Nicolas Otamendi could join Benfica from Manchester City

By
Roy Nemer
-
45

Nicolas Otamendi could be joining Benfica as part of a transfer which would see Manchester City get Ruben Dias.

Per a report by Fabrizio Romano, Manchester City are very close to signing Ruben Dias with Otamendi going the other way in a transfer which would be worth around €55 million. Otamendi has been at the club since 2015 but hasn’t been a regular starter for some time.

Otamendi has been selected for the Argentina team by coach Lionel Scaloni for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.

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45 Comments

  2. Hope eric garcia doesnt join barca…. this will have santiago ramos mingo as barcas 4 th choice cb as todibo and umtitii are on there way out…. jorge cuenca loaned out… so he will get more minutes in b team if lucky the first team

  3. Marcos Senesi with a goal in today’s win against Den Haag. Another impressive display from Senesi and I wonder what else Senesi have to do to convince scaloni about his quality. The man was literally a pillar for Feyenoord’s third place riots last season. He was even shortlisted by barca for quick rejuvenation in the backline but, all that have vanished and I think it’s good. Good for him, cause it’s better to play first team football than taking million paychecks to home with zero matches and experiences.

    Heard about Ramos Mingo inclusion in the squad. For a few weeks I thought he was ruthlessly booted out since he hadn’t played any games for them but then, this is really good news.
    Nehuen Perez is staying at Atletico, so I think Simeone must have plans to use him, either today or in next games. It will be interesting to see how he does in Atletico, after having his breakout season in flamiciao.
    By the way I checked out recently that neither Bruno amione or Joaquin pereyra are in either side’s roster. I think they should be in the squad by now or is it that they haven’t got done with their transfers yet?

  4. Santiago mingo in barca squad for today’s match is a good news that shows that this guy has a game in him and the manager confidence to be part of the team which is a good news for Argentina football team

    • No need to be excited. He has little to no chance of playing. Pimienta is unimpressed by Ramos mingo and with Garcia probabky joining barca , santiagos chance of 1stbteam football will be all but diminished

  5. I think Nehuen Perez’s move to Parma was more of a wish than reality. It seems he is given No. 4 shirt and is part of the team playing today. I wanted him to get some Serie A experience this season, but Atletico wasn’t serious loaning him out to Parma which opened the door for Valenti’s move to Serie A. Let’s see what are El Cholo’s plans for Perez.

    • Wow that’s awesome. Is nehuen debuting for atletico today. Will watch then.
      Anyone watching ligue1? Benitez again seems to have a great day. Whoscored rating says 7.9. how long will scaloni ignore him?

      • Pérez is on the bench for Atlético Madrid.
        Haven’t watched Benítez for a while now. He definitely wants the #1 but Musso and Emi Martínez are in front of him. He seems to have a lot of confidence, if not too much, and maybe Scaloni believes that calling him up as #3 doesn’t serve a big purpose in case his pride doesn’t allow him to be fine with being third in line..

  6. Guys Few weeks before someone mentioned Sanitago mingo was released by Barcelona, That is incorrect information it seems and he is in today’s squad to face villareal.

    • Barca had a controversy with Boca over his transfer last February. Hopefully, it does not have to do anything with the clause in his contract that allows his release clause to be rocketed up to 100 M from 60 M if he manages to get into the first XI in this season. The lad has no professional history whatsoever. Hopefully, the coaching staff has seen something in him.

  11. As far as Goal keeping is Concerned with Emiliano and Musso’s bright form and Bursting into the scene along with Andrada who also can play for us for some years, For now at least our Goal keeping headache looks partially solved.(Hope they show their club form for the NT too)

    That leaves only Defense which need to be sorted out:
    As of now the LB is secure under Tagliafico for some more years (Only issue is we don’t have a proper backup for LB position, I don’t think Acuna is a safer option, he is a make shift option only)

    RB is still not fixed, Foyth who is not playing leaves us in a dilemma, He can hold the RB spot for sure(As he showed against Germany) but he needs to start playing for some club(Even as a CB also, He needs to keep playing). Added to that Foyth is young, so if he clicks at the RB spot then that position also looks good for us (Along with Montiel as back up, who is also young).

    That leaves us to the CB pair, we don’t have any proven players apart from Otamendi and Pezzella, For now we have to trust in them, We have talents like Quarta, Lisandro Martinez, Romero, Kanneman, Senesi, Balerdi etc etc. But none of them are tested or proven at international Level. There is no choice left other than start playing them and hopefully some of them click for us in the defense, We cant always rely on Otamendi and Pezzella for long time now.

    Our Attack and Midfield has much lesser headaches compared to the Defense.

    • Imo foyth is a precious CB talent. RB is more of a backup position for him where he did surprisingly decent. This is a great read to realize foyth just needs a mentoring club coach to be among the best ball playing CB defenders -https://totalfootballanalysis.com/recruitment-analysis/recruitment-analysis-how-to-scout-ball-playing-defenders-statistics

      • Foyth should join any Italian club where he can play regularly (loan is the only possible option). Just one season in Italy will make him a strong defender.

        • Absolutely. He just needs a break from Mourinho who dosent even put him in sub bench or play the League Cup matches . They are also not selling him & kept him as a pawn to barter in big deals. The kid must be frustrated after Leeds, Villareal interest was not encouraged by spurs . Serie A will be ideal . But time is now very short & he needs to be lucky to get a deal. Every incoming club knows that he is a rusted player who has hardly played in an year!

  12. Agree that we should not judge player by his age, although not all players are Ibra or Frank Ribery; i translate this topic as Otamendi case with he has passed his peak and prime time. On contrary Papu Gomez is a good inclusion as he is in fire. The key word are “Prime Time” and “on fire” Same thing happened with Higuain or Ansaldi and others long listed players before like Zabaletta, Mascherano; younger generations are coming fast; even Banega who is still a great player knows his physical fitness and competitive level. That’s just natural. Beside City badly need a good cb after Vincent Kompany left

    Looks how Thiago thinks that he still have a strong legs and giant body; a lesson to the semi retire players and every coach to select a fit players; it’s little bit gambling for club but for N/T it must be really a fittest player to be selected 😉

  14. Guys we should not judge a player with age. It is right to say that a younger player playing with same level as OTA them no problem to drop him. But first, one of our Young CB should show it in to a top tier league. let say Medina, Foyth, N.Perez and Balardy they should prove their worth first to out place Otamendi. He has given so much to NT and still 32 can easily play another 2 years to NT. Definitely some better came will replace him before that there is no way to outcast him.

  16. It would be good for Otamendi to move to other club.Otamendi was solid enough player for Man City but Pep did not give him enough chances.Otamendi was choosen by Pep always against mid table teams or lower mid table teams.He rarely played against Liverpoll,Chelsea,Leicester etc.

  17. Will Look celso be at the starting 11 for spurs this season?what do u think guys.
    Cos it’s very likely that he will enter into his prime this season.
    I have arise this question because for the last 2 games Harry winks nd ndombele was starting for them. And ndombele is looking like a class ATM.

    • He has been rested a bit the past few games hence not playing full 90 min. Let’s see today. Mourinho has claimed he will be a key player and the team will be built around him this season.

      Guessing their midfield will be:

      4-3-3
      Ndombele – Hojbjerg – Lo Celso

      4-2-3-1
      Son – Lo Celso – Bale
      Ndombele – Hojbjerg

      BTW Mou had big issues with Ndombele last season, but he has managed to change his mind. Hopefully Foyth can make it too one day.

  18. It’s matter of sorrow that we have no world class young defence . We have just average quality defender. We need like Di light,varjil van dijk, kolubaly,Maguire , marquinos, eric garcia etc.It’s very funny that we have not find a Better rb after zabaleta .. We need a world class rb like pavard or hakimi..we have just paredes for better class cm.sometimes i saw pardes has so much lack.. We need a cm like burno farnadez,de jong, van de beek .. Maybe papu gomez is best for us.if we can proper use him as a midfielder.

  19. Well, Pep have taken the right decision; Ota is slow now with much error and can’t compete with the high speed attackers; right time to leave City and move to another club. Follow the steps of Pablo Zabaletta right and wise decision; Welcome to Benfica !

    The second liner of EPL is growing; How Man Utd is so lucky to beat Brighton after the final whistle and Chelsea almost lose to West Brown; Everton turns to be a contenders under Ancelloti with James R and lethal striker; and sadly Argentina players did not take part and join the celebrations; South America must push hard and make their domestic league more interesting and glittering

    • Interestingly Brighton forward Neal maupay also qualifies for Argentina. His mother is Argentine. Unfortunately we are so front loaded & some stroke of luck like that needed on full backs

  22. Will be good for him to have consistent game time, even if it’s a lower level. Let’s see how he performs this season before Copa selection

  23. Younger showed nothing so far on that level where Otamendi is /was…100% agreed.
    Otamendiis da best central defender we have. Now time for new start, new journe..

  24. Time to said Farewell to Otamendi in Selection ! He dont have the level anymore and the selection have better young defender less stupid like him like Senesi.

        • Which city defender was good actually last year?
          Whole city team played poorly, otamendi didn’t play against Lyon still city lost.
          That stupid pep plays high line where u need pace and athleticsm so it’s not suitable for ota’s style.
          And last to last season city was knocked out by Spurs in which laporte made 3 mistakes which led to goals. But, nobody talked about that.
          Yes ota makes mistakes, however, he makes mistakes against Norwich, Newcastle etc. He has some concentration problem against small teams.
          I don’t remember he ever made a mistake in a big match.
          He is a big match player, I was so impressed with him against Brazil in copa America.
          Unlike pezella and foyth he was solid.

          • Agree shubham. Over criticized . But I think it’s good otamendi is going to benfica. He will get some playing minutes which is crucial for our NT as Otamendi still has a role to play atleast till copa21.

        • Ill echo shubham_v and amit

          High backline obviously doesn’t suit Otamendi which Pep insists on. He’d do better at Benfica or another club. Today, he’s still the NT best distributor, tackler, and aerial defender.

          My main gripe with Ota is not about quality but about his loss of emotional control. I hated seeing him kicking and screaming in the dying minutes of WC. Lets hope we never see that again in the time he has left.

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