The Man City fans in the Transfer Tavern are revelling in their sides imperious early season form and there’s a real feeling that this time, it’s for good. While they tailed off a tad last season, City sure look like the team to beat right now.
It’s been a good few weeks for Pep Guardiola’s men and City’s performance have been purely breathtaking at times as they carve defences wide open with ease time and time again, much to the delight of the Sky Blues propping up our bar.
Whilst Kevin De Bruyne deservedly steals many headlines with so many breathtaking displays, stand-in left back Fabian Delph continued to impress in the absence of Benjamin Mendy.
Delph has built his career based on his qualities as a box to box midfielder, but he has shown no sign of discomfort whilst deputising for Mendy so far.
Guardiola has placed immense values on full-backs throughout his career and would not be entrusting Delph in that position unless he had genuine faith in his ability to perform there.
Thus far, Delph has repaid Guardiola’s faith with a string of fine performances to establish himself as City’s first-choice left back.
However, due to the severity of Mendy’s injury, the Citizens currently face the prospect of playing without a natural left-back for the remainder of the season.
If City are to challenge for 4 major trophies this season, they will need two quality players in every position to enable Guardiola to tinker with the side and ensure his players avoid burning out midway through the season.
With that said, City should do everything they can to secure the services of a left-back in the January transfer window.
Here are three left-backs City could tempt to the Etihad in January.
Ben Chilwell
Ben Chilwell’s fantastic performance during Leicester’s Champions League encounter with Atletico Madrid in April was a highlight during a season that saw him capture the attention of the British media.
However, he has endured a frustrating beginning to the season this year, where first-team opportunities are proving hard to come by with fan-favourite Christian Fuchs ahead of Chilwell in the pecking order.
Chilwell has publicly expressed his displeasure with his recent lack of game time for The Foxes, which suggests a move away from the King Power is certainly a strong possibility in January
Guardiola’s passion for nurturing young players to reach their full potential make this 20-year-old an ideal candidate to fill the void left by Mendy.
Faouzi Ghoulam
A January deal to secure the services of Faouzi Ghoulam would represent incredible value for money if City are able to lure the flying full-back to Manchester for a measly £3 million in January.
Ghoulam has been heavily linked with a host of European giants in recent weeks, and City will be in heavy competition to secure the Algerians signature when the transfer window re-opens.
He has started the season in tremendous form for league leaders Napoli, scoring 2 goals and laying on 3 assists in just 8 Serie A appearances.
Ghoulam possesses many qualities that Guardiola desires from his full-backs and appears well suited to City’s free-flowing attacking style of play.
Marcos Alonso
The signing of Marcos Alonso from title-rivals Chelsea would stir up quite the storm in the British media, and there is no doubt that losing Alonso to City would be a massive blow for Antonio Conte both physically and metaphorically.
It would certainly take a huge fee to prise Alonso away from Stamford Bridge midway through the season, which could prove to be a stumbling block during negotiations between the two clubs.
However, City require the services of a quality left-back in the January window who ideally does not require time to adjust to the pace of the Premier League – if they are to compete for four trophies this season.
Chelsea demonstrated that they are willing to sell key players to Premier League rivals in the summer with the sale of Nemanja Matic to Manchester United, so a potential deal is certainly not out of the question.
