With Manchester City having a fairly good squad to put it lightly; the necessity to sign players isn't always there. However, with Kyle Walker 33 years of age now and being heavily reliant on his pace, City may need to dip into the market very soon. Adam Monk takes a look at Jeremie Frimpong, and why he'd be perfect for Pep's side.
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00:00Now, the player in question that is currently at Manchester City who I think will probably
00:11be leaving next out of that core of Pep Guardiola's team that he's assembled over the years is
00:15probably going to be Kyle Walker because of his age, number one, he's 33 years old now,
00:21and also he's the current captain of the club which is actually a signifier that he's going
00:24to be the next one to leave if you look at the history books.
00:27So the way that Pep Guardiola is assigned to play with captaincy in the City team is
00:30they actually have a hierarchy of five captains and they usually rank number one, the primary
00:35captain, will be the most senior player in the squad.
00:38So last season it was Gundogan, the season before that it was Fernandinho and so on and
00:42so forth and Kyle Walker now is the longest serving player in the team and the oldest,
00:46hand in hand, he's been here as long as Stones and Edison, but he's the oldest player of
00:50that cohort, therefore he is now the designated captain.
00:54Now of course, don't get me wrong, if you're good enough to play then you're good enough
00:57to stay, that is absolutely true, but with Kyle Walker's age and his main attribute being
01:01his pace, he is going to lose that at some point naturally and the fact he's 33 and still
01:06as quick as he is, is mightily, mightily impressive, but you feel at some point in the near future,
01:11one or two years, it is going to catch up on him.
01:14Now you can see here from this heat map, and rather surprisingly really to me, that Kyle
01:17Walker's played 20 games this season and of course up and down the pitch there based on
01:21that heat map and he plays an average of 89 minutes per game, so he doesn't really
01:24get substituted either.
01:26This is kind of a shock because he actually wasn't one of the core members of that treble
01:30running team from last season, it used to be John Stones, Manuela Kanji, Ruben Diaz and
01:36Nathan Ake and Walker was actually a bit part player from March up to May when City won
01:41the treble.
01:42And what he was mainly deployed as last season and what I thought he'd be deployed as this
01:45season a bit more anyway, is a bit of a special ops agent to deal with the best left wingers
01:51in the world.
01:52So the Vinicius Juniors, the Kylian Mbappes, those kind of players, they are who he thrives
01:56against as opposed to breaking down a deep block like a Sheffield United or a Luton.
02:01And you can see here from playing so many games early on this season that aren't against
02:05the likes of Vinicius Junior and Mbappe of course because of where we are in the calendar
02:09year, his passing stats are very, very underwhelming and even though he's got 90% pass completion
02:15per game, that is actually the worst in the Manchester City team, meaning, and I know
02:20it from watching him for so long, he is the least technically gifted player in that team
02:24so when he loses his place I feel he's going to become very redundant very, very quickly.
02:29This means, surprise, surprise, I think he is likely to leave probably in the summer
02:34at the end of this season.
02:36So what does City do to address that situation you ask?
02:39Well fear not because something called the City Football Group exists and if you haven't
02:43been keeping tabs on La Liga, Girona are hovering about the top, first or second with Real Madrid
02:48at the moment and they are currently owned, well they are owned, by City Football Group,
02:52the same owners as Manchester City.
02:54And what City have been doing on the sly for a few years now is loaning a lot of their
03:00prized youth assets over to Girona and other CFG clubs to let them blossom into top level
03:05footballers and one of those at the moment happens to be, what seems to be, a top level
03:10right back and his name is Jan Couto and his loan expires at the end of this season and
03:15then he will be back at Manchester City.
03:17And according to numerous reports, okay I know the one I've quoted here is from the
03:21Daily Star, take that with a pinch of salt, but other sources have said it as well, trust
03:24me, that Pep is apparently going to welcome Jan Couto into the first team squad next season
03:29and negotiate an improved long term deal with the right back, meaning that he is quite potentially
03:33here to stay and here's why.
03:35If we go back to Kyle Walker's heat map this season here and then compare it to Jan Couto's
03:39heat map here this season, they clearly operate in very, very similar areas and also play
03:44a very similar style of play with the CFG wanting to play this sort of Pep Guardiola
03:48brand throughout all of their sister clubs.
03:50And then statistically going forward, something that Kyle Walker really lacks, Jan Couto is
03:54actually right up there in Europe for assists per 90 this season and only Alex Grimaldo
03:59from Bayer Leverkusen is beating him who has been in red hot form.
04:03Six assists this season as opposed to Kyle Walker's two is a massive improvement and
04:07all of the passing stats really are massively, massively improved, apart from accurate passes
04:11per game.
04:12But that is because he's not playing with Rodri and John Stones and Ruben Diaz and Kevin
04:15De Bruyne.
04:16I really do feel like he will be part of Manchester City's squad next season and will really develop
04:21and blossom into a first team player over time.
04:24But if Kyle Walker leaves, someone needs to come in and fill that void instantly.
04:29Now I have two names in mind.
04:31One is more realistic than the other and I'm going to explain now.
04:34So we'll start with the realistic one.
04:36His name is Jeremy Frimpong.
04:37You might have heard of him, Bayer Leverkusen, top of the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso.
04:41He's there right back right now.
04:42He was actually part of Manchester City's academy a few years ago and then went on to
04:46Bayer Leverkusen and became this player that we now know him to be.
04:49And in terms of an availability reason and the reason I've ranked him first to be signed
04:53by Man City, Xabi Alonso is probably going to leave Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the
04:58season, meaning there might be a little bit of a clear out, especially with the younger
05:01crop of players being sought after with how well Bayer Leverkusen are playing.
05:05A lot of teams will be sniffing around, meaning that Bayer Leverkusen will probably sell and
05:09I'm sure City will be able to sniff around in the transfer market and get Jeremy Frimpong
05:13should Alonso leave, which he's going to leave and he's going to leave.
05:17He's got 12 goals and assists this season, which is mightily, mightily impressive.
05:20But again, if you look at his heat map this season here, he's almost operating there as
05:24a fully fledged winger and Grimaldo is as well on the other flank.
05:27It's the way that Alonso has played football this season, playing with that back fibre
05:30then pushing the full back so far up the pitch that they are operating as wingers in possession.
05:34A bit like how Unai Emery's done at Aston Villa with Kasch and Dinha and Konza sometimes
05:39So how does he stack up when compared to other players in Europe?
05:42Well, for progressive passes per 90, he's only second to Lucas Vazquez,
05:46who's playing in a phenomenal Real Madrid team.
05:48He's top in Europe for touches in the attacking penalty area from the right wing back position.
05:53And he's also up there as well for progressive carries per 90 behind Leonardo Spinazzola,
05:57you remember him from Euro 2020.
06:00But he's right up there in terms of that as well.
06:01So in a nutshell, he is really, really good at going forward.
06:05It's also worth noting as well, just to go back to Kyle Walker's recovery pace,
06:09which would of course be losing if Kyle Walker left,
06:12that Jeremy Frimpong does have that in abundance.
06:15Don't need to go into too much detail on the fact that Jeremy Frimpong is quick,
06:18but he is and he also has that recovery pace.
06:20So we wouldn't be losing that if we signed Frimpong in the place of Walker.
06:25Interestingly as well, I actually compared and contrasted him to Joao Cancelo in particular,
06:29who was of course at Manchester City.
06:30Well, he still is technically, but he will never play again.
06:33But he was a very attack-minded fullback and Manchester City,
06:36with the solid defenders, managed to vacate for Cancelo
06:38and allow him the license to play the way he wanted to.
06:41If you compare here, he actually stacks up and beats him in a lot of these departments as well,
06:45meaning that Jeremy Frimpong in that Manchester City team may well be catered for.
06:50In the sense that City have got Guardiola, Diaz, Akanji, Ake, Stones,
06:54such solid defenders that they can almost give Frimpong license
06:57to get up and push to that right wing back position and suffocate opposition.
07:01Like pep teams of old really used to do, and of course they still do,
07:04but Walker doesn't really press with the attack is what I'm saying.
07:08And Frimpong may well be able to do that,
07:10given the solidity of the other Manchester City players in that team.
07:13So I personally would love to see Jeremy Frimpong at Manchester City,
07:16and I think he is attainable.
07:18The other player I'd love to see at Manchester City
07:20that I don't think is as attainable is Pedro Porro.
07:24And that is because of this man, Mr. Daniel Levy himself.
07:27Yes, Mr. Hardball.
07:28Um, this is the clarity that everybody wanted.
07:33Even Manchester City.
07:34Both clubs can move on now.
07:36Harry Kane can move on.
07:37A bid never went in which was acceptable for Daniel Levy to ever consider.
07:42Look, when City signed Kyle Walker in 2017,
07:45I really think that that was the moment that I started to believe in the simulation theory.
07:49Because Daniel Levy just does not sell to Premier League rivals,
07:52especially when players are at the top of the game.
07:54But City managed to get him.
07:55Do I think history will repeat itself?
07:57Absolutely not.
07:58Because Pedro Porro is a prized asset of Tottenham Hotspur,
08:01and they are on the up with Ange.
08:03They also don't need the money as much as other Premier League teams as well,
08:05because they're turning over over 600 million a year in profits now,
08:08putting him in the top 10 earners in terms of football clubs in the world.
08:11So in terms of that, Levy has done an incredible job.
08:14So do I think he's attainable?
08:16No.
08:16And do you know what's bittersweet?
08:17He used to play for Manchester City as well,
08:19as did every other bloody left-back in Europe who's doing well right now.
08:22We just seem to flog them and keep Kyle Walker.
08:24But maybe we can get one of them back.
08:26I'm not so sure.
08:27But Pedro Porro would also be an incredible fit.
08:30So yeah, they would be my ideal dream, whatever you want to call it,
08:34sign-ins, because I think Kyle Walker will be phased out of City soon.
08:39Whereas the likes of De Bruyne, Bernardo, Rodri,
08:42they probably will stick around for longer,
08:43meaning we don't need to address those positions.
08:45Whereas Walker, yeah, that's going to be a gaping hole when he goes.
08:48So I think City should sign Jeremy Frimpong.
08:50Anyway, guys, let me know what you think.
08:53I doubt that you don't rate Frimpong or Porro.
08:55So yeah.
08:56But do you think Manchester City should sign a player elsewhere,
08:59in another position perhaps?
09:00Do you think there's somewhere else that needs addressing more immediately?
09:04Of course, guys, as well, do not forget to subscribe.
09:06I hope you have a lovely day or evening whenever you are watching this.
09:09I've been Adam Monk.
09:11Take care.
09:12I'll see you soon.
09:13Bye-bye.