Matija Nastasic

[BlueTG]

In what sense is the hype ridiculous when he actually is one of the top three defenders in Europe in his age group with Varane and Marquinhos? Is Varane's hype also ridiculous? If you're one of the best in your age group hype will be attached to you, it's inevitable in football.

The hype is well justified, he's just turned 20 and has been for most part of the season half of the league's best defence so far, hardly cocked up and looks very assured and promising. We are lucky to have someone so young who looks like he can go very far.

 

[stavros]

god there are some outright jerks on here.

people who are saying 'he doesn't make last ditch/crucial interceptions' are wankers and should be banned from watching football.

he doesn't need to make last ditch tackles/interceptions, as his positioning and reading of the game is so good.

you hardly even notice the kid is playing , and that is the best compliment for a centre half. totlly at ease 99.9% of the time.

absolute class act

 

[samharris]

god there are some outright jerks on here.

people who are saying 'he doesn't make last ditch/crucial interceptions' are wankers and should be banned from watching football.

he doesn't need to make last ditch tackles/interceptions, as his positioning and reading of the game is so good.

you hardly even notice the kid is playing , and that is the best compliment for a centre half. totlly at ease 99.9% of the time.

absolute class act

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ :)

 

[adrianr]

Massive career defining FA Cup semi final mistake incoming = All blues about turn, demand he leave the club, over hyped, why did Mancini drop Lescott, Mancini out, etc ;)

 

[mcmanus]

god there are some outright jerks on here.

people who are saying 'he doesn't make last ditch/crucial interceptions' are wankers and should be banned from watching football.

he doesn't need to make last ditch tackles/interceptions, as his positioning and reading of the game is so good.

you hardly even notice the kid is playing , and that is the best compliment for a centre half. totlly at ease 99.9% of the time.

absolute class act

Hold on a sec here Stavroz.

Even though Nasty doesn't have to make last ditch challenges because he's already snuffed out trouble earlier though...... he can.

Cracking signing and hope he develops into a truly world class centre half along side and with the tutelage of Sir Vincent of All Belgium.

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

I'm a bit too young for Bobby Moore, but the player he reminds me of is Alan Hanson. Reads the game well, doesnt go to ground much and decent with the ball at his feet. Fantastic prospect and under rated, if he was English the media would have a serious stiffy for him, but as he isnt and thus he has gone without much praise at all.

I was just thinking the very same thing. This lad needs to be tied into the longest possible contract. There's absolutely no doubt whatsoever that he's the real deal.

 

[sonicboomboy]

Said it when I first saw him and will repeat it now. He will mature into one of the greatest defenders EVER. Hopefully at City too!

 

[Blueroses]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/apr/13/matija-nastasic-manchester-city-rock?mobile-redirect=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... rect=false</a>

About time our gem got some recognition ^_^

 

[FantasyIreland]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/apr/13/matija-nastasic-manchester-city-rock?mobile-redirect=false

About time our gem got some recognition ^_^

About time everyone can be arsed to C&P........!
----------------------------------------------------------

To find a prime contender for Manchester City's player of the season look no further than the teenager who made his debut against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. Matija Nastasic was 19 when he lined up for a Champions League group game last September two years after being loaned out to a Partizan Belgrade feeder club, and after only 26 games in blue the defender is drawing comparisons with Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer.

Nastasic is guaranteed to start against Chelsea in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, and Kevin Keegan, the former City and England manager, says of him: "I saw him play for City against Real Madrid when he made his debut. If you are a manager and put a player in to make his debut in the Bernabéu, then that tells you everything you need to know. I really like him. He would be my idea of a centre-half. One who can come out with the ball and play."

With his club team-mate Aleksandar Kolarov and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic at full-back and Nemanja Vidic partnering Nastasic in the middle, England's domestic league contains a formidable Serbian back four, though Keegan believes the former Fiorentina player has more refined attributes than Manchester United's captain.

"Nastasic is a different sort of player to Vidic," he says. "More of a Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer style of player. I'm not saying Nastasic is as a good as Beckenbauer because we've got to see more of him."

From the wreckage of City's recruitment drive last summer has emerged this son of coffee shop owners who demoted England's Joleon Lescott to the reserve list and became Vincent Kompany's first-choice partner in defence. Throughout an uneven campaign Roberto Mancini has bemoaned missing out on a big five of Robin van Persie, Eden Hazard, Javi Martínez, Daniele De Rossi and Daniel Agger, as Jack Rodwell, Maicon, Scott Sinclair and Javi García were bought instead. Nastasic was the other man on this supposed B-list but Liverpool's resistance to selling Agger has proved a blessing.

David Platt, Mancini's assistant, says: "Matija has done very well. He's only young, he's come out of Serie A and it's a different style of football but he's come in and settled down very well."

Two whirlwind years have pointed Nastasic's career trajectory straight up on the success graph. Having joined Partizan at 12, he made a temporary move to FK Teleoptik Zemun five years later. "I was 17 when Partizan thought I should go out and get some experience of senior football because it was very difficult for a youth player to break into their first team," he says. "I was loaned to a second division side and spent the 2010-11 season with them: they are a sort of feeder club for Partizan."

Nastasic grew up in Valjevo, a small town in west Serbia, and is too young to recall the region's conflict during the 1990s. "Valjevo is a nice town, very small and quiet," he says. "There are only about 8,000 people there. My parents owned a coffee shop in the village and we enjoyed a normal, average lifestyle."

With his father he travelled to Belgrade to watch Partizan. "I always wore the Partizan shirt when I played in the field or in the street. I just loved football and my team, so when Partizan offered me a trial it was a dream come true," he says.

At Teleoptik Nastasic played 21 games and impressed enough to attract Fiorentina's attention before ever featuring for Partizan. "I'd been there about six months when my agent informed me Fiorentina were interested in taking me on a permanent deal," he says. "It meant leaving Partizan but it was too good a chance to turn down. My parents were very supportive and [it was] an easy choice to make. In Serbia you are never sure what is going to happen the next day, so I signed for Fiorentina and moved with my parents to Italy."

Bought for £2m at the beginning of last season, he marked Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Serie A in his first start. "Everything happened so quickly. I had to adapt quickly because it was a new way of life, home and language. Originally I was meant to bed in by playing for the Fiorentina youth team but they were short of defensive cover, so I was fast-tracked."

It helped that his then coach, Sinisa Mihajlovic, is also Serbian and, as a former team-mate of Mancini, was trusted by City's manager to assess his ability. "There is no hiding place when you are marking players like Ibrahimovic, [Ezequiel] Lavezzi or [Edinson] Cavani each week. Milan, Napoli, Inter, Juventus – the big games just kept coming," Nastasic says. "I played 29 times for Fiorentina. I imagined I would maybe spend three or four years in Serie A before perhaps trying my luck in England. In fact I watched City v QPR on the final day of last season at my home in Florence – but I had no idea I would be part of the team a few months later."

Costing £12m plus Stevan Savic, Nastasic is now integral to Mancini's plans. As Joe Hart says: "Nasta has been a sensation. For his age he is like a rock."
..............

 

[forevermancity]

Getting better and better but fuck me this thread is embarrassing

If he keeps progressing the way he is then maybe threads like this can be justified in 2-3 years time