jose - soccer

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini recently said on Italian TV that the club did not need Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi so it’s bizarre as to why they have suddenly been linked with one of the best current Barcelona midfielders in history. A bid of £60 million for Sergio Busquets is just around the corner if you believe the latest reports but a player of De Rossi’s style is much more what City need at the moment so it’s hard to understand the logic behind the reports.

City needs a Yaya Toure in their midfield who doesn’t bomb forward and attack. They have greatly missed Nigel De Jong this season and they should put all of their efforts into signing De Rossi because he is the sort of player the club needs. City don’t have a heavyweight midfielder who can sit in front of the back four and protect the central defenders. They may have done away with De Jong because they thought Vincent Kompany had such a good season last year, he doesn’t really need protecting.

However, if they stick an extra defensive barrier in the middle of the team then it makes it more difficult for opposition sides to mount pressure on their goal. Someone to race around the pitch, committing fouls for the good of the team, getting stuck in and taking yellow cards because City are exposed on the counter attack. Busquets is not the sort of player who will do this frequently because of the way he has been brought up to play his football at Barcelona. Yes, he has played predominantly in defensive positions but he is not bulky and physical enough to cope with the pace and the power of the Premier League.

Anyone who has watched a Barcelona game in the last two years will know that Busquets is one of the players who generally rolls around on the floor in apparent agony any time he gets slightly touched by an opposition player. He is a better alternative to some of the creative players in the City midfield but they might be buying him for the wrong reasons.

The only way the arrival of Busquets would work is if De Rossi joined at the same time as the Guardian reports suggest. However, this seems unlikely to happen considering Mancini’s recent comments and considering City had the chance to sign De Rossi and did not push the deal through. City need another body in midfield but it’s doubtful whether it will be either of the players mentioned above. (hereisthecity.com)