Manchester City might be setting up the machinery behind the scenes to construct a move for out of favour Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic. A report states that Pep Guardiola has asked the club to look into Rakitic’s situation at Barca as he sees the Croatian as the perfect replacement for the injured Ilkay Gundogan.
Manchester City have tasted success and failure in equal measure this season. Success when their tactics paid off handsomely against teams like Manchester United and Barcelona while they have failed to have any answers when teams have pressed them, namely against Tottenham Hotspur. While they started off with a bang, winning 10 games in a row, the Sky Blues could not sustain the momentum and saw their lead at the top cut down and then overtaken by Chelsea. Currently, in the 4th spot, Pep Guardiola is looking to add to his squad to sustain their recent resurgence.
Meanwhile, a struggling Barcelona are having all kinds of problems. Unable to win this year, they have seen a drastic loss of form. And while a number of players are underperforming, Rakitic has come under the scanner for his underwhelming displays and has lacked continuity and consistency.
Having being dropped completely from the Matchday squad in their last game, the is a strong buzz he might be subjected to a £42m bid to join Pep Guardiola’s revolution at the Etihad. Guardiola’s penchant for midfielders is well known and City’s lack of technically strong players in that area of the field had made Guardiola make a move for injury prone Ilkay Gundogan in the summer.
The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder had started his stint at City quite well after a long injury lay-off and looked set to play a big part in their season. But an unfortunate injury saw his season cut short and in-turn made sure that City are back to square one as far as midfielders are concerned.
Fernandinho has picked up 3 red cards in 6 games and there is real concern over his temperament. Fernando and Delph are the only recognised options other than Yaya Toure and it clearly evident that there is a lack of quality at the centre of the park.
Ivan Rakitic will elevate the quality of the whole team and there are talks that Pep wants to have a midfield 3 of Silva, Fernandinho and Rakitic with Yaya Toure expected to move on in the summer anyways.
City fans will be hoping that the club makes a move for this Croatian who at 28-years is probably in his peak.
