Premier League pacesetters Manchester City have much greater squad depth this season following a summer spending spree of £160m – a figure quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
Manuel Pellegrini is so spoilt in his resources that he has a defender with the pedigree of Nicolas Otamendi to bring in for the injured Vincent Kompany against West Ham United on Saturday.
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According to BBC Sport, £32m of City’s massive summer outlay was spent on signing Otamendi from Valencia, and he could make his Premier League bow this weekend in the absence of his new captain.
Pellegrini confirmed on Friday, via City’s official Twitter account, that Kompany would miss the club’s next two games with the calf injury which forced him off late on in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League defeat to Juventus. He joins Fabian Delph, Gael Clichy and Pablo Zabaleta on the sidelines.
PELLEGRINI: “Vincent is not fit for the game. Zabaleta, Clichy, Delph also. Nasri had a kick in the last game. He’s not 100% for tomorrow.”
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) September 18, 2015
PELLEGRINI: “It’s a calf injury for @VincentKompany – he won’t be involved against Sunderland on Tuesday but we’ll see for Spurs.” — Manchester City FC (@MCFC) September 18, 2015
Otamendi was the Belgian’s replacement against Juventus and either he or Martin Demichelis will start at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow – an indication of the depth that City now have in their ranks.
The 27-year-old made the 2014-15 La Liga Team of the Season, and the bravery and strength, both in the air and on the floor, shown in the above video suggest that he can be a success in England too.
Although he must be given time to settle at City, the former Porto centre-back immediately became a key figure in his only season at Valencia and captained them on several occasions.
This indicates that he has the leadership skills to fill the void left by Kompany, and offer guidance to Eliaquim Mangala against a Hammers attack which has scored five goal in its last two games.
Otamendi also has a goal in him – bagging six for Los Che last campaign – but his Argentina teammate Sergio Aguero will take on that burden for City now that he is back to “100% fitness”.
PELLEGRINI: “@aguerosergiokun has recovered very well. He is 100% fit for tomorrow’s game.” #cityvwestham
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) September 18, 2015
Victory for the Citizens could take them seven points clear at the top of the table, although they must be wary of West Ham, who have already knocked off Arsenal and Liverpool on the road this term.
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