Zabaleta: City must stop talking about winning the title and instead start playing like champions

Pablo Zabaleta has told his Manchester City team-mates the time has come to stop talking about winning the Premier League and prove their title credentials on the pitch.

City could their summer spending through the £100million barrier with the £24m capture of James Milner in their bid to challenge for the title and clinch a Champions League spot they just missed out on last season.

But defender Zabaleta, taking in Manhattan on the club's pre-season tour of the US, admitted talk is cheap and that City will ultimately be judged by how well they perform as a team, rather than their spending and grand rhetoric.

"So many people are talking about us reaching the Champions League this season and winning the title, but it's not good to be talking about that before the season has begun," said Zabaleta. "We know we have a fantastic team with great players throughout the squad.

"You look at the make-up of our squad and you know we can so something important. But I also think we have to keep to quiet about it. We know how important our first game against Tottenham is going to be and in our heads we know what is expected of us.

"But I don't think it helps us to talk too much. We missed a great chance to reach the Champions League last season. The penultimate game against Tottenham was the key and unfortunately we lost it.

"Overall, though, we had a great season. It's not easy when a lot of new players come to a club at once. Added to that you have a new boss, in Roberto Mancini, who needs to work hard to get to know everyone and to know his best team.

"That all takes time. It cannot be done quickly. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have had their teams together for a long time. As teams they are all very solid, which is why they are the ones competing for the title every season. But I think we're very close to them now. This club is growing a lot. You can buy big names, but you need time to find the best team."

Zabaleta was speaking at the unveiling of a synthetic pitch located six stories up on the roof of the PS 72 Elementary School in Spanish Harlem, part of a unique new community project backed by City in association with the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

The facility, the first of its kind in Manhattan and which cost £200,000 to install, will enable children from the local community to play football without having to walk miles across New York to the nearest football pitches, with space at a premium in New York.

Zabaleta admitted he was humbled by the joy the long-term project would bring to the children of the school and said the initiative proved City were committed to putting something back into football, rather than merely spending their way to success.

"The club is working really hard in the community," said Zabaleta. "It's not just about coming to the US, training for the new season, playing some friendlies and then leaving. We want to do something different and to leave a legacy here.

"It shows the club is not just about spending big money on players, but important projects like this. It struck me when I heard how the kids all have to travel across New York just to play football and how this will change that.

"From my own experience in Argentina, you see poor areas, so to think these kind of places can get a facility like this is fantastic. I grew up in a small city a long way from Buenos Aries. But I suppose the best example in Argentina would be Carlos Tevez, who was born in a really poor area that has a reputation for crime.

"Every time he goes back there he takes shirts and football stuff to the local people. So many players from Argentina and Brazil come from theses areas and all they need is an opportunity, like the one we are giving to the children here in New York.

"Our club has the opportunity to do this. Maybe it's more difficult for other clubs, who need to spend most of their money on players. But this club has the ability to do so much and things have moved on since the new owners took over.

"They have the capacity to drive the team towards being one of the top clubs in the world and that's what we're going to do. As players we know it's a difficult challenge, but we also know that when a club spends this amount of money, we have to help its desire to be the best."