Manchester City’s new striker Alvaro Negredo certainly knows where the net is
Manchester City fans may have been slightly nervous when striker Carlos Tevez bade arrivederci to the club and headed off to Italian champions Juventus.
The Argentinians departure left the club with just two recognised senior strikers in Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko.
Top scorer
Tevez was City’s top scorer in all competitions with 17 goals last season, while Dzeko was City’s top Premier League goal scorer with just 11, even though he was not considered a first choice starter for much of the season.
Those figures are not exactly great for a club attempting to retain their Premier League crown.
New arrivals
City have sign Alvaro Negredo from Sevilla for £20million and according to Fiorentina the Citizens have agreed a deal to sign Montenegrin star Stevan Jovetic, for a fee believed to be in the region of £25million. Both players’ arrivals should increase the amounts of goals scored by City.
Contrasting
The pair have contrasting styles that should complement each other. Negredo is an old-fashioned English centre-forward. He is a player that is strong and is good in the air and more importantly, he scores goals.
The striker’s goalscoring record at Sevilla in recent seasons has been outstanding. Last season he was the top scoring Spaniard in La Liga with 25 goals in 32 appearances, and 31 in all competitions in just 42 appearances.
The 27-year-old has a record of a goal every other game for the club from Andalucia, with 70 goals in 139 appearances. That is no easy feat in one of Europe’s top leagues, if not Europe’s top league. Negredo is a goal poacher and will give City an extra attacking dimension next season.
Jovetic is a completely different sort of player. He is much less of a physically player than Negredo, but a more technically gifted player than the Spaniard. His main assets are his vision and his technical ability. The 23-year-old is also quite versatile.
He can play as a striker, in the hole behind the striker or as a winger. This versatility could prove vital to City next season if they want to challenge for the big trophies. Although Jovetic is described as a forward, the Montenegrin international creates as many chances as he scores, 27 goals in 58 appearances in the last two seasons for the Viola is not shabby at all though.
Jovetic will create goals for others and chip in with the odd goal. For City he will most likely be playing as an attacking midfielder, which may raise the question of how is Manuel Pellegrini going to fit all these attacking midfielders into one team?
That is a question to be answered later on in the summer. The signings of Jovetic and Negredo seem like clever ones on the part of City boss Manuel Pellegrini though that is for sure.
Unfortunate
This summer Manchester City have brought in the sorts of players that they probably should have brought in last summer. Unfortunately, for last season’s boss Roberto Mancini he had to bring in less high-profile players such as Scott Sinclair and Javi Garcia.
If Mancini had been allowed to spend the same amount of money that City have this summer, nearly £100million, then maybe last season would have been a far different story.
Options
The signings of Negredo and Jovetic will give Pellegrini far more attacking options. There was no way that City were going to kick the season off with just Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko as their only striking options.
There have been question marks over the future of Edin Dzeko in the past and the signings may raise speculation about the big Bosnians future once again. However, at the moment City have four very good attacking players.
Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero did not enjoy a great campaign last season, as injury interrupted his season majorly. An injury picked up in the first game of the season played a big part in his season.
The new season should see the striker return with a renewed hunger for success, after spending much of last season frustrated. The presence of Jovetic and Negredo at Eastlands should aid the Argentinian in the new season.
The pair will create chances for Aguero, while the competition for places should also spare the striker on. I hazard a guess that we are likely to see a far different Aguero next season.
Closer
The signings that City have made this summer should see them move closer to arch-rivals Manchester United next season. However, United have not yet conducted any business in the transfer market yet, but are expected to in the next few weeks.
The City squad that starts next season should be far stronger than the one that started last season. The signings of Negredo and Jovetic are definitely more exciting than last summers. I think this summer’s signing say it all about City’s determination and ambition for the new season.
Could City’s new signings be enough for them to win the Premier League?
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