Leon Bailey has claimed that Manchester City used to have a player that he rated very highly.
Being 26 years old, the Aston Villa winger must have witnessed City’s rise as a footballing giant growing up.
For instance, a player like Samir Nasri would have perhaps caught Leon Bailey’s eye.
In addition, a player with as much flair as Bailey has would have enjoyed tuning into the Sky Blues, who had plenty of silky stars.
The Frenchman was always renowned for being technically gifted since his time at Marseille.
But at City, the former Arsenal attacker, who often played out wide showcased his immaculate technique while winning major trophies.
Similarly, David Silva, who is known as a midfielder would often play as a winger; another player quite different to Leon Bailey.
Leon Bailey says player Man City sold in 2013 was a “baller”
The Jamaican international is known to be quite direct and is blessed with quick feet, speed and bags of skill; in some ways, one could say that he is an old-school winger.
However, the way Silva manipulated the ball on the wing and took up smart pockets out wide and centrally would perhaps be an education for any young winger to witness.
Years later, the likes of Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane would have inspired Leon Bailey.
The pair were much more similar in their playing styles to Bailey.
However, the player he mentioned did not play in the same position.
However, any and everyone would admit that he was a joy to watch.
That is Carlos Tevez, who Leon Bailey praised in a video on the Premier League’s official YouTube channel, saying, “[Carlos] Tevez, yes, he was a baller.”
In the video, the former Bayer Leverkusen wideman was tasked with guessing the players in every season in the league to have won the Golden Boot.
When Leon Bailey was quizzed about which player won the award in the 2010/2011 season, he named Sergio Aguero and eventually praised Carlos Tevez when he found out the answer was him, who was the joint top goalscorer alongside Dimitar Berbatov.
Carlos Tevez was silky
Unsurprisingly, Leon Bailey is an admirer of Carlos Tevez.
While Bailey is not as much of a workhorse as Tevez was, perhaps the reason why he enjoyed watching him is due to his sublime technique as that part of his game is often highlighted nowadays.
Especially considering several strikers tend not to be the best in possession, watching the former West Ham number nine just beat players for fun and wriggle out of tight areas was a delight.
Tevez is also often remembered for his tenacity on the pitch but it would be blasphemous not to equally praise how technically gifted he was, which was another reason why he terrorized defenders.
Manchester City truly had a special player in their former captain.
