Why Manchester City are in no way comparable to Villarreal, whichever way Pep Guardiola wants to shake it

What does an English club which has splurged £1.075bn on its playing squad in the last nine seasons and a Spanish side from a town with a population barely bigger than its own stadium have in common?

Well, not a lot actually, unless you are an increasingly sulky Pep Guardiola.

According to an influential Catalan journalist - and close Pep confidante - Guardiola thinks his Manchester City team are one of the Premier League's "second tier" sides.

Lu Martin, who is known to be friendly with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, told the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser on Monday night that Guardiola considers his team to be the equivalent of Villarreal - a team which has never won a major trophy in its 96-year history. (Manchester City have won 14).

Martin, who insisted he was "not giving my opinion, I am telling you what Guardiola thinks", said City is "a team which is not one of the top sides".

"It is 30 years since Man City have won at Liverpool, for example. He sees it as a personal challenge, to compete against the biggest teams," Martin explained.

"In Spain and in Germany he was competing with a big team - but in England the big teams are Chelsea, Manchester United, other teams. He has a team which is powerful but not the most powerful."

Guardiola has become increasingly tetchy in recent days. Before City's win over Burnley on Monday he told NBC that he is "arriving at the end" of his coaching career that is less than a decade old, before sharing an incredibly bizarre post-match interview with the BBC's Damian Johnson.

So just how accurate is his latest outburst? While the squad Guardiola has inherited at City is undoubtedly weaker than the ones he took on at Barcelona and then Bayern Munich, it is a bit of a stretch to compare it to one of Spain's perennial - almost trademark - overachievers.

The club, known as El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine) thanks to their all-yellow kits, can fit 25,000 spectators into their El Madrigal stadium - half the population of the small Castellón town of Vila-real where they are based.

After spending the vast majority of its history in Spain's lower tiers, the club achieved promotion to the top flight in 1998 for the first time. Since then they have become known as a club that develops young, cheaper players as opposed to one that buys them in ready-made.

Those that are bought are hardly worthy of comparison to City's superstars. For Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, swap Roberto Soldado, Denis Cheryshev and Alexandre Pato - those who have all struggled at some of Europe's biggest clubs, bought on the cheap as they look to refurbish them and restore their confidence.

In the same period that City spent the aforementioned £1bn on players, Villarreal had a net transfer income of £16.71m. The Spanish club actually made money rather than throwing it in ever-increasing quantities at the transfer circus.

While Guardiola may be feeling sorry for himself, to compare his current side to one of Spain's relative minnows is way off the mark.

One particularly illuminating quote from Martin was about the depth of competition in England compared to Spain and Germany.

"There are many teams which can compete financially in England: Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea."

While Guardiola is undoubtedly a world class coach, perhaps that revealing tidbit confirms that he's finding it much harder to stamp his authority on a league where rivals with spending power aren't miles in the rearview mirror.