If all the summer
signings Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has made,
the cheapest player and the one with the lowest profile may
ultimately turn out to be the most effective.
At £11million, Jerome Boateng
is not a cheap acquisition, but in the context of mega-rich City's
current spending spree, he is something of a snip for the Premier
League and Europe's richest club.
And with an ability to play
left-back and right-back, as well as his favoured central defensive
role, the signing of the former Hamburg player and member of
Germany's impressive World Cup squad
could turn out to be a masterstroke.
Spain World Cup winner David
Silva, a £29m capture from Valencia, may provide attacking flair,
while Yaya Toure, a Champions League winner bought from
Barcelona
for £24m, will give
City composure and authority in the centre of midfield.
But Boateng's versatility, not
to mention his coolness under pressure, marks him out as
potentially Mancini's best signing, in an area where City were
found wanting last season. The decision to offload Richard Dunne to
Aston Villa proved a foolish one, the former City skipper having a
superb season at his new club.
In contrast, City's
much-vaunted £40m central defensive partnership of Kolo Toure and
Joleon Lescott was a palpable failure, neither living up to their
exorbitant transfer fees and proving money does not necessarily buy
quality and a successful formula.
When Mancini succeeded Mark
Hughes last December, his first job was to address City's
vulnerable defence, which had become a liability and was
undermining the progress made in attack with players of the calibre
of Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Just like Manchester United,
who struggled with various central defensive combinations until
they found an effective partnership in Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja
Vidic, City have not had a settled and successful central pairing
since Dunne and Sylvain Distin.
The arrival of Boateng is the
first step in addressing that problem and providing City with the
foundation to sustain a title challenge when the new season gets
under way. Who will partner him in defence remains to be
seen.
Toure proved why Arsenal boss
Arsene Wenger was happy to get rid of him with an unconvincing
first season at City, while Lescott seemed to be burdened by his
ludicrous £24m price tag and was a shadow of the player who had
performed with such distinction for Everton.
Indeed, City's defence looked
more reliable with midfielder Vincent Kompany alongside Toure in
defence, after Lescott missed the last 10 Premier League games of
the season through injury. And with the imminent arrival of Lazio
left-back Aleksandar Kolarov for £17m, City's defence is assuming a
look of strength across the back-four that it has lacked for some
time.