Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
When you hear Manchester City in the news right now they are usually not too far away from being linked with another full back. This is certainly an area in which Pep Guardiola is looking to replenish after getting rid of a whole host of players from that department earlier this summer.
And the clear out has continued as Guardiola continues the rebuilding job at The Etihad, but this time it is the attacking department which has seen something of a pruning with the announcement that Nolito has left the club to join La Liga outfit Sevilla.
Nolito has almost been the forgotten man for City after a relatively bright start to last season. A mixture of injury and then falling down the pecking order due to the arrival of the prodigious talents of Gabriel Jesus meant that his role with the club was somewhat diminished towards the end of last season.
And with City looking to refresh their attacking unit with the capture of Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal it would have only added a further blockade in regards to first team football for the Spanish international. However even if City do not land Sanchez it was always going to be a case of if and not when Nolito departed The Etihad.
After showing initial signs of promise at the beginning of the season the former Celta Vigo player’s star seemed to burn bright and then burn out. He would eventually go on to make just 19 Premier League appearances and score just 4 goals.
It seems that he was just a stop gap player for City with last season being something of a transition for the club, like any scenario when a manager comes into a new club he is still by and large working with somebody else players and although Nolito was a Guardiola signing you got the feeling it was always going to be a conduit to hopefully bigger and better targets this time around.
I don’t think Noltio could be considered a flop as at the end of the day he only cost just under £14million which in today’s market and especially for his former employers is a drop in the ocean but it also comes as no surprise that he has been shifted on either.
After three consecutive seasons for Celta where he scored in the double figures his goal return last time around would have been disappointing by his own standards and also the expectations that would have been set by the club upon signing.
Maybe he’s just one of those players that suits the Spanish game more than the English one, there’s no denying he is a talented player and Sevilla will have got themselves a very useful addition to their squad but I doubt many Manchester City fans will be shedding too much of a tear at the departure of Nolito.
