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| Fernandinho: Really worth £30 million? |
£30 million pounds for a 28-year-old, 5 capped Brazilian midfielder...really? who else but the bottomless riches of Manchester City could justify spending so much on something that at first glance looks so little. Now I might be proved wrong next season by Fernandinho, and as a football fan, hope he does bring yet another bit of quality to the premier league, but I can't help but feel that none of the other 19 premiership teams would of punted £30 million on him if they had the funds available.
It was only 4 or 5 years ago when Manchester City were paying £30 million for another Brazilian in the shape of Robinho, the difference being that when they signed Robinho he was probably in the top 10 players in the world at the time in terms of profile.
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| Remember the last Brazilian City paid £30mil for? |
Compare that to the profile of Fernandinho who for the past 8 years has been lining up against the likes of FC Chornomorets Odesa, FC Illychivets Mariupil, FC Zorya Luhansk (stop me when you see one you've heard of) and FC Dynamo Kyiv (oh! There we go). I acknowledge that Shakhtar Donetsk have frequently had Champions League football in his time there, but have only twice gone beyond the group stage which isn't really the sort of experience that City require in the middle of the pitch.
One thing Fernandinho does have plenty of is medals. He arrives in England with a whole suitcase of them, amassing 6 Ukrainian League medals, 4 Ukrainian Cup medals, 3 Ukrainian Super Cup medals, and one UEFA Cup Medal. However, when you consider that over the past 20 seasons, only 2 teams have ever won the Ukrainian premier League, you've got to question how hard those medals were to come by.
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| Fernandinho won a ton at Shakhtar, but did they all come too easy? |
There were those performances against Chelsea in Champions League which were impressive, but will he be able to replicate that sort of play week in, week out? The only thing for certain is that Gareth Barry might as well try and jump ship now other wise he might find himself warming the bench for the next couple of years, and what for the fate of Yaya Toure? Deep lying defensive midfielder, or still energetic attacking threat where he is most useful? Him and Fernandinho cannot play the same roles. Let's not also forget about Nasri who City still have as an option (although it is extremely easy to forget about him, especially during games).
It will certainly be interesting to see how Pellegrini (not the jumping the gun am I?) will use Fernandinho amongst the other midfielders he has at his disposal, and if he was even his signing, seeing as he is a player who City of been after for a while.
Let me know your thoughts and opinions.
