Why Manchester City should let Nicolas Otamendi move on
Last season, Manchester City stormed to the Premier League title, completely outperforming any other side in the league. Manchester United, who finished second, finished a massive 19 points behind them, with 2016/17 champions Chelsea finishing 30 points behind Pep Guardiola and company. They finished with a new Premier League record of 100 points, becoming the first team to do so and conceded only 27 goals.
That was in part thanks to the arrival of Ederson from Benfica and the performances of Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones as centre-backs. The two formed a bond of sorts as Guardiola’s main pairing and flourished on their way to keep 16 clean sheets, only two behind Manchester United.
However, with the arrival of Aymeric Laporte during the 2018 January transfer window, things changed for Manchester City. The former Athletic Bilbao star took over from Otamendi and has this season, making himself a main-stay in Guardiola’s back line. The Frenchman has made a great impression so far in the Premier League.
The Argentine star, on the other hand, has made only a mere 10 appearances, missing key games against Liverpool, Tottenham, and Arsenal, among others.
This lack of game-time combined with Manchester Evening News revealing that Barcelona has made the 30-year-old their top target is all reason why Manchester City should let Nicolas Otamendi move on. Not because the Argentine will force a move through but because it’s time to let him flourish elsewhere especially since there is clearly no place for him at the Etihad Stadium.
Manager Pep Guardiola has already revealed that (via the Standard) it will be tough to keep Otamendi at the club amid the interest from Barcelona, which has shown that the club is going to fight to keep him. However, that wouldn’t be the best solution for either side, especially given the fact that the 30-year-old has made only 8 starts this season, compared to Laporte’s 22 in the Premier League alone.
Knowing that Otamendi still has a few years of football left in him, it would be the right time for the Cityzens to offload him. A loan move would be fine but a permanent move would eventually be just down the line, and thus it makes more sense just to sell him right now and recoup more than the £32m they paid for him back in 2015.
