MANCHESTER -- Manuel Pellegrini has played down claims Manchester City have the strongest squad in the Premier League, despite taking their summer spending to £100 million with the signing of Valencia centre-back Nicolas Otamendi.
Premier League leaders City defeated champions Chelsea 3-0 last week and then paid out £31.5 million to bring in Otamendi, the centre-back Pellegrini believes was the best in La Liga last season.
Pellegrini had already broken City's transfer record by spending £49 million on Raheem Sterling as well as bringing in Fabian Delph, Patrick Roberts and Enes Unal.
But he claimed that four other clubs have the same strength in depth, saying in a news conference: "I think here in England we have five or six teams that has the same strong squad: Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, our team has the same squad.
"In Europe there are important teams like Barcelona, Valencia and Bayern Munich that continue being more important than any teams here in England. It is important to have a strong squad."
Pellegrini said that Jason Denayer could go out on loan after the signing of Otamendi, along with the presence of Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis, is set to limit his opportunities.
The 20-year-old Belgian signed a new five-year contract in the summer and had been expected to be their fourth-choice centre-back this season.
"We will talk with him and with his agent," Pellegrini said. "He improved a lot last year playing one year with Celtic. We will see will see now where he will go or if he stays here. We will decide in the next weeks."
Pellegrini explained the signing of Otamendi as he argued the Argentine's aerial ability will be useful in the Premier League.
"I think that we needed a centre-back," he said. "We analysed different options and we decided that Nicolas Otamendi was the best option so here he is. He will be a very important player.
"I think he is a very good player, he is improving. I know him when he played in Porto with Mangala, both of them against [Pellegrini's] Malaga in the Champions League.
"Last season with Valencia, he had a very good season. He is improving every year. He is a good header of the ball. That is important here in England."