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Young defender Karim Rekik has been making great strides at PSV Eindhoven and could save Manchester City a fortune this summer. Stuart Brennan reports.
When Karim Rekik strode out for his City debut, aged 16 years and 293 days, it looked like the first steps of a boy destined for stardom.
The Dutch defender replaced Wayne Bridge in the Carling Cup win over Birmingham in September, 2011 – in what would turn out to be Bridge’s last game for the club.
That seems like an eternity ago, but Rekik – still the youngest foreign player to play for the Blues – is still only 19 and has this season become a star performer in his native Holland, where he is on loan at PSV Eindhoven.
The young Blue has played against AC Milan in a Champions League qualifier, become a regular at the heart of the PSV defence, and even won his first full cap in a friendly defeat by France last month.
Rekik has long been high on the list of ‘most likely to succeed’ kids in the City academy, ever since the Blues plucked him from the Feyenoord academy as a 16-year-old.
The Blues are tracking his progress at PSV, where he and former Chelsea man Jeffrey Bruma have formed a youthful central defensive partnership in a team fighting for Champions League qualification.
And, as they seek to strengthen their squad in the summer transfer window, Rekik is sure to be a possibility.
And with another holding midfielder likely to be targeted, Emyr Huws’ excellent performances on loan at Birmingham could yet mean the Blues save a whole lot of money in the summer.
City are set to look at the chances of bringing in Porto defender Eliaquim Mangala, but the Portuguese club are likely to hold an auction.
Six-foot-one-inch Rekik is a cultured footballing defender, something that Manuel Pellegrini likes, but there remain doubts on whether he has the physicality to succeed in the Premier League.
Indeed, last weekend, respected Dutch manager and TV pundit Co Adriaanse criticised Rekik after his mistake helped Groningen to a surprise 3-2 win in Eindhoven.
“I think too many are trained in the Netherlands to play the ball, or build play, and too little to really defend,” he said.
Rekik has already hinted he would like to stay another season at PSV, fearing his chances would be limited behind Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis and Matija Nastasic at City. And PSV are keen to keep him, with coach Phillip Cocu describing him as ‘an important player’ and saying that his international call-up was ‘no surprise’.
