Roberto Mancini says Manchester City will 'match Real and Barca' in transfer terms

Mancini is ready to strengthen his title winning side (GETTY IMAGES)

Manchester City will emulate Real Madrid and Barcelona this summer by spending heavily, in order to target Champions League success, Roberto Mancini said yesterday.

The champions' manager said: "Barcelona and Real Madrid every year buy two or three players and spend a lot of money. I think for Manchester City it will be the same. We need to improve. We need to have the strength to play Champions League and Premier League.

"For this we need to have a good team, a strong team with a good mentality, but I'm sure we will do it."

Real and Barcelona have spent an estimated total of £105m each over the last two seasons. Barcelona bought David Villa for £34.2m in the summer of 2010 and 12 months later they spent a similar amount on Cesc Fabregas. Madrid's big outlay followed a 2009 spending spree, which included bringing in the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema for a combined total of more than £170m.