City can't throw money around anymore due to financial fair play rules, warns Mancini

Roberto Mancini has admitted that UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules are stopping Manchester City from splashing the cash in the transfer window.

The megabucks club have made no signings so far this summer, despite the almost unlimited funds available from owner Sheik Mansour, while neighbours and reigning Premier League champions Manchester United have spent more than £50million on the likes of Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David De Gea.

City are pressing ahead with a £27million double bid for Arsenal pair Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri, but their otherwise strange absence from the transfer market is explained by belt-tightening at Eastlands, according to Mancini.

On the move? Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri (right) is edging towards a move to Eastlands

Next season sees the start of a three-year period in which clubs must not post more than 45m Euro (£40.5m) aggregate losses. From 2014 the permitted amount of losses falls again, and failure to comply could mean exclusion from the Champions League from that time.

City currently have losses of around £121m, and with a multitude of high earners, such as Craig Bellamy, Emmanuel Adebayor, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Roque Santa Cruz and Wayne Bridge still on the books but with little chance of first-team football, City need to watch what they spend.

Mancini confirmed that City would not 'do what everyone thinks we will and pay £10m more than other clubs' for transfer targets, as has been the policy in previous years when the club have made big-money signings such as Robinho, and made huge bids to buy the likes of Kaka and Wayne Rooney.

A long way from London: Gael Clichy was out in Manchester on Sunday with his City switch nearing completion

The Italian also suggested that City were taking UEFA's new rules seriously by saying that 'financial fair play is for everyone'.

City are close to finalising a £7m deal for Clichy and will offer the Gunners the kind of deal that will be difficult to refuse if Nasri, as expected, fails to agree new terms at the Emirates.

Clichy was pictured leaving a restaurant in Manchester on Sunday night as he prepares to become the first big name to walk out on Arsenal this summer. 

Surplus to requirements: But City must offload the likes of Craig Bellamy before spending big

Nasri, meanwhile, hinted at a possible exit after admitting he is craving silverware. He said: 'With no titles under your belt, you can't be in the list for Ballon D'Or. I came to England for trophies because I've not won anything in my career, apart from an Under 17 European Championship in 2004.

'We already earn huge wages. The priority is to make a big career and to win titles. This is more important than everything else.'

Mancini also made it clear he considers himself ultimately responsible for City's transfer policy - and not City's super-rich owners, or the club's directors.

I got the power! Roberto Mancini insists he's responsible for transfer policy at Manchester City

'I am the ultimate authority,' Mancini said. 'I participate in the life of the club and I organise the schedules for the players.

'I talk with agents and directors, as the first person they come to. Then, when a deal's almost done, people from the administrative side become involved.

'I am fully involved, there is nobody above me, and that is obviously a new thing, but I work in a great club with extraordinary owners.'