Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has accused the club's hierarchy of dragging their heels over new signings as Arsenal captain Robin van Persie continues to be linked with rivals Manchester United.
Van Persie is entering the final year of his contract at Emirates Stadium and earlier this month told Arsenal he has no plans to sign a new deal.
City, United, and Juventus have all tabled bids for the 28-year-old in the past week, and while City until recently were the bookmakers' favourites to be Van Persie's next club they are now widely believed to be trailling both clubs in the race to sign the Dutchman.
And Mancini appears to have singled out City's football administrator Brian Marwood for failing to secure an early deal for the striker.
While several of their Premier League rivals have already spent in the transfer market this summer, the champions are yet to buy anyone - something which the Italian is far from happy about.
And when asked about his interest in Van Persie, Mancini said: "For this question, speak to the man in charge.
"I’m not in charge of this [new signings]. We have a man [Marwood] who works for this and we hope that he can do a good job.
"It’s important to get new players in quickly because, after what we did last year, it’s important we continue to win.
"This season will not be easy. It will be harder than last year and for this reason, we need to improve our team.
"Van Persie is a fantastic player but it is difficult to talk about him because he is an Arsenal player, not our player."
AC Milan, Barcelona, and Real Madrid have also shown interest in Van Persie in recent weeks.