What eleven did City have before being a rich club?

Joe Hart

He currently defends the goal for Celtic FC. He wore the Manchester City shirt on 348 occasions, being four times Premier League Golden Glove. With Manchester City he won four Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, one Community Shield and one League Cup.

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Manchester City FC
Manchester City FC via Getty Ima

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Micah Richards

His last club before retiring was Aston Villa. There were 246 games that he was defending the City shirt in which he won two Premier, one FA Cup and one Capital One Cup.

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Manchester City FC
Manchester City FC via Getty Ima

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Richard Dunne

He arrived at Manchester City in 2000 from Everton and until his departure in 2009 he played 346 games. During his career he also went through teams such as Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa. In addition, he got to play the 2002 World Cup held in South Korea and Japan.

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Manchester City FC
Manchester City FC via Getty Ima

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Michael Ball

He arrived at Manchester City in 2006 and wore the shirt until 2009. He played a total of 63 games. He retired as a Leicester City player.

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Manchester City FC
Manchester City FC via Getty Ima

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Vedran Corluka

Manchester paid GNK Dinamo Zagreb €13 million to sign him in 2007. He wore the City shirt for two seasons playing a total of 47 games.

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Alex Livesey
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Dietmar Hamann

Champion of the Champions League with Liverpool as well as champion of the Uefa Cup and champion of the European Super Cup twice. At Manchester City he played 71 games in total from 2006 to 2009. He participated in the World Cups in France 1998 and South Korea/Japan 2002 as well as Euro 2000 and 2004.

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Manchester City FC
Manchester City FC via Getty Ima

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Gelson Fernandes

Youngster from the Swiss FC Sion arrived at Manchester City in 2007 where he played a total of 59 games until his departure in 2009. He has played for teams such as Stade Rennais FC, Eintracht Frankfurt, AS Saint-Étienne, SC Freiburg, Chievo Verona or Leicester City .

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Clive Brunskill
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Martin Petrov

Known in LaLiga for his time at Atlético de Madrid and Espanyol. From the rojiblanco team he went to Manchester City in exchange for 7 million euros. At Atlético he came to be awarded Footballer of the Year in Bulgaria. In his palms he has 1 Bulgarian League (CSKA Sofia season 96-97), 1 Bulgarian Cup (CSKA Sofia season 97-98) and 1 Swiss League.

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Clive Brunskill
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Stephen Ireland

The retired Manchester City youth squad played for City from 2005 to 2010, playing a total of 175 games and scoring 23 goals.

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Elano

He arrived at City in 2007 from Shakhtar Donetsk in exchange for 12 million euros. He played until 2009 a total of 80 games and scored 18 goals.

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Clive Brunskill
Getty Images

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Darius Vassell

He defended the colors of City from 2005 to 2009 where he came to play 123 games scoring 21 goals in total. His last club as a professional was Leicester City.

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Mike Egerton – EMPICS
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