According to the latest reports from the Sun, Manchester City have made contact with Ecuadorian outfit Universidad Catolica over the signing of their talented midfielder Jose Cifuentes. Along with the Premier League champions, Watford are said to be interested and Scottish champions Celtic are known to be keen on the 20-year-old midfielder.
Cifuentes gained recognition for his performance in the u-20 World Cup which concluded this year and the South American midfielder guided his team to a third-place finish. The 20-year-old doesn’t have any experience of playing club football outside his home country so City might have to be patient with him if they manage to sign him.
Where can Cifuentes fit in?
The Ecuadorian is predominantly a defensive midfielder, but he can even feature in a box to box role as well. Manchester City spent the big bucks to bring in Rodri for the defensive midfield position this summer as he is being seen as a long term replacement for Fernandinho. Fernandinho is clearly in the final lap of his career with the Citizens, and he isn’t going to be around for long. Therefore someone like Cifuentes could be an understudy for Rodri in the future.
What will he bring to the table?
Cifuentes is known to be a combative midfielder, and he can breakdown play with his tackling and intercepting skills. However, he is more than just a midfield disruptor as he has ample on the ball qualities as well. The Ecuadorian can pick out a neat pass, and he also has the ability to carry the ball from the back.
Like quite a few South Americans, Cifuentes has a feistiness and doggedness to his game, and he also has that physical side to battle it out in the Premier League.
As mentioned, City will have to be patient with him as he is yet not a finished article. He is still raw and might take some time to adapt to the English top flight. However, the signs are there that he can make an impact at the top level.
Can Guardiola get him?
Manchester City might have the ability to financially outmuscle the likes of Celtic and Watford to sign Cifuentes, but the other two teams can probably offer him much more game time in the first team once he settles in. So that is something which might not help the Citizens to secure the South American talent in the future.
