Now here's a nightmare scenario.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... re-3865229City go back to the future as snubbed Blues are offered fresh hope by Mancini departure
17 May 2013 08:04
Could Roque Santa Cruz return to City to lead the line in the Premier League next season after thriving under Pellegrini at Malaga?
What are the odds on Roque Santa Cruz returning to City to lead the line in the Premier League next season?
Pretty slim, even though the Paraguayan has found his feet during his loan spell at Malaga, playing under incoming City boss Manuel Pellegrini.
There is a strong feeling that Santa Cruz’s days at City are done after he played just 24 times for the club, scoring four goals, in a season and a half with the Blues, with his contract expiring next month.
Santa Cruz, written off by Roberto Mancini as he struggled with injury problems throughout his stay at City, has been re-born under Pellegrini, scoring 12 times in 43 appearances this season including two against Real Madrid and the goal that sent Malaga into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Stranger things have happened in football than Santa Cruz’s return.
But the very fact there have been suggestions he might come back to City is a stark reminder the futures of some players at the club, and some prospective targets, are back in the melting pot.
A few days ago it was taken for granted that Kolo Toure, Edin Dzeko, Aleks Kolarov and Scott Sinclair would be leaving this summer – as Roberto Mancini had said so before he was bundled out of the exit door.
There have also been serious question marks over the futures of Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry, Javi Garcia, Maicon, Samir Nasri, Micah Richards, Carlos Tevez and even Sergio Aguero.
No doubt football director Txiki Begiristain will be in close contact with Pellegrini, who is expected to take up his post on July 1, to discuss all the options on those players, and on City’s intended targets.
It is unlikely Mancini’s departure will change anything with regard to Dzeko, Sinclair or out-of-contract Kolo Toure, while Kolarov’s fate may depend on how keen he is to stay and fight for a place.
Lescott is an interesting case. He sought assurances from the club’s hierarchy during the
January transfer window after falling out of favour with Mancini. Perhaps tellingly, it was Begiristain who assured him he had a future at City – Mancini’s position was already under scrutiny at that point.
It was noticeable that caretaker manager Brian Kidd named Lescott in his team at Reading on Tuesday night, and mentioned his contribution to a fine performance.
Pellegrini is an attacking coach, but he is smart enough to know that sometimes in the Premier League there is no substitute for an experienced, powerful defender, especially one like Lescott who is an influential voice in the dressing room.
One of Pellegrini’s old players at Villarreal said he was the kind of coach who you would be happy to go to war alongside – the same epithet is true of Lescott, and maybe Pellegrini, and Begiristain, have recognised that.
Barry still has one year left on his contract, but this season he has again proved his worth, perhaps being City’s most consistent performers.
Like Lescott he is a seasoned veteran of English football and has a huge amount to offer.
Whether Pellegrini thinks he could take on the best in the Champions League with Barry in his team – he likes fast, mobile midfielders – remains to be seen, but few City fans doubt that the England player still has plenty to offer in domestic competition.
Garcia may be getting a sense of deja vu. He was at Real Madrid when Pellegrini was appointed Bernabeu boss in June, 2009 – and within six weeks he had gone, sold to Benfica and replaced by Xabi Alonso.
Whether the Chilean’s opinion of Garcia has changed since then is unclear. Garcia has resurrected his career in Portuguese football, and it remains unclear how much of his under-achievement at City was down to the need to settle in his first season.
Nasri has started to show why Mancini saw him as a key player in his attacking jigsaw – unfortunately it was too late to save the Italian’s skin.
But the French ace, when he is on top of his game, is the kind of player Pellegrini likes – technically good, quick, sharp and incisive, and City are hoping the new man will get the best out of the £24m purchase – without suggesting he needs a punch!
Richards has also fallen under a cloud in Mancini’s reign. The powerhouse defender has been a firm fans’ favourite, but he was said to be privately fuming at Mancini’s treatment of him during his six-month injury absence and subsequent return.
Mancini his previously joked that Richards, with his injury record, is made of crystal, and he dismissed the original diagnosis of the player’s knee injury, saying he would be out for four weeks rather than four months.
Richards underwent surgery and ended up out for six months. When he did return, after two reserve games, he was played for 83 minutes despite looking rusty, and was criticised and left out of the squad in the aftermath.
It was puzzlingly harsh treatment, especially of a player who is a devoted Blue, would happily stay at the club for life, and has the potential to do so.
He, too, played on Tuesday night and was handed the captain's armband in the absence of Vincent Kompany.
Tevez’s future also remains cloudy but his issues with Mancini have remained a problem until now, even though they made up after their very public row in Munich, and Tevez’s subsequent unauthorised holiday in Argentina.
This season Mancini’s treatment of a man who many see as his best striker has been curious.
Tevez has been substituted 24 times this season, more than any other player – and he walked off the pitch at Wembley on Saturday with a wry grin on his face as he was replaced by Jack Rodwell, with the game goalless and 21 minutes left.
Pellegrini has a reputation as a good motivator, and if he wants to keep Tevez and can get him firing on all cylinders it would be another bonus for the Blues.
Pellegrini is also said to be a more sympathetic figure than Mancini, and one of his first tasks might be to tackle the problems faced by Aguero.
The striker is reportedly finding it tough to be apart from his children after they were taken back to Argentina by his estranged partner earlier this season.
