IF you’re unfortunate enough to converse with a cynic who insists through a mouthful of sour grapes that Manchester City have bought their success it won’t take them long before they bring up full-backs.
They won’t mention the expensive outlay on Aymeric Laporte because it’s odds-on that the cynic in question is a United or Liverpool fan and they themselves have invested significantly in centre-backs of late. Plus, it matters too that the French star has been immaculate this season, making every penny of his then record fee well spent. They will also over-look however the somewhat gratuitous splurging of £61m on Riyad Mahrez and this despite the winger so far struggling to justify his fee. If they did so it would only make them susceptible to a counter-claim against their own club’s premium purchases who have failed to impress.
No, it is City’s comprehensive overhaul of their full-back options in the summer of 2017 which will frame their tired tirade and this is possibly due to how unusual it is for a big club to completely revamp two identical problem areas in a single transfer window. Plus, it matters too that Mourinho used to moan about it loudly. Incidentally, if they’re a sensible sort they will quote £150m as the accumulative figure spent on Benjamin Mendy, Kyle Walker and Danilo which is inflation on the actual amount but at least resides in the same ballpark. If they parrot the tabloids you roll your eyes and take a deep breath at hearing a hyperbolic ‘couple of hundred million’.
Fabian Delph lets-fly against the Eagles! ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂáÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂïÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂøÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ
ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂðÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂõ #mancity pic.twitter.com/87nMhiRLjI
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 19, 2018
That Mendy succumbed to a serious injury very early into his debut campaign and subsequently has played only a peripheral role in a league title and defence of that title is now old news of course. As is the fact that City needed to convert two midfielders in Fabian Delph and Oleksandr Zinchenko who reimagined themselves magnificently as the Blues gained Centurion status. Indeed both of these truths are so established it would be fitting to retell them on a Pathe newsreel.
Yet it doesn’t stop them. The cynics. Spouting their erroneous nonsense that is intended to belittle, even dismiss City’s achievements. Pep Fraudiola blew the equivalent of a small nation’s GDP on full-backs and that is why his side are so dominant. It doesn’t matter that the marquee signing among them has been virtually non-existent. It doesn’t matter that records were smashed with long-term emergency cover. That’s the trope that prevails and probably always will.
Which is infuriating to put it mildly, because if the polemic has been erroneous for some time it can safely be said now to be dead in the water. At least until recently – and I’m being really generous of spirit here – the cynics could claim that their spurious chide was merely premature: that the £50m Mendy would surely return at some stage and full back in tandem with the £50m Walker. That is no longer the case. What holds true now is that City do not triumph on a regular basis despite having a sticking plaster left-back. They win games because of their sticking plaster left-back. His name is Oleksandr Zinchenko.
How much did Oleksandr Zinchenko cost City? Masterstroke from Pep in the transfer window. Superb talent! #MCFC #ManCity #NUFC #Newcastle #Football
— Joshua Holland (@JoshuaH24601260) January 20, 2018
He cost just £1.8m. That needs pointing out immediately and not just because it reduces the expensive full-back jibe to rubble. To further illustrate how spitefully skewed City’s coverage is we only need look at how another cheaply-bought left-back is portrayed down the M62 with Liverpool’s consistently excellent Andy Robertson viewed as a welcome throwback to the days when the top six took risks and sought out bargains from smaller fare. Zinchenko cost four times less than the Scot and for what it’s worth the Ukrainian is two years Robertson’s junior too, aged just 22.
Then there is the small matter of the De Bruyne look-a-like from Radomyshl having to reset a lifetime’s education on a football pitch, not only having to familiarise himself with a new role but to do so within a Guardiola framework that demands complexities that would confound even those who have played that position since childhood. More so, he had to do this while being thrown into a highly pressurised environment where a singular mistake could cost his team-mates, his club, the whole amorphous Manchester City project, a dream.
To come through this with honours is little short of staggering. Admittedly Zinchenko isn’t totally ‘there’ yet but is well on his way to becoming one of the best left-backs in the Premier League and each passing week he is learning, growing, improving. In the last three games, he has unquestionably been City’s best player and there is a robustness to his challenges now that was previously missing. There is also an attuned sense of timing and greater confidence too, the chicken and egg of any in-form defender. His reading of danger is impressive; his adventurous, accurate passing even more so.
This alone should be the story, not the hoary regurgitating of a falsehood ground in a stereotype at City’s expense.
But there is, even more, to admire and applaud. Much more.
ðÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂã| Pep Guardiola:
"Everybody has to learn from Aleks [Zinchenko], everybody." pic.twitter.com/2EbpijaYp9
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) February 26, 2019
When Zinchenko arrived in England – a teen submerged into another culture entirely – some of his fellow countrymen expressed their surprise. They rated them for sure but City? Was he that good? Soon after he was loaned out to PSV, for a year-long spell that saw him granted very little game-time. He was alone there. Frustrated and under-valued. On his return to Manchester, a season of successful adaptation against the odds led to the club accepting a healthy offer from Wolves. The player refused to go. He wasn’t done proving himself yet.
Now he has, or at least he’s well on course in doing so and for all of the above and more he is loved by the fans. Truly loved.
‘Everybody has to learn from Aleks. Everybody.’ That’s what his manager said recently and it takes a lot to astonish Pep Guardiola. Zinc’s iron-will has.
The story of City’s left-back is not one of blind expenditure. It is one of inspiration, illuminating to us how much can be accomplished if you fight and always back yourself.
Just don’t expect to see that acknowledged anywhere else any time soon as the cynics continue to bore.
