Fernando

[carlos tevez is a blue]

Seriously, he looks like and plays like De Jong, would you want to see a midfield partnership of De Jong and Garcia? Not saying he's shite but not really needed, Matuidi or Kondogbia or ideally Pogba would be a better fitn

Have you actually seen Fernando;-) play,or even seen him for that matter?

He is considerably taller and leaner than DJ,he's faster and covers the ground better and is superior technically,he's just a better player.

Ideal for our needs.

Seen him in about 8 times this season in Europa League action and Champions League action. He doesn't make any forward runs, he doesn't ping the ball about like an Alonso or dribble like a Modric, he's strong in the tackle and will allow our full backs to push on without getting caught on the counter attack. He even does the De Jong spin.

 

[alanblue]

A must have signing, bring it on.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Seriously, he looks like and plays like De Jong, would you want to see a midfield partnership of De Jong and Garcia? Not saying he's shite but not really needed, Matuidi or Kondogbia or ideally Pogba would be a better fitn

Have you actually seen Fernando;-) play,or even seen him for that matter?

He is considerably taller and leaner than DJ,he's faster and covers the ground better and is superior technically,he's just a better player.

Ideal for our needs.

Seen him in about 8 times this season in Europa League action and Champions League action. He doesn't make any forward runs, he doesn't ping the ball about like an Alonso or dribble like a Modric, he's strong in the tackle and will allow our full backs to push on without getting caught on the counter attack. He even does the De Jong spin.

Thank you for being the other reasonable poster in this thread. I have watched him play about 15 times this year (a friend is a crazy Porto supporter—almost as crazy as me with City) and that is a great assessment. If you wanted a comparative analysis with Garcia it would be:

Fernando

Strengths:
Athleticism
Tackling
Recovery
Short Passing

Weaknesses:

Positional Awareness (minor)
Vision
Infrequently Overly Aggressive
Ball Control

Garcia

Strengths:
Positional Awareness
Ball Control
Short Passing
Tackling

Weaknesses:
Pace
Vision
Recovery

Basically we are getting Richards as a defensive midfielder (though, he is not made of glass).

I don't count him as a massive upgrade, or a player who will grow much better, just a good signing as a different sort of player to Garcia, who is a great squad player (and is obviously trusted by Pellegrini).

If we wanted a player who still had potential to realise, we would go for Nilton or Sergi Darder (which Manuel could surely arrange), but Pellegrini knows that's not necessary.

Personally I would love to see Huws and Fofana given more of a chance this year. Different styles but could play a part and we need to start giving our lads opportunities.

 

[LoveCity]

Based on what I have seen, his positional awareness is the very opposite of a weakness - it's excellent. He is tactically a very good player.

If City are hellbent on getting him, it's for a reason and I can see why. Garcia is exposed against fast opposition, Fernando won't be.

It's also unfair to compare him to Richards, since Fernando has a footballing brain.

 

[BigOscar]

Fernando is a lot more suited to a high pressing game, he's a bit like MDM in the sense that he always wants to try and win the ball back as quickly as possible, as opposed to Garcia who is more inclined to try and slow down attacks to let other players get back into position. He'll be a fan favourite in no time, as everyone loves a player who throws himself into tackles and scurries around the field.

My only slight concern is that we might leave ourselves a bit susceptible to counter attacks if he misses a tackle, in the way that we were against Chelsea when MDM was in midfield, but Fernando is a lot more tactically aware and mobile in midfield than MDM, so it hopefully shouldn't be so much of an issue.

 

[teddykgb]

Maybe he isn't some sort of deep lying playmaker, but he doesn't seem to shy from the ball and he moves after he passes to create an outlet for his teammates. It's probably one of Javi's biggest weaknesses, he's content to play the ball and consider his job done. I don't know if we could really carry both of them next season but it wouldn't be bad to have both options.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Based on what I have seen, his positional awareness is the very opposite of a weakness - it's excellent. He is tactically a very good player.

If City are hellbent on getting him, it's for a reason and I can see why. Garcia is exposed against fast opposition, Fernando won't be.

It's also unfair to compare him to Richards, since Fernando has a footballing brain.

I did say it was a minor weakness, meaning it is not severe, but in all of the matches I have watched him he has been found out of position enough times to be noticeable and needed his pace to recover (a la Richards).

My point is that he is not a defensive Robinho, he is not an athletic Garcia, he is not Xabi Alonso. He is a good player that will do what we need to assure more consistency in the midfield (ie. allow rotation). The rate at which he is approaching Colin Bell on here is hilarious.

 

[CityStu]

From what I've seen of him (which is admittedly little) , he strikes me as a purely defensive Fernandinho. Has the same great engine but focuses it more on winning the ball and protecting the defence than driving forwards. Would be a great signing as it would allow Fernandinho to do more of the latter and that's where he's at his best (think back to the win against Arsenal), whilst still having someone with energy anchoring the midfield.

Garcia has come on in leaps and bounds this season but he likes to wait for the ball to come to him. Fernando adds a bit more drive, like De Jong had.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Maybe he isn't some sort of deep lying playmaker, but he doesn't seem to shy from the ball and he moves after he passes to create an outlet for his teammates. It's probably one of Javi's biggest weaknesses, he's content to play the ball and consider his job done. I don't know if we could really carry both of them next season but it wouldn't be bad to have both options.

Can't say I agree about the latter point, especially based on his performance in the second half of the season. His movement has really returned to the levels seen at Benfica and he was controlling the deep midfield passing in many of the matches, which allowed Yaya to go forward and be the juggernaut we know him to be. His ability to retain the ball under pressure is also an asset, one that Fernando is not quite as consistent with (better skills but gets caught out more often).

 

[BlueDejong]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdAHDC_ZS_A[/video]

Fantastic player. He will be new De Jong ? Nope. He's looks like Fernandinho & Yaya Toure minor ver.

Exciting, skillful, technician, good passer. I love him.