Manchester City Players Free to Negotiate With Other Clubs

It is that time of the year where a number of Manchester City players enter the last 6 months of their contract and consequently are able to negotiate now  a free transfer to an over seas club.

That in itself is nothing new, but this year there are two players in this position who have both made a big impact upon Manchester City albeit for drastically different reasons.

Club Captain and honorary Mancunian Vincent Kompany has a playing contract which is due to expire on 30 June 2019 and now finds himself in a peculiar position. This is his testimonial year at City, where he will celebrate 10 Years as a player with the Club and indeed has made arrangements throughout the year to fund raise with the Mayor of Manchester to alleviate the problem of homelessness in the City centre.

He is married to a Mancunian and is well settled in the City. As a Club Captain he has lifted 9 major honours at Manchester City in his 10 year career, making him the most successful captain in our history. But in recent years he has been robbed of game time through a succession of injuries, and he has fought back to full fitness every time showing remarkable levels of courage and determination.

Injury has limited him to 14 appearances so far this season, 21 last season, 15 in 2016/17 and 22 in 2015/16. 15 separate injuries during this period have severely restricted his playing time.

Whether Manchester City make a further contract offer to him or he decides to move on is unclear. But anywhere he goes will benefit from his impact both on and off the pitch.

Eliaquim Mangala also finds himself with a contract which expires on 30 June 2019. He arrived from Porto for a record transfer fee of over £30 million and despite having seemingly all the attributes necessary to succeed as a footballer, struggled to adapt to Premier League Football.

I remained a Managala fan and always felt he offered something to our side through his physical presence, but it was his reading of the game which seemed to let him down and he was caught out a number of times, leading to him becoming much maligned. Under Guardiola there were moments where he looked much improved but whilst on loan at Everton last year he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury and is only now just beginning to return to action.

For Mangala to secure a move that his talent deserves it will be important for him to secure some game time. Unfortunately he appeared to suffer a further injury in his come back reserves game a few weeks ago which may make a loan move away from the Club difficult to achieve in January.

Two further players registered to the club have contracts expiring in the summer. Charlie Oliver and Cameron Humphries both play in defence as part of the Under 23 side. Of these Humphries looked a real and exciting prospect a couple of years ago but his progress has been hampered by injury. He certainly looks worthy of a future deal based purely on his pre season display against Real Madrid a couple of years ago.

So two high profile players and two young players all face a period of uncertainty and can now negotiate free transfers to other sides abroad.