Manchester City's
signing of Emmanuel Adebayor from Arsenal, while
long-awaited, does not so much fill a striking gap as thrust
another big name into competition for a first team place.
Indeed, while there remain transfers to be made at Eastlands this
summer, the northern side's latet acquisition's first effect may be
to push £18m man Roque Santa Cruz onto the bench.
There is scope for squad disharmony, then, but more importantly
there is now a massive level of depth at Manchester City that the
fans will not have witnessed so far in the Premier League.
It is eminently possible, in fact, to make not one, but two
credible line-ups that could compete at the very least for a
top-half place in the Premier League. See below:
4-3-3
ROBINHO-ADEBAYOR-TEVEZ
BARRY-
KOMPANY - IRELAND
BRIDGE-(LESCOTT)-ONUOHA-RICHARDS
GIVEN.
4-4-2
BELLAMY-CRUZ
PETROV-DEJONG-ELANO-SWP
GARRIDO-DUNNE-BENHAIM-ZABALETA
TAYLOR
Lineup 1, in a 4-3-3
formation, can largely be considered first choice. Notice the
inclusion of Joleon Lescott; he is bracketed because he hasn't
signed - and in fact may not - but what is certain is that
Manchester City will land a centre-back this summer, and a big-name
one at that. So, Richard Dunne is kept out of the team by this
hypothetical replacement.
Elsewhere, Carlos Tevez and Robinho flank the new summer signing,
while defensive competition is strong, not least at right-back,
where Micah Richards edges out Pablo Zabaleta.
In Lineup 2 Zabaleta stars opposite Javier Garrido
in the back line of this 4-4-2, while captain
Dunne and Tal Ben Haim link up in the middle. Ahead of them is
Nigel de Jong, an expensive signing, but one who is far from
guaranteed a first team place; Martin Petrov and Elano, nearby,
admittedly could leave the club this summer, but right now are
ready and able to play, hugely talented, but bench-fodder.
Just (!) two strikers are deployed in this one, and while Roque
Santa Cruz can be considered a 'lock' - due to his transfer fee, if
little else - Craig Bellamy narrowly beats the competition to join
him - that is, if he doesn't force his own exit, in light of his
diminished chances of regular first team football.
The Forgotten Men
The depth is not even exhausted by the selection of
22 players. One can argue, in fact, that among the substitutes for
either side would be players who can deem themselves worthy of
match action.
Kasper Schmeichel is perhaps one of the most 'fringe' names on the
list, but moving forward we find promising youth team talent such
as Kelvin Etuhu and Michael Johnson left with little to no chance
of seeing first team action, not just next season, but for seasons
to come.
Nowhere is this competition more pronounced than up front, where
full internationals Felipe Caicedo, Ched Evans, and Benjani linger
on the sidelines, as do countless youths such as Vladimir Weiss in
midfield and Shaleum Logan further back.
Too Many Stars?
Even taking out of the equation supposed moral objections to their
spending, it only requires a glance at clubs hot on the continent
to see that squad stacking may not necessarily lead to
success.
City's neighbours, Manchester United, rose to the top of world
football with a squad arguably containing fewer top talents than
the one City have now, while Barcelona succeded them with a
tremendously gifted set of youth products and the odd big-money signing.
Not even Real Madrid, in all their Galactico madness, plan to keep
their squad in anything resembling its current shape. At least nine
quality, international players will be cleared out to leave the
Merengues with a first XI that needs no introduction, but a squad
that is comparitively modest, with several players from the youth
system - or so they hope, at least.
City, meanwhile, don't look like offloading more than half a dozen
players at most, while another one, at least, is sure to arrive
before deadline day in six weeks' time. Such rampant competition
may see, if you'll forgive the pun, Sparks fly.
This is a large squad, a talented squad, and one that will treat
their supporters to fabulous football this season. On top of that,
they should - at least in theory - stroll into the top four and
beyond - but in practice, might the incredible squad imbalance
bring about another season of disappointment at Eastlands? Only one
man in recent history has managed success with a squad even
resembling one of City's depth, and Jose Mourinho is, at least for
now, well and truly out of reach - is Mark Hughes still the man for
this job?
