Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano believes his club and Liverpool are in a similar financial bracket.
City edged out the Reds in the race for the Premier League title on Sunday, producing a stirring comeback from two goals down against Aston Villa to win 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium.
Substitute Ilkay Gundogan came off the bench to score twice, in an indication to the strength in depth City have at their disposal. They also left last summer's £100 million signing Jack Grealish on the bench throughout the contest.
However, Soriano has dismissed the notion that City are in the position they are in solely down to financial advantages, noting that the champions and Liverpool trail the other team in Manchester in terms of commercial stakes.
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"If you look at the income of English clubs, the biggest earner is Manchester United," he said to RAC1 (h/t the Times)
"They earn £100m more than City, Liverpool and Chelsea. We don't have more money. In fact, we have less. How much money has United spent in recent years and how much has City spent? If you analyse it, you will see that United has spent more and that City has won 11 titles in the last few years and United one or two - and no league titles."
While Liverpool have occasionally spent big in the transfer window in recent years, their net spend doesn't compare to that of Pep Guardiola's side.
City already have next season's key signing secured too, as they struck a deal with Borussia Dortmund to bring Erling Haaland to the club. Once again, Soriano dismissed the idea that the Norwegian was moving to the Etihad to swell his wallet.
"We are evolving to a time when the big players can choose, and Haaland has chosen us," he continued. "You have seen the transfer figures, and they are very reasonable. The salary we are paying him is what we can afford and what he is entitled to.
"He has had all the peace of mind and the time to choose where to play. We have been close to him, we have explained the project to him, but the money could have been given to him by [Manchester] United, Bayern [Munich] or Real Madrid. He has decided where he wants to go and we are happy."
Haaland will reportedly earn in the region of £400,000-a-week at City.
