Why do many foreign players don’t like living in Manchester?

`Sometimes the biggest obstacle in convincing a player to sign a contract with Man Utd or Man City, and continue to stick with the club, is the location,` Goal newspaper opened its article on the July 3 issue.

In the summer of 2017, Dani Alves came very close to joining Man City and reuniting with Pep Guardiola, after a successful time at Barca.

The reason is because Alves’ wife, model Joana Sanz, does not want to live in Manchester.

A view down to Manchester.

Although it has undergone a huge transformation in recent years and is competing with New York for high-rise buildings, Manchester is still far behind Madrid, Barcelona, Milan or Paris when it comes to attractive locations for football players.

Joana – who broke up with Alves after the Brazilian defender was arrested on sexual assault charges – is not the only girlfriend or wife of a football star who is lacking in love with this city.

`You can’t compare Manchester with places like Barcelona, where you have perfect food, sunshine all day and a beach,` Goal quoted an expert.

The lack of good food in Manchester is a common complaint from many footballers’ wives and girlfriends.

Similarly, Gundogan’s wife, Sara Arfaoui, complained about the lack of quality restaurants last year.

Ilkay Gundogan and his wife in a restaurant in Manchester.

Manchester’s gray skies and heavy rainfall are the butt of many jokes.

But former Man City winger Nolito once caused a storm with his statement that the lack of sunlight in Manchester caused his daughter’s skin to change color and she looked like she was `living in a cave`.

Nolito joins City from Celta Vigo, which is the wettest city in Spain and has an average daily rainfall of 5.8mm compared to 3.2mm in Manchester.

Nolito did not have much time to adapt to life in Manchester because he only played for Man City for one season before returning to Spain to join Sevilla.

Although very popular with Man City fans, the Argentine striker does not seem to integrate much with the local culture.

Aguero also barely speaks English and during the Champions League final reported on BT Sport, the former striker spoke in Spanish, with Cesc Fabregas having to act as his translator.

But Aguero has never complained about life in Manchester, unlike his compatriot Carlos Tevez.

Tevez while playing for Man City.

This is not the only incident that has angered Man City fans.

Another Argentine player who finds it difficult to enjoy life in Manchester is Di Maria – the midfielder who joined Man Utd for a record sum of 99 million USD in 2014. But after only one year, he landed at PSG due to conflicts.

Di Maria’s house was burglarized while the family was in it.

Cardoso also said she is afraid of `weird` people in the city.

Di Maria’s wife has always expressed her dislike of living in Manchester.

On the contrary, some foreign players like to live in Manchester with the most typical example being Juan Mata – the midfielder who joined Man Utd after leaving Chelsea in 2014. The Spanish player started a blog while in London.

After leaving Man Utd for Galatasaray in 2022, Mata still maintained a relationship with the city.

Another Manchester champion from abroad is Vincent Kompany.