Manchester City’s transfer strategy over the past decade has become the envy of the footballing world.
The morality of where the money came from is open for debate, but how City spent it has influenced how football clubs, big and small, set themselves up behind the scenes. Even the might of Manchester United have modelled their entire Ineos-led rebrand on how their noisy neighbours have gone about their business.
Yet in recent years the champions have digressed, wasting millions on ill-fitting stars more akin to those the profligate United are all too familiar with.
Pep Guardiola surprisingly admitted big-money midfielder Matheus Nunes cannot play in midfield. Jeremy Doku finds himself out of favour more often than in, Savinho’s playing style resembles Riyad Mahrez but the comparison ends there, while January arrivals Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov are yet to win their manager’s trust, despite the hefty outlay.
One player in particular, however, bucks the recent downward trend. Mateo Kovacic is arguably the most sensible signing of Guardiola’s entire tenure. Where Jack Grealish is a maverick spirit stifled at City, one who was destined to never reach his full potential in the attritional possession-based Guardiola system, Kovacic fitted like a driving glove, relishing collecting the ball from the back four and starting attacks with a simple lay off.
Last season he was often the perfect partner for Rodri to instil the unerring calm aura that has played a major part in how City unrelentingly dominate opponents.
This season, with injured Rodri out the picture, Kovacic has often been placed alongside out-of-position teammates in the heart of the engine room, who have added to the feeling of chaos that has engulfed the Etihad this season.
However, with City getting a more settled back four as injuries have subsided, the champions have restored more elements of their usual tranquillity. Helped by a midfield enforcer, at the age of 30, very much at the peak of his powers.
Nottingham Forest came into Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with the kind of confidence they never would have expected to be taking into a tussle against a Guardiola behemoth, given the halcyon days they are revelling in and the fact that City continue to show they are human after all.
In 45 first-half minutes, however, Kovacic helped steer City to the type of second-gear victory that has helped them dominate English football for so long. When the trophy-laden Croatian is in this mood, you cannot get him off the ball, or far enough away from it.
“The last three or four games have been extraordinary,” Guardiola said of the semi-final player of the match. “We’re lucky to have time to recover. The rhythm he plays and the way he plays, he cannot play every three days. But of course the quality that he has and the composure is extraordinary.”
Quietly, with all eyes on Liverpool’s title triumph, City are getting back to their normal selves. Six wins from their last seven, helping them book a third successive FA Cup final appearance, is very, very City.
It is no coincidence that upward tick has coincided with Kovacic settling into his best, effortless form.
Eighty-eight successful passes and 10 ball recoveries at Wembley against Forest are Rodri numbers, with one of those first penetrative passes setting up Rico Lewis’s early opener.
In City’s last four games – all victories – the Croatian scored against Crystal Palace and Everton, kept City coming right until the end in their dramatic last-gasp success over Aston Villa in midweek, before running the show for long periods at Wembley.
The role he played in City’s recent successes would often be overshadowed by some form of breathless attacking intent from a teammate further forward, but the standing ovation Kovacic received when replaced late on against Forest showed just how pivotal he has become to City’s hopes of salvaging something from this most disappointing of seasons.
He won’t make any list of greatest City signings, given what came before. But at a snip of £25m, half that of Nunes or Doku, Kovacic represents the best business City have done for two years, or even longer.
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