed to be 'left out' of this transfer market madness we are all seeing nowadays."
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