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Manchester City: Ex Blue Fractures Cheekbone

By Jason Bardwell

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 11: Alvaro Negredo and Fernandinho (R) of Manchester City pose with the trophy at the end of the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium on May 11, 2014 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 11: Alvaro Negredo and Fernandinho (R) of Manchester City pose with the trophy at the end of the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium on May 11, 2014 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) /
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He was one of my favorite strikers under the Manuel Pellegrini era. Shortly after the arrival of the Chilean manager, the Beast was signed. That was followed by National team-mate, Jesus Navas, as our attack started to show depth.

The previous season, and Roberto Mancini’s last, we had sold Adebayor and Mario Balotelli. That left us with Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero.  Carlos moved to Juve at the end of the season and so, City had to make moves.

Stevan Jovetic came in, along with Negredo to give us essentially two target men (Dzeko and Negredo) and two smaller strike partners in Aguero and Jovetic. Almost instantly he was embraced by the City faithful who would shout ‘Beast!’ at various points during games.

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He didn’t stay long, or maybe have the impact he would have wanted. He does however have a stat which will never be taken away from him. Scoring three goals against CSKA Moscow he became the first Manchester City player to do so in Champions League group play.

He didn’t score for City after January 2014 yet still finished fourth highest scorer. He did stay for the next season, winning the League and Cup double before then moving to Valencia on a permanent deal.

His move to Spain lasted only a season, before returning to England. This time it was the red of Middlesbrough where he was their top scorer with ten goals. Those goals were not enough to keep Boro up though, and relegation followed.

On April 30th his new club welcomed his old, and it was only going to be one guy to open the scoring. Slipping on the edge of the box his shot still had enough to beat Caballero. His celebrations were muted, kissing his arm tattoo and embracing team mates who had run toward him.

Next: Negredo: I Still Follow City

Now at Besiktas, his side were just eliminated by Bayern Munich in the last round of Champions League play. Negredo himself was an unused substitute for both games, and now may have played his last game of the season.

In the latest League game, Negredo and Besiktas suffered a double blow. Not only did the Turkish side lose ground on their title rivals, but their Spanish striker had to be rushed to hospital with a fractured cheekbone.