No championship means failure, says De Jong

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has stated that his side must win a trophy this season or the campaign will be branded a failure.

The Etihad Stadium outfit slipped off the top of the Premier League after a 1-0 defeat to West Brom on Sunday, and are 1-0 down to Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League last 16.

The Netherlands international knows that with the amount of money spent on the players in the squad, silverware this term is a must.

“For us, our main target is to win a prize. Our main goal is to win the Premier League,” he told Mirror Football.

“We’re still in the Europa League. We accept we were knocked out early in the Champions League, so for us we still have two main competitions.

“For us, the only way we can succeed this season is to win one of the prizes.

“After we won the FA Cup last season, everybody is hungry for more. That has to be the ambition of this club.

“We always go for the prizes and, of course, we will be very disappointed at the end of the day if we are standing there with no trophies.

“We always said at the beginning of the season we want to go and compete in as many competitions as we can.

“We’re still in the Europa League and we’re still in the title race. We have to fight and compete until the end.

“It takes a lot of power but we have a big enough squad to realise it. You’ve got to be mentally strong. Every game from now on is a final – for us, but also for United.

“It’s been a while since we won the title and everyone here is hungry for success,” he concluded.