Wizardry, imagination and brute force; it’s a flavorsome mixture, and
a mixture David Silva, Samir Nasri and Yaya Touré contribute to every
single week. But behind the genius of Manchester City’s tantalizing trio
is an imperative assuredness provided by a man that somehow managed to
escape the beady eye of the European elite up until last summer.
That man is Fernandinho.
The Brazilian’s arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk last June supplied City’s rivals with even more ammunition with which to mock the blues’ “excessive” spending. Largely unknown to the Premier League world, the 28-year-old holding midfielder commanded a substantial £30m fee three times the amount Juventus paid Bayer Leverkusen for Arturo Vidal in 2011 and prepared himself for the inevitable abuse his price tag would welcome.
English football possesses a sour tendency to judge a book by its cover, but when an unseen talent comes along with an exorbitant valuation, that’s when the armchair pundits really begin to spew their opinions.
Admittedly, I became one of those pundits last summer when City announced the signing of the unexplored Brazilian. Rightly or wrongly, I questioned why my team had forked out £30m for a player who had been capped just five times by his country, and I immediately began to form predictions about the 28-year-old’s capabilities without even seeing him play. Was my undying love for Nigel de Jong clouding my views, or did City’s unfortunate history with players of the Seleção have something to do with it? I could answer “yes” to both, but after watching each and every one of Fernandinho’s thirty-eight games this season, it’s safe to say my opinions have been altered by facts.
(Fernandinho has been the engine in City’s steer towards the title this season)
In a recent poll, Fernandinho maintained his “under-the-radar” ambience as just 4 out of 68 Manchester City fans predicted him to play the most significant role in City’s last eight Premier League games. Unsurprisingly, the in-form David Silva ran away with majority of votes, receiving 24 out of a possible 68 votes.
(Fernandinho received only 6% of the votes when Manchester City
fans were asked who would be their most significant player in their run
in for the title)
It would be irrational to question the judgement of City fans, especially considering David Silva’s recent form which has been rewarded with three man of the match awards in his last four games, but the impact of Fernandinho’s composure and equanimity on those sparkling performances is being criminally ignored.
Where Nigel de Jong would put in a crunching tackle and Gareth Barry would break up the play with a simple pass, Fernandinho is combining the two qualities with a bigger engine, an ability to carry the ball and a welcome addition of pace. The Brazilian offers a crucial barrier in front of the back four, but also provides the impetus in City’s carnivorous attacking play allowing Yaya Touré to assert his dominance in his preferred position further up the field. His box-to-box qualities relieve the defensive responsibilities of the three magicians in front of him and accommodates their focus on teasing defenders in the opposition’s eighteen-yard-box rather than fading out of the game in their own half. The South American’s influence on the team has been unheralded, but the link between City’s goal tally and the £30m signing cannot be regarded solely as a coincidence.
(City’s regular attacking midfield trio have benefited from the Brazilian’s presence just behind them)
Although stats may never tell the full story, it’s difficult to dismiss the facts and figures above in relation to Fernandinho’s effulgent impact on the Manchester City side that defended their title so poorly last season. One may argue that the Brazilian is still not be worth the £30m we paid for him last June, but slowly and surely, Fernandinho is repaying that generous fee.
