On this day in 2009: Nigel de Jong signs for Manchester City

The Dutchman added vital steel to City’s midfield as they first emerged as title challengers.

Nigel de Jong, right, and Craig Bellamy, left, joined Manchester City in January 2009 (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Archive)

Manchester City signed Netherlands midfielder Nigel de Jong on this day in 2009 as a remarkable spending spree gathered pace.

The club were undergoing an astonishing overhaul following the takeover of Sheikh Mansour the previous summer and De Jong became a key cog in their rapid transformation from mid-table battlers to eventual champions.

De Jong, then 29, penned a four-and-a-half-year contract with the Premier League club after City agreed a fee of around £18million with Hamburg.

His arrival came soon after the high-profile captures of Craig Bellamy and Wayne Bridge at the then City of Manchester Stadium and was quickly followed, in the same transfer window, by that of goalkeeper Shay Given.

City had begun sending shockwaves through the transfer market on the day of the sheikh’s takeover in August 2008 when they snapped up Brazilian Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5million.

They had set their sights even higher in January 2009 as they made an audacious, then world record, £100million attempt to buy Kaka from AC Milan.

That failed but De Jong’s signing, albeit far more modest, proved sensible as the defensive midfielder added steel to a side needing a grafter amid a huge influx of exciting attacking talent. Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez were among the newcomers the following summer.

The Dutchman went on to make 137 appearances for City over three and a half years, helping them win the FA Cup and Premier League, before leaving for Milan.

He later had spells in the United States, Turkey and Qatar and also earned 81 international caps before retiring in 2021.