A lot is said about Manchester City’s forwards as the Premier League champions continue to put three, four and five plus goals past their opponents each week — and rightly so.
In Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez, manager Pep Guardiola has some of the best attacking players in European football.
Further back, though, and the Citizens look just as strong with captain Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi, John Stones and Aymeric Laporte all being incredible central defensive options that can be called upon.
This season, however, Guardiola has mostly stuck with a centre-half partnership of Stones and Laporte despite the quality of Kompany and Otamendi, which could leave the more experienced defenders with a big decision to make.
Last term, Otamendi was easily one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League while Kompany also performed exceptionally well when he was fit enough to play.
Yet neither of the two look close to tying down a spot in Guardiola’s starting XI, though the partnership Stones and Laporte have struck up in recent weeks provides a good reason as to why.
That being said, with the ability Kompany and Otamendi possess, they are simply too good to have to settle for the bench and cup games.
Going forward, Guardiola’s tendency to rotate his team will give the duo hope they can find a way back into the side, while an injury to either Laporte or Stones could change the entire complexion of things.
But in this current period of the campaign, the chances of Kompany or Otamendi accomplishing such look very slim. Considering that, it could be time for a change of scenery for the pair.
