The Rehabilitation of Nicolas Otamendi

A lot of recent criticism regarding the defensive displays of Manchester City have focussed upon the performances of Nicolas Otamendi.

Otamendi has been an important player for Manchester City since he joined from Valencia on August 20 2015 for a fee of around £28.5 million. That signing under the stewardship of boss Manual Pelligrini was an attempt to arrest a failing in the centre of the City defence that had proven hard to plug.

No matter how much scouting had taken place, a succession of players were signed who struggled to translate form for their previous sides into the City back four. This was a period of course where our best central defender, Vincent Kompany, was severely hampered by recurring injury.

Just over 12 months before City had signed Otamendi he had joined Valencia for £10 million from FC Porto. That transfer had in fact been driven by a lack of playing time at Porto and it was clear that Otamendi at this time was looking for a way out.

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Quite why he had fallen out of favour at Porto is difficult to understand. Whilst there he played 77 games, scored 7 goals, won 8 major titles – including 3 League titles and also won the 2011 Europa League. Despite all of this he somehow found himself on the fringes of the team and duly seized the chance to go to Valencia and play.

He signed in the January transfer window of 2014 but was immediately loaned to Atletico Mineiro of Brazil. He made a solid contribution to his time in Brazil even scoring an important goal and undertaking his trademark goal celebration of the salute.

He returned to Spain for Valencia and then embarked upon an exceptional season where he notably scored the goal which ended the Real Madrid unbeaten run and became the only Valencia player to be named in the La Liga Team of the Year. It was these performances at Valencia which alerted the top clubs in Europe and Otamendi became a hot property. City eventually won the race to sign him and since then he has won every major honour in English footballer – most of them more than once!

He has not always been the first choice centre back of Guardiola, but has largely seized the chances he has been given to become a valuable team player. In 2017/18 when City raced to the Premier League title and amassed 100 points, he was the mainstay of the defence. He provided a physical solidity to the team and played most of the season in his less comfortable left hand side centre back spot.

Last season the form of other players reduced some of Otamendi’s playing time, but he tended to be deployed in those battling games where his aerial ability and combat skills were required. Last Summer it appeared as though Otamendi had been told he was not a first choice and could look for another club. Rumours suggested he was preparing to return to Valencia but for whatever reason that did not come to pass.

This season injuries have beset the City defence and Otamendi has found that yet again he has been called upon. The crucial difference though has been in front of him he has at times been offered less protection than in the past. Recent performances have seen him exposed at times and at fault for goals we have conceded.

Yet, in many ways he could not be held solely to blame for the mistakes which have cost City against both Wolves and Norwich. It was the midfield which evaporated leaving him exposed facing two attackers. For me the error made by Otamendi was in not sacrificing himself to prevent the goals. I feel he should have stopped the attacks by committing fouls, but to his credit maybe he has more integrity in that regard than me.

So we resume football after the dreary International break, relying heavily upon the much maligned Otamendi. In my view Otamendi has not become a bad player overnight, but requires some more protection in front to ensure our fledgling defence is not over exposed. This is a time where I feel both Rodrigo and Fernandinho should be playing in midfield to allow us to build and protect our side.

Otamendi has been a wonderful servant to City. He brings much to our game which gets lost in the spectacle of defeat. His short distribution passes link our attack and allow most of our breaks to happen. In fact he currently has the best pass success rate in the Premier League (92.5%) of any player!

So now is the time to relax and enjoy what he brings to our side. Confident and quick passing, physical strength and aerial ability. And of course the odd poorly timed slide tackle! But now is the time for Otamendi to lead his own rehabilitation and remind us of the player who won back to back league titles.