In terms of European merit there are.
In it was two decades ago since they got past the last 16 in the CL, and 5 seasons since they were last in it. 1 final in 19 seasons, which was 15 years ago. All the other teams, bar City, had at least been in a CL quarter final in very recent history.
Your argument was as if a PL 'Super League' should include Blackburn, just because they won it more recently than other teams. Or, as I said, adding Nottingham Forest to a european 'Super League' because they've won it before. All that has relevance is the present.
'History', beyond recent seasons, is a weird metric in football - it does nothing but assert expectation, or give fans something irrelevant to crow about. I'm under no illusion, though, that there's not really any merit in the conversation being had, and it's just one of those tribal things.