Manuel Pellegrini believes it is vital Manchester City sign a superstar this summer.
The Premier League champions are interested in Wolfsburg midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and are believed to want Juventus' Paul Pogba and Liverpool's Raheem Sterling.
Pellegrini, who lamented City's failure to sign a game-changing player last year, said they cannot afford to go two years without bringing in another high-class footballer.
He said in a news conference: "Big teams need to sign a big player. It is very difficult to do it every year -- but every two years you must do it.
"I'm not just talking about Manchester City. You see Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern Munich -- all the big clubs -- all do it. It is important to have big names."
Pellegrini attributed City's inability to buy a "crack" player, as he termed it in Spanish, to the restrictions imposed upon them by UEFA for failing to keep in line with Financial Fair Play rules.
They were limited to a £49 million net spend last year and chose to pay £23 million for Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala, while they also brought in Fernando, Willy Caballero and free transfers Frank Lampard and Bacary Sagna, before adding striker Wilfried Bony in January.
A further complication for City is the need to sign players who qualify as homegrown, especially as they will definitely lose Lampard, one of their English contingent, while another, James Milner, could leave.
"We do need English players and we need good players," said Pellegrini.
While Pogba spent almost three years at Manchester United, and while De Bruyne's mother comes from London, it is thought neither qualifies as homegrown.
Pogba's agent Mino Raiola has claimed seven clubs -- Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, United, City and Chelsea -- are interested in the France international.
De Bruyne is also being monitored by his former club Chelsea and United as well as Bayern.