The inevitable, overstated exodus of players at City seems set to claim it's two biggest names yet: Nedum Onuoha and Stephen Ireland. Nedum on loan to Sunderland and Ireland to Villa as part of a deal for James Milner. Onuoha's move to Sunderland is thought to be imminent, whilst The Guardian suggest, in keeping with Mancini's words after the Valencia game, that the Milner/Ireland deal will be finalised tomorrow - allowing both to make their debuts at the weekend.
Critics will suggest this is the casualty of high levels of investment - that the youth products will be squeezed out by ready-made imports. With these deals freshly in people's minds, they would obviously have grounds to do so, but I don't think it is the whole picture. These two cases are very much about the individuals involved.
Ever since Nedum's interview on Soccer AM earlier this summer, it was obvious that he has given up on his dreams for City. To many City fans this came as a huge shame. He has always been dressed up as 'one of us out there on the pitch', and this desire to see the best for City, coupled with his immense physical talent, turned him into a fan favourite for many years/the games he was fit. The joy on the faces all around me when he scored his brace (or one if you ask Carlos Tevez) against Birmingham was testament to this.
Often out of the team through injury, he has had to fight on numerous occasions to gain the favour of incoming managers - but this fight appears to have been one too many for him. As the squad stands, although he may have been frustrated to see Boyata in ahead of him in the centre, I think he would be in as one of four registered centre backs (if Boateng is thought to be a right-back) - with the registered defensive positions as follows:
RB: Richards, Boateng.
CB: K. Toure, Kompany, Lescott, Onuoha
LB: Kolarov, Bridge.
(with Zabaleta included as a utility man/right-back)
Obviously it wouldn't have been as simple as him being fourth-choice there - as Boateng, Richards, Boyata and even possibly Yaya Toure could be considered ahead of him - but he is as far down the pecking order as he has been in the past. But it is that time of his career (coming up to his 24th birthday) that he really should be playing regular first-team football.
The loan move means it keeps it open for him to return at the end of the season - and whether he can return a contender for City's starting eleven depends on one thing: injuries. Either we will have a player who has impressed the league with displays of the level we know he can produce, or we will get a player who has played a handful of games and struggled for fitness. Form says it will be the latter but I hope all City fans wish him luck and success there (and that City insert a clause that stops him playing against his parent club!).
Ireland is, as we all know, a more complicated case - and I am uneasy about letting him go just because of what might happen. I have written at length about him before, so will not go into huge detail here. As a neighbour said to me yesterday, 'if he had the head, he would be one of the best footballers in the Premiership', and that is what it boils down to.
When I blogged about this in May, a reader posted that he should use a sports psychologist and, for a player teetering on the brink of the form of 2008/2009 and last season, this could be the answer for him in the long run. The most frustrating thing about Ireland's recent performances is our knowledge of the Ireland of 2008/2009. Without that season, the Ireland of last campaign would not have surprised many - capable of exquisite pieces of vision but ultimately tip-tapping his way around the peripheries of the game - this is what we knew. We know he is open to alternative forms of training, as was documented on the City site with his hill running and martial arts, so accepting what I think is now marketed as 'mind training' could restore his form.
Either way, we will have to watch from afar to see what becomes of his career. He was the missing piece of the jigsaw last season - a creative central midfield player - and I think we would need an Ireland at full tilt more than we need Milner at the moment, but as City cannot be assured of which Ireland will turn up, the drive for players with the mentality to succeed at the place City want to go is why Milner should be more valuable in the long term. I tentatively say 'should' there because it belies my fear - the potential for Ireland is huge and I will certainly be sad to see him go, but only the future will tell how much City may or may not regret this move.
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