Steven N’Zonzi of Sevilla has taken the football fraternity by storm this season. The midfield dynamo has drawn a lot of interest from major European heavyweights for a move in the January transfer window, out of which Manchester City appear to be involved as well. His success in La Liga ever since his move in 2015 from the Britannia Stadium (now known as bet365 Stadium) for around £7 million has been nothing short of sheer brilliant, to say the least.
Manchester City have fallen off the cliff in the Premier League and to keep his personal reputation intact as well as to meet the demands of the club, Pep Guardiola is vouching for his targets and apparently, N’Zonzi seems to be his short-term target to nullify his midfield woes.
The French footballer has plied his trade at Amiens, Blackburn, Stoke City in the past and has quite rightly been compared to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira.
The 6’3” midfielder has a wide range of attributes to his name, the most notable ones being his commendable aerial strength, ability to create chances for his side as well as break the opponents defence and relentless toil throughout the pitch.
Indiscipline from Fernandinho, coupled with the long-term injury of their summer signing İlkay Gündoğan implies that Guardiola is short of options in the centre of the park and N’Zonzi perfectly fits the bill. He is unarguably the top performer for Sevilla and his statistics do the needed advocating for the same.
In 15 La Liga appearances, the 28-year-old has scored 2 goals, created 7 chances, bagged an assist and as an icing on the top of the cake, he has garnered a healthy pass accuracy of 89%. Moreover, defensively speaking, he has made 1.7 tackles, 1.3 interceptions, 1.4 clearances, 0.7 dribbles and 0.3 blocks per game on an average as well. He provides an unparalleled shield to the back four and surges forward to link up with the attackers and doesn’t shy away from aiming for goals as well.
The blue half of Manchester are seven points behind table-toppers Chelsea and considering that Fernandinho is out until 5th February, they are likely to make a dip into the transfer market. A towering figure like N’Zonzi can cultivate freshness alongside granting the impetus to Manchester City to build on for the remainder of the season and by forking out a right price, they might tempt Sevilla into permitting a transfer to the Etihad Stadium.
Statistics Credits: Squawka and WhoScored
