Pep Guardiola’s spending at Manchester City could top £600 million in two years as he targets three more players this summer in a bid to address successive Champions League failures and build on the club’s domestic dominance.

City crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night when the worst week of their season culminated in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool in the second leg of their bruising 5-1 aggregate quarter-final defeat.

It was the latest in a long line of European disappointments for Guardiola, dating back five seasons to 2014 with Bayern Munich, and City’s third defeat in seven days following the 3-0 first leg defeat to Liverpool and a 3-2 reverse against Manchester United on Saturday that denied the club the Premier League title.

Yet City’s hierarchy, who have already backed Guardiola to the tune of almost £450m since he took charge in June 2016, believe there is no cause for alarm and will continue with plans to sign a defensive midfielder, versatile forward and probably a centre-half.

Julian Weigl, of Borussia Dortmund, Shakhtar Donetsk’s Fred, Jorginho at Napoli and Jean-Michel Seri, who plays for Nice, are midfield targets, each of whom would cost around £40m or upwards.