This is not a thread discrediting Pep, he has done very well. It is just relevant with Mourinho's comments on the spending.
The squad Mourinho inherited was no where near good enough to challenge for the league. Out of the players in the squad, here are the players who had any experience in challenging for the league.
De Gea, Jones, Smalling, Young, Valencia, Rooney & Carrick. 2 of those are ex wingers turned full back, and two of those were well past it. The only players who were good enough for a title challenging side are De Gea, Martial, Jones and Smalling with consistent fitness and if you want to stretch it, Mata and a very raw and young Rashford.
City's squad was not perfect either. However, De Bruyne, Aguero, Silva, Fernandinho and Sterling all had experience of challenging for the title and were all capable of doing so again. They have all improved, yes, and that's also credit to Pep. Those 5 have proven very important to City's current historic run.
Now looking at Jose's spending. Half of the 310 million spent has gone on two players, Pogba and Lukaku. Meanwhile Pep at City did not have to worry about forking out a fortune to bring in De Bruyne and Aguero, as they were already at the club. This allowed him to spend money in other areas.
Jose has spent 313 million according to transfermarkt. Pep has spent 415 million. Considering the gap that already existed between the squads, this is significant. Also considering the damage Moyes and Van Gaal did, the fact that City have been finishing above us for 3 season prior anyway also adds some perspective. I am not criticising Pep for spending, but there was an existing gap between the two already, and the continued spending has consolidated the gap.
Pep was able to get rid of his entire selection of fullbacks and bring in his own. Jose has yet to sign even one fullback. Of course that is also down to his choice, but considering the large outlay in each of his two seasons on Pogba and Lukaku, and the fact that the board wouldn't sanction a move for Perisic, he was perhaps a little restricted. Not so much to derail the entire rebuilding process obviously, and in some ways it is understandable, but these things count. I think he will get rid of players like Blind and Darmian this summer who are quite frankly, not good enough to challenge for the league.
Despite all this, we sit second and have a good points total. The football needs to be better yes, but the team is still growing and we need to add more. We are closer to where Pep's City were last year and I think we need to accept that at the moment we are a bit behind them in the rebuilding process. I think the gap in the league clearly indicates that.