With 4 signings settling in, the majority of which
have swelled our attacking options; focus switches to the defence.
Chinese takeaway
So we leave China South
Africa Sunderland
and a slight surprise for me was the early inclusion of David Silva [after his late stay in the Confederations Cup] who had a crackin' game; with several
sublime passes to Negredo & Dzeko.
I suppose that I
shouldn’t be too surprised either to see Navas on the
bench yesterday and, instead, James Milner starting again
on the right wing – James is having a fab pre-season. It’s probably wrong and slightly inaccurate to say that Milner is
a ‘naturally fit’ footballer; that would suggest that he doesn’t work out / train hard. He
just looks so lean, determined (as always) and, in particular at the moment,
very sharp. Not that James never impressed whenever he got his chance under Mancini last season. (Yaya, it has to be added, looked on the lean side also for a pre-season...)
But this is what
happens when you bring in MORE quality to your squad; the existing players in
those positions ‘step up’ yet another gear – that’s why I desperately want us to off-load Kolarov
and get better quality competition for Gael Clichy…
Negredo, despite a
few wayward shots yesterday, looks every bit the player I was hoping for and
expected him to be. Despite slightly misfiring yesterday; I know he can be a
clinical finisher. And in addition to his well-documented body strength, his
run-timing, passing and general interplay with his team-mates is excellent.
What a signing!
Fingers crossed
Was anyone else
bracing themselves for an injury to one of our players in the two games in
rain-soaked-pitch China
Defence matters
Hopefully medical
scan-results will show nothing to serious to our key central defender when the team back in Manchester very briefly; before
jetting off to Germany
Should scans to
Nastasic’s injury prove bad, it opens up the debate even further about the need
for us to sign another central defender. While a lot of sensible Manchester City
Joleon Lescott would
understandably disagree with our new Manager’s apparent opinion and is
desperate to find out where he stands in the pecking order. As it stands at the
moment (when all are fit), I would put him next in line behind Kompany and
Nastasic…and, therefore, not far down the pecking order at all. But even with 2
years remaining on his current contract; bringing in a top-quality centre half
wouldn’t be a good sign at all for the player who has rarely let us down and,
who, played very well indeed for the most part next to our Captain for a
considerable period of time.
Injury to Nastasic? Queue 'time to impress' for Lescott in Germany and, possibly, Helsinki too...
French connection or
Portuguese Piri piri?
If it is, indeed,
between these two then it’s a no brainer for me. Both look very good and have
bags of top-flight experience but…
Age:
Pepe: Was 30 in February 2013Rami: Was 27 in December 2012
Price:
Pepe: A
rumoured £15M+; Real apparently want closer to £22MRami: A rumoured buy-out clause of £7.75M; probably costing us more like £10M to £12M
International Caps:
Pepe:
51 for Rami: 25 for
Notable domestic teams played for:
Pepe:
64 times for Rami: 160 times for
Temperament:
Pepe:
Prone to explosive, red mist moments. Has
missed about 15 games due to suspensions (10 of which were a ‘block-ban’, which
affectively ended a season for him). Often gets unnecessarily involved with
opposition players; appears easily wound up and has been known to get in
trouble for comments regarding officialsRami: No notable negative incidents
It’s Adil Rami for me…
Leaning left
If we are to believe reports, apparently City have slapped a £6M valuation on our only weak link in the team…Aleksandar Kolarov. This has, apparently, somehow “catapulted” Galatasaray into pole position to sign the left-back come left wing-back, with Juventus (why would they..?) still on the radar for his services too.
I’m boring myself with the amount of times I say that I hope we see the back of this guy sooner rather than later and so rather than say it again, I’m simply going to indulge myself and have a quick, fairly realistic look at who we might get in to replace him as direct competition for Clichy.
If he’s
going anywhere, he’ll surely following his former manager to Scaffold Trafford. His
chances of more first-team appearance will probably be higher at The Swamp than it would be a City too and
so it would seem unlikely that he'll be swapping dark blue for sky blue.
I’d like
him though; Gael & Leighton slogging it out for the left-back slot would
see both players put in regular 8/10 performances most weeks I’m sure.
Approximate cost: £14M
Chance: With Manyoo’s Moyes sniffing
around, 3/10
With a new Manager at Real Madrid and with their
interest in signing Gareth Bale, if the Spanish
giants are successful in their bid for the left-sided Welsh wonder, then why
not make a bid for this fella?
The
arrival of Bale at Real would surely see Fabio well ‘n’ truly down the pecking
order, with the already well-established Marcelo Vieira there too. And like both Marcelo and Gareth, the Portuguese player
likes to attack down the left as well as play as an out & out left back,
defender.
I have to question why on earth Real are pursuing the Spurs player
for £60M to £100M (depending on what article you read) when they have 2, very
fine left backs / left wing-backs!
Definitely
worth a punt.
Approximate cost: Aged just 25, lots of top-flight experience
and with 4 years left on his contract, probably £25M+
Chance: (if Real sign Bale) 6/10
Marcello Vieira
As
above…
Approximate cost: With only 2 years left on his
5-year contact extension but with a whopping 170 Real Madrid and 25
Brazil appearance; at just 25 years of age also, we would probably be looking
at £30M+
Chance: (if Real sign Bale) 5/10Jetro Willems
I’ve liked
the look of this guy very much since we were first linked with him in the 2012/2013 Winter transfer window. For his age
(just 19 in March 2013), he has a decent amount of experience with 46 games for
PSV and 8 for the Dutch National first team.
Looks
good – cool in his defending; ability to take on a player and attack, has skill
on the ball, can cut in AND fly down the flank and has a very good range of
passing along with very accurate ‘crossing-into-the-box’ ability. Pretty much
the whole lot really!
Approximate cost: With [young] age on his side and
with 3 years remaining on his contract, I’m sure PSV would be asking for £15M
or there abouts.
Chance: If we really wanted him, 8/10
(but be careful of a, “we want Guidetti in part-exchange” deal…)
Taking shape also…
…is the
new Manchester City Academy
I intend
to stick my camera lens through and over the perimeter fence where possible very soon to
give everyone a look at the progress so far.
Watch this space…
Watch this space…
No comments:
Post a Comment