Mark Schwarzer believes Manchester City have a defender who could play as a number 10 if he wished to.
As technically gifted as Manchester City’s crop of defenders are, playing as an attacking midfielder is a different ball game.
John Stones has previously occupied such areas of the pitch and looked comfortable, despite not being exclusively deployed as a number 10.
Mark Schwarzer says Man City defender can play as a number 10
The attacking midfield position has been reserved for some of the most technically gifted and creative players in history.
The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Lionel Messi and Kaka have been associated with being some of the very best in the role over the past two decades.
However, not every attacking midfielder has to be as brilliant to be able to play in the role adeptly.
Yet, Mark Schwarzer claimed on The Optus Sport Football Podcast that Josko Gvardiol could play behind the striker.
The pundit praised the £200,000-a-week centre-back: “Josko Gvardiol is again one of those players they [Croatia] have produced who is sensational. He plays at centre-half, I think that his best position but he can also play on the left, he can play as a wing-back, he can play as a winger or a number 10 if he wanted to I think.”
Speaks volumes of how Gvardiol is viewed
In our view, while Josko Gvardiol can invert into midfield, whether he can do a job as a number 10 is doubtful but the claim from Mark Schwarzer is telling of how he is perceived.
It seems like Gvardiol is viewed as an extremely technically and tactically accomplished defender.
After all, even the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Thiago Silva over the years have not been tipped to be able to play as creators — despite the pair arguably being two of their generation’s best ball-playing centre-backs.
However, Gvardiol is being tipped to be able to do so at just 22 years of age.
The Croatian international has seemingly made a huge impression on fans and pundits alike after his impressive debut season in a Manchester City shirt.