Onuoha: Players won't just be joining Manchester City for the money

07 April 2009 10:47
Nedum Onuoha has insisted any big name players that join Manchester City this summer will have trophies and not money in mind. City boss Mark Hughes can afford to bring Europe's top stars to Eastlands, but Onouha says that if the club can win the UEFA Cup this season it will sell the club more than high wages ever could. Onuoha told the club's website: 'That would definitely mean more than the money. There is so much potential here now and the chance to be able to afford better players. But they will come because they see the club is moving in the right direction. 'They'll see the ambition and take a pride in coming here. It's amazing to think that not so long ago we were escaping relegation but three or four years from now could be one of the top teams in the country if not Europe. 'But it wouldn't be about the money, it would be about the team developing. Players take a pride in the team they play for, otherwise you wouldn't go. Big clubs will pay big money, because they will be winning things.' The defender has also defended today's footballer, a week after Frank Lampard said that youngsters in the game now had it too easy. He said: 'Some will think I'm unique, others boring, but for me it's not about the money. Football is a great profession to be in and I'm having a good life. It doesn't matter to me if someone else is having a better one. 'Players who are deserving can have as much as they like and it won't trouble me. I hope Stevie Ireland signs a new contract and they pay him whatever he wants, because for me he has been our best player this season. 'Whatever he earns, he deserves, and if I only get a hundredth or whatever fraction of what he is paid, it wouldn't matter to me as long as I had enough to be OK. I'd never compare myself to him, he's integral to the team.'

Source: Daily_Mail