Defender in last contract year ideal for Man City to cover Nastasic
Published:Matija Nastasic’s ankle injury in the final of the Asia Trophy has left Manuel Pellegrini a defender light for the start of the season and Manchester City could do worse than make a bid for Mamadou Sakho from PSG.
Man City remain 9/4 to win the Premier League despite the setback and there is a strong possibility that Pellegrini may be tempted to dip back into the transfer market one more time, despite the arrivals of Fernandinho, Stevan Jovetic, Alvaro Negredo and Jesus Navas.
Nastasic is expected to at least miss the Premier League opener with Newcastle at the Etihad, which Man City are 2/7 to win, and for now it would seem that Joleon Lescott will play alongside Vincent Kompany at the heart of the defence.
Real Madrid’s Pepe is one name that has been linked with Man City after losing his place to Raphael Varane last season, but Carlo Ancelotti may have bigger first-team plans for the Portugal international.
Another option for Man City is Sakho, who only has a year to run on his contract at the French champions and could easily see himself shunted down the pecking order at PSG after the recent big-money arrival of Marquinhos.
Fellow defender Thiago Silva is also expected to sign a contract extension in August, as the club begin to switch focus towards players currently at the club.
Marco Verratti has already extended until 2018, with talks underway with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Sakho, Blaise Matuidi and Jeremy Menez are thought to be next, with the trio all out of contract at the end of this season.
Liverpool are an alternate option for Sakho, but there has been some speculation that the Frenchman is no longer on the radar of Brendan Rodgers.
Meanwhile, with Sakho and Daniel Agger both left-footed, this partnership may not prove the ideal scenario for Rodgers in any case.
Sakho’s strengths are in his aerial dominance and passing success, so he would be a solid acquisition for either Premier League outfit.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
