Pep Guardiola has defended Manchester City's summer spending despite an overall outlay of over £200 million that looks to rise further before the window closes.

City are preparing to go head-to-head with Real Madrid in a friendly in Los Angeles and Guardiola repeated his assertion since joining City last summer that his and the club's long-term project "needs time" to consistently reach the heights of Real and former clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich on the European stage.

Yet, he defended City's splurge with £130 million spent on full-backs alone in recruiting Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo in recent weeks as the result of City's lack of investment in that position in recent years.

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Aleksandar Kolarov's move to Roma completed a clear out of the four ageing full-backs on City's books last season following the departures of Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna.

"I would like to pay less for the club, for everybody, but the market is the market," he said. "Manchester City did not invest in full-backs in the last six or seven last years and all four had 31 or 32 years old. We decided we had to make the squad younger and we try to get the best full-backs possible."

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and Guardiola's old foe Jose Mourinho have been among those labelling the wild inflation in transfer fees for Premier League clubs as unsustainable. Guardiola, though, claimed City's role in driving up prices this summer is an exceptional one as they build the foundations of a young squad even if an immediate upturn in results mean his stay at the Etihad isn't a prolonged one.

City have spent over £200m this summer (AFP)

"I think the club has to listen a little bit to the manager in the right moment, but also take their own decisions in their perspective of the future because no one knows what happens with the manager in the future.

"All the managers in the world depend on the results and if the results are not good nobody knows what can happen, but they are really good players it doesn't matter who the manager is and for Manchester City that is the most important thing."

City remain in the hunt for Kylian Mbappe despite suggestions in Spain Real have already agreed a fee for the Monaco wonderkid.

And Guardiola conceded that City's financial muscle might not be enough to win the race for Europe's most sought-after young player.