• 5 months ago
A look at two key players in City’s side.

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Sports
Transcript
00:00Let's have a discussion about two Manchester City players.
00:05Oscar Bob, let's start with him.
00:07He's had a fantastic breakthrough season, being more involved in the first team.
00:13We saw that similarly with Cole Palmer a couple of seasons ago.
00:17Then he ended up leaving the club and he's had a fantastic season goals-wise
00:22and getting involved with that at Chelsea.
00:25Where does his future lie in a City shirt?
00:28How positive are you that he's going to continue to be involved in Pep Guardiola's plans?
00:35Yeah, very confident.
00:37I wrote about this this morning on the Manchester World website.
00:43I think he's going to stay at City next season.
00:46I don't think Pep Guardiola and the City hierarchy have any plans to move him on.
00:51Certainly on loan, because at his age he's 20, he is on the fringes of the squad.
00:55Some people would maybe think, well, let him go on loans and plan opportunities.
00:59But Guardiola, he's not really a fan of that.
01:02He's done that with Foden, the famous one, but never did it with Rico Lewis,
01:06never did it with Cole Palmer.
01:09For instance, last summer he said Palmer either leaves permanently or he stays.
01:13So I think that's Guardiola's thinking.
01:15He likes to have these players in and around this first-team squad
01:18and this dynamic and this environment.
01:21The way Phil Foden's performing now, Guardiola ultimately feels like he's improved in that regard.
01:26But I don't think he's going to be leaving anywhere, as I say, on loan.
01:29I think in terms of permanent transfers, obviously they did cash in on Cole Palmer.
01:33But I think that was as much because Pep didn't want Palmer to leave.
01:37Palmer wanted himself to leave. He really backed himself.
01:39I think Bob maybe has a tiny little bit more patience
01:43and will be willing to bide his time just a little bit more.
01:47So I don't think he will be leaving. I don't think City plan to cash in on him either.
01:51They've obviously sold a lot of youth team players over the last couple of years.
01:54The likes of Lavia, James Trafford, players like that.
01:59Obviously Palmer as well.
02:01I don't think there's any plans in terms of that.
02:03Obviously he's got huge PSR advantages, doesn't it, selling your youth team graduates.
02:07But I think he'll be there next season.
02:09He is very well thought of at City, very well thought of by Pep Guardiola.
02:12As I say, no plans at the moment for him to be anywhere else next season.
02:16Another player, Josco Garvidal, obviously came in,
02:20massive task coming into a team that's just won the treble, won it all.
02:25And as we spoke about it before, how do you sort of improve from that?
02:30But he came in and faced a tough task and maybe didn't quite get going straight away.
02:34Had quite some critics in the first couple of months at City.
02:38And now he's looking like a much refined player in this side.
02:43How do you sort of summarise his season and where he's sort of gone?
02:48Because he's starting to look worthy of that sort of £70-75 million they paid for him.
02:54Yeah, I mean, he was the world's second most expensive defender.
02:58Well, he still is the world's second most expensive defender behind Harry Maguire
03:03when he joined City in the summer, Guardiola.
03:05So, I mean, I think you're right. I think he's got a slow start.
03:08I mean, someone once described him to me in the first couple of weeks as
03:10he's a five or six out of ten every week.
03:12He doesn't really make any big mistakes and he doesn't really do anything particularly spectacular.
03:16But, I mean, Pep Guardiola being Pep Guardiola,
03:19he's the world's second most expensive centre-back and then turns him into a left-back.
03:23And the way he's been playing recently, he's always been playing left-wing.
03:25And he's popped up with a couple of goals as well recently.
03:28He hasn't scored before at all in this and I scored three.
03:31So, he's doing really well on that front.
03:32And I actually think that's the thing that's impressed me about him.
03:34I think defensively, he's really solid. Gives very little away at the back.
03:37I mean, he's a really experienced defender.
03:39He's played in the Champions League, played in major competitions for Croatia as well.
03:44But he's added that offensive side as well, I think, under Guardiola.
03:47And, I mean, I was joking about him playing left-wing,
03:49but he was very, very attacking left-back against Forrest, for instance,
03:53against Brighton as well, even against Madrid a couple of weeks ago when he got that goal.
03:57So, I'm really impressed with him in that regard.
03:59And I think he's developed.
04:00I mean, I think Guardiola praised him recently and said that he's getting it a bit more.
04:03And it's very difficult, as we know, for these players coming in.
04:06That first season with Pep Guardiola, it's a challenge.
04:09And so many players wonder if Jack Reilly spoke about it.
04:11I remember speaking to Calvin Phillips about it last summer.
04:13Obviously, that didn't really work out for him in the second season.
04:15But Guardiola's come in and, OK, not immediately taken to it,
04:20but by the end of his first season, he's absolutely flying.
04:23He's a really important player in this team and offers something different
04:26because, you know, I think that they've got a couple of different full-backs.
04:30I think, you know, they've got Ake who can push inside.
04:32I think Kyle Walker's kind of similar, but he's obviously a bit faster.
04:35He's sweeped up in behind and does have a bit more going forward.
04:37And then they've got Rico Loos who likes to push into midfield.
04:40Kanji can kind of do that as well.
04:42But I think Guardiola just offers something different.
04:44And he's fast. He's dynamic. He's a really good tackler.
04:48He's quick on the ball.
04:49And as I say, I think he's had a really impressive first season at City.
04:53And I think next season we'll really start to see even more of those superb performances.

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