The Citizens have finally made their first move ever since sacking Roberto Mancini after their Wembley loss against Wigan. Manchester City will snap up Jesus Navas from Sevilla for a reported fee of around £17million. The Spanish club have confirmed it through their club website that they have accepted City’s bid for Jesus Navas and the deal is all but complete.
A Sevilla statement said: “On Monday we accepted an offer from Manchester City. The player will now have a medical.
“Navas has spent 10 seasons in the first team and his performances rank him among our best-ever players.
“The player wants to continue his successful career in English football, more specifically at a club where he can continue to grow as a player.”
Now, City who have conceded the least number of goals in the previous season, have suffered a major dent with their strike force. Both their forwards and midfielders who were prolific just a season be fore this, suffered lengthy injuries spells and consequently had a major loss in form. Aguero’s lengthy injury spell along with the downfall Balotelli meant it was Tevez and Dzeko to take care of things upfront meanwhile Yaya Toure was the only consistent performer from the middle of the park. This had led to them being eleven points behind champions Manchester United. Therefore, it was pretty urgent for the Citizens to boost their strike force and the acquisition of Navas points towards that direction.
The player, who plays in the right flanks for Sevilla, has made six assists in this season’s campaign, a figure that is not too great. But what he brings to City is beyond assists and goals.
He is an avid passer of the ball and his 80% average pass accuracy speaks exactly of that. He controls the proceedings of the game from his position and this season he has created a total of a staggering 76 chances, the fifth in ranking in the Spanish league.
He has a knack of cutting inside and slip in a cute pass behind the defender and his pace helps a lot as well. Most of the passes that he makes are direct forward passes and in the English game this trend will help to perform decently for his side. Although he does not have much ability to drop back and help the team in the defence, his role in the flanks would mean Zabaleta’s burden being reduced.
All in all, it can be made out to be a decent signing and the City fans must be backing their new recruit to perform well under a new manager.