Anton Ferdinand is confident that if Manchester City sign a certain player in the summer, he will certainly “improve” their team.
In March, it was claimed that City were targeting a move for Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.
The report also claimed that Pep Guardiola is privately believed to hold the Brazilian international in high regard.
Furthermore, Eddie Howe’s side are said to be open to hearing offers for the former Lyon technician, provided the suitor in question is happy to pay a staggering £100 million towards his release clause.
Come the summer, City’s genuine transfer targets, as is the case with every club will come to light.
Guimaraes is one of those players who would certainly fit the bill for the Sky Blues, considering how accomplished a midfielder he is.
Anton Ferdinand says if City sign 26-year-old player, he will “improve” them
However, clubs of Manchester City’s stature in the game likely have a list of players who are they keeping a close eye on.
In the summer, the treble-winners will be expected to pounce at the chance of signing them to bolster their team and attain glory once again.
A problem City might have, which is both positive and negative is the existence of two brilliant attacking midfielders, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden.
While the pair can play together, with Foden often shifted to the wing, the question is whether they can form a partnership in midfield, like that of De Bruyne and David Silva’s.
So far, Pep Guardiola has been unwilling to give them a real go as a pairing in the middle of the park and unsurprisingly so, as it would be far too gung-ho an approach and potentially impact them defensively.
Enter Paqueta.
Former West Ham United defender and lifelong fan Anton Ferdinand has stated that if Manchester City were to sign Lucas Paqueta, he would elevate them as a team.
“He could go to any of the top four in the Premier League and improve their team by the way, let’s have it right. He’d be a massive, massive loss for us as a football club. We always have a maverick and he right now is our maverick”, he said on FIVE’s official YouTube channel.
It was reported in April that Paqueta’s agents expect him to sign for City in the summer.
Paqueta would help the treble-winners right their transfer wrongs
In our view, Anton Ferdinand is spot on about Lucas Paqueta and perhaps joining a “Big Six” club like Manchester City would cement his reputation as a world-class player.
If City do manage to sign Paqueta, he would also help them to right their wrongs in the transfer market during the summer of 2023.
Especially in terms of their recruitment in midfield.
Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes have several redeeming traits but in our view, their ceilings are quite limited as players.
Both are phenomenal carriers of the ball and Kovacic also offers a degree of control but barring that, both in the final third and in defensive situations, the Croatian and Nunes have plenty of work to do.
It is easy to simply say that Guardiola will improve the pair.
But sometimes, even if the Catalan does, whether they can turn into elite midfielders is a doubt.
The same cannot be said for Lucas Paqueta, who is a “maverick” as Anton Ferdinand said and his base level of quality is sky-high, which would make it relatively easy for Pep Guardiola to transform him into an unstoppable force in a Manchester City shirt.
Signing Paqueta in the summer would help City rectify their potential mistakes in the transfer window of bringing Kovacic and Nunes in.