Dedryck Boyata

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Cool as a cucumber. Reminds me of Alan Hansen when he was a lad and was half-decent, in the days when he didn't need to put boot-black on 'is 'air. Nice to see that he can cover right back as well.

 

[G10_Belgique]

He definitely has a lot of potential, but I can't see him getting into the national team any time soon (apart from him not playing enough games for City) because of Kompany and Vermaelen at CB. And there's also Van Buyten (Bayern starter) and Lombaerts (Zenit starter).
If he can play right back he'd have a whole lot less competition.

 

[cityboy1]

He definitely has a lot of potential, but I can't see him getting into the national team any time soon (apart from him not playing enough games for City) because of Kompany and Vermaelen at CB. And there's also Van Buyten (Bayern starter) and Lombaerts (Zenit starter).
If he can play right back he'd have a whole lot less competition.

for right back he'd have to go through Richards,Boateng and Zabba

 

[G10_Belgique]

for right back he'd have to go through Richards,Boateng and Zabba

Yeah I meant in terms of getting into the Belgium national team.
But to be honest: I can't really see him becoming a starter for City in any position. He'll be a lot better in a few seasons, but so will City's defense.
I can see Kompany being a City player for a long time, Boyata I somehow can't. I hope he can do it though.

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

Hope city dont sign any centre backs for a long time, hopefully Boating, Kompany, Boyata and maybe Mee can occupy this spot.

 

[mancunial]

i had to remind the people on 95.1 how good he was against rooney when they kept creaming how good rooney was in that game, i said yea he was that good he got one chance against a lad with only two minor appearences for city before the two semis?

 

[lancashirelad]

i agree 100% he is a top prospect, ignore the age, if you are good enough you are old enough, believe me he is both.

 

[Vienna_70]

Just so as you kinow, since watching City back to the 60's I have seen some amazing players when it comes to defensive aerial ability.
Number 1 has to be Dave Watson with Tommy Booth a close second, and up front nobody was as good as Quinny, though most of that like with Crouch was due to his initial height.
Boyata in my opinion is better than them all, I've never seen anyone able to climb like this lad, mark my words, a world class centre half in the making with a cool head, calm and professional manner and a reading of the game along with positional sense that is not normally found in one so young.
He has pace and ballance and is strong in the tackle, he is what richards could have aspired to, if only he'd had ability and a brain.

High praise indeed, if you think the boy is potentially better than Dave Watson, who is a City God in my eyes.

 

[Nelly's Left Foot]

Really good prospect and definitely a center half and not a full back even if he can fill in there in a sub appearance.I will leave the superlatives/world class stuff to others as he needs to do a lot more imo to warrant that.

 

[pee dubya]

for right back he'd have to go through Richards,Boateng and Zabba

Yeah I meant in terms of getting into the Belgium national team.
But to be honest: I can't really see him becoming a starter for City in any position. He'll be a lot better in a few seasons, but so will City's defense.
I can see Kompany being a City player for a long time, Boyata I somehow can't. I hope he can do it though.

Boyata will get plenty of opportunities i think, Mancini obviously likes him a lot. If he's good enough then he'll establish himself, if he's not, then he won't. I don't think we'll miss out on a great player, he's made that initial breakthough which is the tough bit. He's proven that he can be relied on and perform at a high enough level so that playing him and giving him time to improve is not a huge gamble (obviously would still be an element of risk, but we now know how he will respond to playing competitive matches).