Manchester City endured a disappointing start to their Premier League title defence on Sunday as Tottenham secured a 1-0 win in north London. That defeat came despite Pep Guardiola fielding the most expensive starting line-up in Premier League history.
All the talk was about Harry Kane in the build-up to the match, but in the event Spurs were without their talismanic striker due to a lack of match fitness.
In his absence it was Son Heung-min who grabbed the headlines, cutting inside to open the scoring with a trademark finish into the bottom corner.
Man City could not find a way past Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal, with Ferran Torres and Riyad Mahrez spurning good openings and Kevin De Bruyne coming close with a low drive.
That 1-0 meant victory for Nuno Espirito Santo in his first competitive match in charge of Spurs - and defeat for Guardiola and his star-studded line-up.
Guardiola opted to name a team of those who had spent the most time on the training pitch in pre-season, and it was City’s £100million record signing Jack Grealish who provided the majority of the squad value.
Grealish is the Premier League's most expensive player at £100m (Image: GETTY)
When backed up by Ederson (£34m), Joao Cancelo (£60m), Nathan Ake (£40m), Ruben Dias (£65m), Benjamin Mendy (£49m) in defence the money begins to sky-rocket.
Fernandinho (£30m), Ilkay Gundogan (£20m), Raheem Sterling (£49m), Mahrez (£60m) and Torres (£21m) completed the team, giving them a record total transfer fee value of £528m - a top flight record.
When you consider that City’s bench was worth nearly £300m, then City’s huge wealth really comes into focus.
Guardiola had Kyle Walker (£50m), John Stones (£47.5m) and Gabriel Jesus (£28m), Oleksandr Zinchenko (£1.7m), Zack Steffen (£5m), Aymeric Laporte (£57m), Rodri (£62.5m), Kevin De Bruyne (£54m) and Bernardo Silva (£43m) at his disposal.
In the end, he opted to bring on Jesus, De Bruyne and Zinchenko - but to no avail.
Man City's expensively-assembled squad were beaten by Spurs (Image: GETTY)
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"The selection today was more thinking of the guys that have been here since the beginning,” Guardiola said pre-match.
“Two days ago was the first time we were all together. Some guys get condition quicker.
“They arrived good, but it’s just the first game. There are 38 games. They know everyone is going to be involved."
The City manager is likely to rotate his squad for their next Premier League game against newly-promoted Norwich on Saturday, while the pursuit of Kane may continue.
City have already seen a £100m bid rejected by Spurs but appear set to return with an improved offer to land a replacement for Sergio Aguero.