Manchester City have some decisions to make about their centre-back position. After a couple of sub-par performances including two bad losses, things look very different than a month ago. It was always going to be tough to replace Aymeric Laporte, but his absence has laid bare just how poor City’s other options are.
Manchester City’s Centre-Back Decision
City’s Current Centre-Back Situation
Manchester City is in the unenviable position of needing to make serious decisions on the future of their defence. Aymeric Laporte is locked in; the Frenchman will walk right back into the City team once he returns from injury. More importantly, City knows that their left-centre-back position settled and it is one less problem to solve.
Manchester City need to sort out how to handle Nicolas Otamendi, John Stones, Fernandinho, Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis. This is likely Otamendi and Fernandinho’s last season in sky blue. The pair have been integral parts of each of City’s last two titles, but it will be hard for Pep Guardiola’s side to compete going forward if either of them continues to play a significant role.
It can be a tough decision to move on from veterans that have contributed so much to Manchester City over the years. Fernandinho, whose contract is up after this season, has contributed so many great plays to City’s cause.
Otamendi has always been the most enigmatic of centre-backs. For every moment of quality, there is an equal and opposite moment of madness. He has played well for long stretches of his Manchester City career. But good things always come to an end.
The Young Centre-Backs
Garcia and Harwood-Bellis present very interesting questions. Both have the potential to be elite centre-backs in the future, but they are both still teenagers who still have a long way to go to reach that potential. How far along they are in their development come next summer will be an integral factor to what City decide to do.
Harwood-Bellis won the U-17 World Cup as England captain. He is a good defender who plays well in all phases. He was supposed to partner with Garcia for Manchester City’s EDS team this year, instead of the first-team.
Garcia is far enough along that Guardiola might start to get him into the Premier League rotation. He has already come off the bench in the Premier League once a couple of weeks ago. The Laporte injury gives City the luxury to spend these next few months finding out how ready Garcia is.
John Stones
That brings us to the most important question about the future of Manchester City’s defence; John Stones. Stones has yet to live up to the hype as he begins his fourth season in Manchester. He has played well in a couple of stretches where he had continuity in the starting lineup, but he has had bad patches just as frequently as the good ones.
There are still plenty of highlight reels around including poor errors from the England international. Couple those moments with the spells of good play and the decision to keep or move on from Stones becomes extremely difficult.
In theory, their decision on Stones will have a large part to do with the next few months. He has been out since early September but is expected back when the Premier League resumes next week. How well he plays, combined with how Garcia develops, will be the determining factor in whether or not his time in Manchester is up.
Transfer Options
Ruben Dias
If Manchester City decides they need to sign a centre-back, then Ruben Dias is a fantastic candidate. The 22-year-old Portuguese international centre-back currently plays for Benfica. The star defender has been entrenched as the starter for both club and country for over two years.
Most importantly Dias has the passing range to play for a Pep Guardiola team. He has completed 88% of his passes for Benfica this season, anchoring a defence with only 3 league goals conceded. For the national team, he is asked to do a lot more defending and counter-attacking than for Benfica.
So far he has handled both situations quite well. If City decides to bring in Dias they would do well to have another Premier League veteran centre-back on the roster. Dias and Stones would be a good combination of youth and experience that should ease any transition.
Eric Dier
This English centre-back has all the passing ability in the world coupled with pretty poor defensive instincts; a combination which makes him a perfect fit for a squad rotation role on a Pep Guardiola-coached team.
There is a very good chance that Dier would have a more ambitious role in mind in order to leave Tottenham Hotspur. Dier is currently one of many names in the Tottenham squad that could be set to relocate. Manchester City would do well to make sure that relocation is to sky blue.
Nico Elvedi
Like Dias, Elvedi is a young centre-back that is in his second season as the starter for his club. In this case, that is Borussia Monchengladbach. The Swiss international is an excellent passer, having completed nearly 95% of his passes this season, and he is being asked to do a lot of passing for a Gladbach side that currently sits atop the Bundesliga.
He can play anywhere on the back-line. The right-footed centre-back has even spent some time playing left-back for both Gladbach and Switzerland, making him an ideal option for a team like City. A great passer with the versatility to play anywhere along the backline? Who wouldn’t sign up for that?
Final Decision
What is important to remember is that these decisions will feel very different in just a few months; players like John Stones, Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwood-Bellis have the opportunity to keep Manchester City from buying one of these centre-backs.
It would be a surprise if Manchester City didn’t buy a least one new centre-back by the start of next season. Any of these options would go a long way to making sure City have the right defensive mix to keep winning titles.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’6Qrw795mRoV8uZxCFiLLbg’,sig:’zPtkEEPuOLRGJg5OJsgzoGYY4grt3xwvVkg8URYJrBw=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’1165123059′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});
