Thursday 7 May 2020 09:28, UK
Who could Man City target in January in a bid to bolster their squad? Football Whispers take a look at one option...
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City revolution got under way at a startling pace, with six straight wins propelling them to the top of the Premier League in style. However, a 3-3 draw with Celtic in the Champions League, followed by a 2-0 league defeat away to Tottenham, has brought a sense of realism back to the club.
Evidently, there is a long way to go before Guardiola's side can be considered the finished article. And, with many of his squad members remaining from previous managerial eras, there remain areas of the team the former Barcelona boss may wish to reinforce.
Here, Football Whispers, using their unique transfer rumour algorithm, evaluate a potential January window addition that could seriously boost City's title ambitions...
Club: Arsenal
Position: Right-back
Source: Mundo Deportivo
Current Football Whispers Rating: 1.9/5.0
Highest Football Whispers Rating: 4.2/5.0 (July 19, 2016)
Guardiola has chopped and changed between Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta at right-back, though the former appears to be winning this particular battle having started four of City's seven Premier League fixtures.
However, at 33-years-old and with his contract up at the end of this season, the Frenchman isn't a viable long-term solution.
With this in mind, it's unsurprising recent reports in Spain have linked Hector Bellerin to City.
The 21-year-old has established himself as one of the finest young players in his position, earning a spot in the PFA's Premier League Team of the Year for the 2015-16 campaign, and appears to possess the necessary attributes to fit smoothly into Guardiola's new-look City line-up.
While Bellerin has played just over twice as many league minutes as Sagna this season, he has already won three times as many duels. This statistic speaks volumes to the Spaniard's offensive abilities - he is a truly modern full-back with electric pace, refined technique and an aggressive, direct style of dribbling.
This would undoubtedly bring another dimension to City's attacking game, though the player would also have to adapt his role to suit the team.
One of the first tactical innovations seen since Guardiola arrived is the use of inverted full-backs. Here, instead of staying wide in order to attack the flanks, the full-backs tend to drift infield during the build-up of possession, offering a pass out for the central defenders.
Bellerin would have to curb his natural inclination to push on at all times in order to fill in the right-back role successfully with City. The same issue would not exist, however, were he to move to Barcelona, which is also a possibility, according to recent reports in Spain.
Having come through the La Liga outfit's famed youth academy prior to his move to north London, a return could be on the cards, according to Marca, who state the Arsenal star is on a five-man shortlist also including Bayern Munich's Joshua Kimmich, Valencia's Joao Cancelo, Juventus' Stephan Lichtsteiner and Shakhtar Donetsk's Dario Srna as Barcelona look to replace their current right-back Aleix Vidal.
If Bellerin does indeed transfer to City, he would be the latest in a growing line of Arsenal players to complete such a move, following Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and the man he could replace, Sagna.
The current Football Whispers rating ranks the move at 1.9, making it appear unlikely in January, however it's probably worth following as the end of Sagna's contract nears.
