Will Manchester City play Fernandinho at Centre Back?

When Manchester City signed Fernandinho from Shaktar Donetsk for £36 million there were raised eyebrows.

Some of the concern expressed both by Manchester City fans and football journalists, was that City had paid what appeared to be an excessive fee for a player who was somewhat unknown. Some concern was about the age of the player – 28 years old at the time of the move – and heading towards the twilight of his career. Some of the concern was about his injury record, having missed a season due to a broken leg. And some of the concern was about how similar his name was to another player we had just signed – Fernando.

However, that purchase of Fernandinho has been one of our most exciting signings of all time. Here was a versatile and cultured player who had experience of fulfilling a variety of roles. In his time in Ukrainian football he had played as a attacking midfielder, a left sided midfielder, a right sided midfielder, a central midfielder and a defensive midfielder.

Under Pep Guardiola he has become the fulcrum around which the enthralling attacking options are constructed. It is his commitment to patrolling and protecting the defence which allows such free flowing football in front. He can rotate the play with a simple pass and move, converting defence to attack. His passing is pristine. His interception and reading of the game is sublime and growing with each match. Importantly, he is not afraid to mix it up if necessary. He is happy to tackle, cajole and buffer attackers. Consequently, somewhat unfairly, he is labelled as a master of the dark arts of tactical fouling – spoiling the game – but that denigrates his real skills and abilities. After all he is the sum of a Brazilian footballing education, tempered in the Ukraine!

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Fernandinho is now 34 years of age and entering the last year of his City contract. Whilst there are encouraging signs he will be able to continue to play at the top level, whether that is at City is unclear. Injuries have slowed down his appearances and cover has now been bought as we look to the future.

The question remains as to what role Fernandinho may play this season. Pep Guardiola has started this discussion by suggesting we are likely to see Fernandinho employed in central defence this year. Partly because we may be “light” in the position and partly because he can. But just because he can it doesn’t mean he should.

Whilst Fernandinho has a skill set which supports central defence and the experience and vision to make his interventions count, he is still another relatively short player protecting our back line at corners. Although it should be pointed out despite being 1.79 m tall, he has a habit of winning balls in the air from defensive midfield!

Maybe, like with many things, we should just trust Pep. After all he has some significant experience converting midfielders to defenders. Don’t forget that at Barcelona he deployed Yaya Toure at centre back. At Bayern Munich he converted David Alaba from midfield to left back and Martinez into a centre back. And at City he has deployed both Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabian Delph at left back.

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Given Fernandinho now appears to be fit and ready to play again we should not at all be surprised if he assumes a new Centre Back role – stepping up into midfield with the ball at his feet like Bobby Moore. And probably becoming our most reliable defender in the process.