Following my last blog of possible players coming into our club in the summer, I’d thought I’d follow it up with players who could be making room by heading in the opposite direction.
Goalkeepers
In his last few months of his contract and
rumoured not to be offered a new one. It could be that the just-turned 37-year
old Chilean will be offered a coaching role at City but, in terms of staying on
as a player, I think it’s come to an end now.
Chances of leaving (as a player): 10/10
Deciding factors:
-
Age.
-
End of contract.
-
Younger keepers pushing for a
place in the squad.
-
Player’s own desire to play
more regularly at a lower level or plans to move into coaching anyway.
The ex-England international was brought in
form Derby County in the summer to offer
further, experienced cover and he was named in a few cup, match-day squads, I
think I recall. He hasn’t made a start as yet (I keep having to remind myself that the
season could well resume at some point) and with Zack Steffen coming into the squad for next season
and a likely promotion, when required, from the EDS
for Gavin Bazunu; Scott will most certainly
be deemed surplus to requirements.
Chances of leaving: 10/10
Decided factors:
-
Meant in the nicest possible way,
of course; no longer needed.
Defenders
If he could guarantee that he’d be largely
injury free from his knee(s) issues, which is impossible of course, and ‘up his
game’ to become more consistently good then there could well be a chance for
the French, left-wing back to spend another season at MCFC. Personally, I doubt
either will happen and I think Pep is finally
looking for far more stability in this area of the team.
Chances of leaving: 7/10
Deciding factors:
-
Long-term injury issues with
both knees.
-
Form consistency; some of which
may be attributed to the afore mentioned injuries.
-
His manager’s desire to
stabilise this area of his squad.
-
The likelihood that a club
would want to sign an injury-prone player and, similarly, would he even pass a
medical?
-
Wage demands of the player with
any potential new club, which could affect also his sale value – would we be
willing to cut a big loss?
It’s a fact of football as well as life in general
that, sometimes, moves just don’t work out. Without the player himself opening
up and telling us all what the issues are – and there clearly are underlying
issues – then we can only guess for now. I think it could well be a
combination of factors in that he and/or his partner, who only gave birth to a
baby girl in December 2019, just doesn’t like life in England and / or
Manchester. Perhaps the Premier League
doesn’t suit the player, for whatever technical reasons that may be, and that a
combination of all of those factors has led to him and his boss not-exactly see
eye to eye a lot of the time. He certainly doesn’t look a ‘happy chappy’ most
of the time despite, in my opinion, his performances slowly growing to a fairly
steady 6.5 / 7/10.
Chances of leaving: 9/10
Deciding factors:
-
Player’s happiness.
-
Club wanting to sell.
-
A buying club offering
Manchester City enough (cash and/or cash plus player) for a player whose
contract isn’t due to exhaust until June 2025!
He’s becoming a bit of an enigma, is the
England international. My thoughts on what’s happening? Following stories of an
unhappy domestic life, I think it’s all affected him quite badly and that he
just can’t seem to focus on his football anywhere near as much as his manager
demands. He’s got talent for sure…it’s just that he’s got too many concentration
errors in him as well as an injury record of some considerable concern too, I’m
eager to add.
Chances of leaving: 9/10
Deciding factors:
-
The club wanting to sell now
while he still has 2 years left on his contract / unwillingness to extend the
contract of a player so out of form for so long and with plenty of injuries too.
-
The manager himself no longer
trusting the player’s ability / consistency.
-
The player’s wage demands of
any pursuing club.
-
With domestic issues possibly
still rumbling on in the ‘Stones household’ and living with a new partner, as
I understand it; the player finding a club willing to sign him in an area
of the country (world?) where both he and his (new) partner want to live (it might sound strange / far too
detailed to think along those lines but these things can be a factor for a
player who may be having issues in their private life…)
Some players get better with age (Fernandinho anyone?) and some become a ‘fading
force’. It could just be, as is sometimes the case too, that Nicolas simply
needs ‘freshening up’ with a move and, should that happen, he may well become a
very good defender for some other club, as he once was for us. He’s never really been a regular 8/10 defender but, for the most part, he’s
definitely been a fairly solid 7/10’er. Sadly, however, those scores are
dipping at a consistent rate. At my ‘end of season’ player ratings piece for
2017/18, I gave him an overall score of 8/10, whereas last season I noted how
little he featured in such an epic season for us and said that his performances
reflected that; giving him a final score of 7/10. Not bad. But this decline has
continued and with some absolutely abysmal displays & form this season from
the Argentine; my current rating for the 32-year old stands at a lowly 4.5/10.
Some may put that down to him working in a defence that, at times, has looked
very fragile on the whole and for all the reasons we know about. However, where
Nicolas has desperately struggled at times, other players have maintained
reasonable standards and even, in Fernandinho’s case, delivered
high-marking performances & consistently-good form.
Chances of leaving: 7/10
Deciding factors:
-
The club wanting to sell now
while he still has 2 years left on his contract.
-
The manager perhaps wanting to
keep a player who he often defends / has high praise for and also not wanting
to see too many central defenders exit, should the plan be to definitely
attempt to off-load John Stones.
I’ve put Oleks ‘in there’ for one reason
and one reason only – the fact that he might be getting twitchy for a move and
for a chance to play more football. He’s a decent player with talent and we all
know that he’s being asked to play in a position he’s had to be taught / adapt
to. The problem is, that whenever a specialist left-wing back is fit &
available the Ukrainian is then, more often than not, ‘benched’…or worse. And
can anyone convince me that he should get ahead of other players in his more
natural position of left-sided / central attacking midfield? Me
neither…certainly not in Premier League games or in Europe. The young lad
is…well, gonna be a not-so-young (in footballing terms for a player with
restricted game-time) at 24-years of age in December and ‘son of Kevin’, as he is often affectionally referred
to as, may be considering his options / future. He almost signed for Wolves not so long ago and I reckon that if the
right club came knocking; it’ll be the player himself who will sway the decision
making. Side
note: Should
that happen and we lose Benjamin too, then we really do need to get our scouts
working hard and perhaps look to our reserve teams for decent, specialist cover
too – we cannot continue with a ‘make do & mend’ situation any longer, in
my opinion.
Chances of leaving: 5/10
Deciding factors:
-
The player’s desire to leave.
-
The club’s reluctance to sell /
risk having an unhappy player in the squad.
-
A buying club willing to pay
what would be due for a 23-year old, versatile, internally-capped (31) player
contracted to June 2024.
Midfielders / Wingers
Goodbye to a proper legend who is to hang
up his City boots, at least, at the end of the season.
Chances of leaving: 10/10
“Mr Marmite”
himself. My opinion? A decent, 6.5 to 7/10 player who can very easily have a
shocking, 3/10 game but can also pull out an 8.5 performance with 2 assists and
a goal. A little versatile too; in that he can slip into the deeper, defensive
midfield position with varying degrees of success and ‘push on’ to a
more-natural, central / advance position of an attacking, creative midfielder.
It sounds very much like I’m ‘fence sitting’ here, which I’m not, but I
definitely get BOTH arguments from those who like and dislike the German
international equally. Pep just loves the fella! I think a lot of that is down to
the player’s attitude and willingness to learn, which are traits Gundogan’s
previous managers have apparently noted…and that goes a long way in Pep’s book. But I have put him ‘in there’ for a variety of reasons and
speculation never seems far away from the 29-year old, for some reason.
Chances of leaving: 3/10
Deciding factors:
-
Pep has the final say…and he just ADORES Marmite!
-
The board / chairman’s sway in really
wanting to fully freshen up the squad in the summer and if they get
their way, then Ilkay could be a victim of, what could be, a very fluid
in & out scenario in the coming months.
-
Managing his underlying injury
issues following serious, knee ligament damage way back in December 2016. At
the start of this season, I think it was, the player himself came out
and told us all that he has to do in order the manage the condition; in terms
of the way he plans, trains and perhaps even plays in order to self-regulate
his knee, along with the help of the whole medical team at Manchester City, of
course. He’ll be
30 in October…
-
Finding a club willing to buy a
player with those underlying injury issues / potential breakdown situation and
them-wanting to give Ilkay a long contract for that very reason. We could, especially
if we hold on to him for much long, eventually struggle to off-load a
player who still has just over 3 years left on his current deal.
I love the player and although he has the odd
game, sometimes 2 or 3 on the trot, where he simply seems to disappear
form the pitch; when this lad ‘revs up’ he’s one HELL of a talent! I think Pep
loves him too and would love even more for him to stay and sign a new contract.
And, may I add,
I don’t get the argument that I’ve heard from some City fans about him being
lazy – I’ve seen him go over & above board to track back (and not just on
the left-flank either) to retrieve a ball; especially one that he may have lost
possession of. But I do think he has some ‘head
issues’ and although he couldn’t be under a better manager for that while he
continues to mature (he’s only just turned 24); he seems a little unhappy (with
life in England?) and I just get the feeling that he wants to return to his
homeland, Germany. If one of the big clubs – and it looks like Bayern – come [back] knocking in the summer, then
I don’t think it’ll take Leroy long to answer the door. Quick someone, nail it shut!
Chances of leaving: 8/10
Deciding factors:
-
The player himself insisting on
a move is the biggest factor here, I would suggest.
-
The player recovering from a
very bad knee injury / not breaking down again.
-
Pep and Chairman Khaldoon’s persuasive powers to convince him to stay.
-
Bayern, or whoever, wafting a colossal amount of money in front of our noses as we look to recruit in the
summer…and it would
have to be a large amount of dosh too (despite his contract expiry date)!
-
And then there’s…that very contract
expiry date. It’s definitely in the ‘twitchy zone’, as it is due to run out in
June 2021. That’s the second biggest deciding factor in this case, I would add.
Odd one this – I never thought for one MINUTE
I’d be including the England forward in a blog-piece about possible departures
in 2020. But the recent…“chatter”, I’m gonna call it rather than rumours, got my head turned;
as I listened to talk of him possibly wanting a move to a Real Madrid, Juventus
or Barcelona for a different challenge at
his time of life (26 in December). There was even “talk” of Liverpool
possibly coming for a “look-see” and, so, I sort of put 2 & 2 together; remembering that his form
had dipped and dipped never to recover and following a short period of injury;
all before the Pandemic put a stop to
football as well as most things in life. It all left me wondering if his
motivation had dropped and / or his head had been turned by someone / some
club. I just
hope my maths are off…
Chances of leaving: 5/10
Deciding factors:
-
The club’s willingness to sell
/ risk having a potentially unhappy player in the squad IF
it’s Raheem’s intension to move on.
-
Pep’s influence.
-
Big enough transfer fee being
offered for a still-young, England international with 3 years left on his
contract.
-
The player’s wage demands for
any pursuing club.
I’ve already used the analogy, Marmite.
Should I call Riyad, Mr Sprout? Yeah why not. When Mr Mahrez, sorry, I mean Sprout signed for us, there couldn’t have been more mixed
reactions from City fans. For some it was a definite, “YES!
He’s our / Pep’s type of attacking player!”; there were, “Right…yeah, he’s good
but do we really need to spend that much money on him or for that position?
(and I’ll say more on that in a short while). Then I think there were some who
just raised one eye brow slightly and, in a neutral way, thought that he was a
decent player that simply swelled the ranks of quality, attacking players as we
already had; as we fight again on 4 trophy fronts. And on the other end of the
spectrum, there were those who were quite obviously disappointed before the
Algerian had even kicked a ball in a City shirt. Ironically, his performances
have been similarly mixed and that came after a long time getting warmed up,
which is putting it nicely. In all truth, he had an awful start to his City
career for a player with so much talent, as he appeared to be trying too hard
and failing in most things he attempted. He often failed to beat a man, cross a ball or shoot accurately
for the most part. But then Pep worked on him a little more and, towards the
end of last season, we saw real improvement. Overall, I gave him an end of
season rating of 7/10. Decent, but it only reinforced the argument of those who
were asking the question whether the ex-Leicester City man was better than
what we already had / was he needed. I think this season we’ve seen similar (I
have him down as a 7/10’er again at the moment) in terms of some fantastic
performances mixed with some howlers. Going back to my point about those who
were asking the question in the summer of 2018 about whether we needed to spend
£60M on a player many saw as not improving us; what I also think ‘sticks in the
throat’ of many Blues isn’t necessarily to do with the player himself but
rather many City fans saw better use of that money on another areas of the
pitch at that time. I think, long term, their fears have been borne out.
I don’t think many, myself included, liked
the fact either that he went on strike at Leicester for a month, if memory
serves, in order to push through the move to Manchester. For the record, I was
somewhere between the quiet, “wait & see” possy and the group that were
saying that the money could be better spent elsewhere on the pitch. At best, I’d
say he’s turned out to be a decent player for us that ‘swells the ranks’
rather than him-being a first team, deserved, regular starter, which is a lot
of money to spend on such an asset, if you don’t mind me saying. There have
been recent rumours that we would be willing to off-load the 29-year old…but
these have since been followed up with reports that say there’s no WAY we are
letting the winger / forward leave. Algerian nationals seem to put Riyad into God-like
status and, online, can become quite scornful of our manager whenever Pep dares not to play or even start
the player. I think he’s decent (there’s that word again)…but I certainly wouldn’t
be crying if we decided to sell in the summer, especially if someone better
became available for a similar price.
Chances of leaving: 5/10
Deciding factors:
-
I think, despite his record of
going on strike, this is a Pep and not player decision, plain & simple. I
don’t actually think Riyad wants to leave.
-
However, if someone like the
rumoured PSG did suggest a fee that could
sway our club’s officials who might, then, have a word in Mr Guardiola’s
ear – perhaps with the nod that the money will be spent on a better
replacement – then that could well be a factor also.
Well, there ya go – not quite as long as my
previous blog-posting and I hope you found it to be an interesting read.
Thanks, as always, for taking the time and
stay safe.
