Future of our midfield

Uptop

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Was watching Everton and wondered how old Barry must be by now and just wondered what others thought about the future of our midfield.

We have our first choice pair of Yaya (32) & Fernandinho (30) with prefered backups Fernando (28) and Delph (25 - soon to be 26).

You would imagine Yaya would be first in need of replacing and also the most important. He would probably be able to stick around as some form of deep lying player but unsure if he would be happy with that role.

Fernandinho is a player who relies on his athleticism and does a lot of running so there is a risk of age catching up on him however there don't appear to be any signs of that yet. I think Delph is more than capable of replacing him as a like for like.

Lastly we have Fernando who after a not so great start has slotted in nicely and done what we expect him to do which is break up play and play it safe. He has a good few years left in the tank and would most likely keep the role he has now in the future.

So over the next few years we are going to be looking for a Yaya replacement as one of our main concerns which brings up an interesting decision. Yaya is one of our best players with no real like for like replacement in the world yet at the same time he provides us with a defensive weakness when played in a midfield two. Its a trade of which for the most part favours us. This leaves us with the option to replace him as like for like as possible and continue to play the same way we do now or bring in a more rounded CM and depend on our forwards for that little extra creativity.

For me, a player in the same role as Fabregas or Pogba(?) would allow us to play as we do now without a huge difference in how we play. A player more focused on going forward than helping defend too much.

A more rounded midfielder along the lines of Ramsay or Verratti who still are creative yet puts in a good amount of running / defensive work would in my opinion provider us with a more stable midfield for games when we are not in complete control.

Not saying those are the players I would like to bring in but felt it was something interesting to think about as eventually Yaya will be replaced and wondered what others thought about it.
 
I hope some young lad comes through the academy to play in the midfield, maybe a Jack Byrne or Manu Garcia, it depends really at which stage City deem Yaya 'past it' and feel the need to replace him, if its 2/3 years away it could well be an academy player, if they want to replace him next season then it could be anyone. There aren't many Yaya's out there (maybe Pogba) so it comes down to whether or not they want a like for like replacement or something new.
 
I personally think when Yaya goes we will opt for an experienced replacement who's rather defensive minded; Matuidi or Khedira type player.

I think 4-2-3-1 with the 2 both being holders would give us better balance than we have now and allow the likes of KDB and Sterling to focus on attacking and cutting between the lines more.

We already have that with Fernando and Delph for example but I doubt MP has the trust to utilise that strategy or take Yaya put the team.
 
Will depend on who is in charge, as I see pelle and yaya off to US but staying in CFG.
Pogba all day long for me unless some gem in academy.
Just watching Everton, should we have gone for lukaku instead of bony? Much more mobile
 
The obvious options are Pogba, Veratti or Thiago Alcantara. Issue with them is that Pogba has looked less impressive without Vidal/Pirlo; more of a highlights reel midfielder & would have to pay way more than his true value (& looks destined for Barca anyway). PSG have no reason to sell Veratti, so that looks a none starter - and similar with Thiago, people seem to assume we will take Pep & Thiago but would he really want to leave Bayern, would Bayern ever let him go? Been important for them of late.

Tough one but would imagine we've got some potential targets lined up along with LB/RB positions as they seem to be the next 3 positions to sort out.
 
I personally think when Yaya goes we will opt for an experienced replacement who's rather defensive minded; Matuidi or Khedira type player.

I think 4-2-3-1 with the 2 both being holders would give us better balance than we have now and allow the likes of KDB and Sterling to focus on attacking and cutting between the lines more.

We already have that with Fernando and Delph for example but I doubt MP has the trust to utilise that strategy or take Yaya put the team.
I concur

for me, the more pressing issue is what do we do when David Silva gets too old?
 
I think it all depends on who the next manager is. If it's Guardiola then I can see us going for Tiago.

Also, I can see the formation changing, mainly due to Aguero's injury record and is not playing with a striker so we will need mobile midfielders who are cape of scoring - a younger Fernandinho would be ideal
 
Will depend on who is in charge, as I see pelle and yaya off to US but staying in CFG.
Pogba all day long for me unless some gem in academy.
Just watching Everton, should we have gone for lukaku instead of bony? Much more mobile
Oliver Ntcham is causing people to sit up and take notice of his ability,perhaps he could possibly be that gem? Kean Bryan is also developing nicely into a very decent box to box,so maybe the academy is the answer.If not,then we certainly have to get that cheque book out soon as Yaya,while still awesome on his day,is fading.

As for Lukaku,definitely a more complete striker than Bony,however....im not sure his character allows him to play second fiddle.
 

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