Why Ruben Dias transfer could mean ‘the end’ of Pep Guardiola at Man City as Jamie Carragher reveals ‘huge bli

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Manchester City’s spending on defenders under Pep Guardiola’s management is about to surpass the £400million mark with Ruben Dias expected to complete his move imminently. The highly-rated Benfica centre-back is set to arrive for £62million but with that large fee comes huge pressure to perform well. Getty Images – Getty Dias is seen as a long-term replacement for Vincent Kompany, who left Man City last year Getty Images – Getty Is the Dias deal Guardiola’s final roll of the dice to be title contenders this season? City’s 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Leicester last weekend firmly suggests they’re in need of a defensive reinforcements. And Jamie Carragher believes the Dias transfer must work, however, the Sky Sports pundit pointed out that Guardiola’s history of signing defenders doesn’t look good. “This is a transfer that has to work for Man City,” Carragher said. “The worry is that Pep’s history of buying centre-backs, even going back to his Barcelona days, it’s not great. “The big worry for me would be has Pep got a huge blind spot with centre-backs? Or playing as a centre-back for Guardiola – does he ask too much of you?” 🗣️ “If this signing doesn’t work I can’t see Man City winning the league…”@Carra23 analyses Pep Guardiola’s huge spend on central defenders in his managerial career and why this could be the start of the end 📺 Watch MNF now on Sky Sports PL pic.twitter.com/RDiplN2Msg — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 28, 2020 So just how bad is Guardiola when it comes to signing defenders? Well, Carragher went through which centre-backs he inherited and who he signed when in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City. A couple of good signings in there, including Gerard Pique and Aymeric Laporte, but generally Guardiola’s centre-back searches have not worked out well. And Carragher reiterated his point that the Dias acquisition must work well or Guardiola’s time at City could come to a premature end even though he’s in the final year of his contract. Pep’s blind spot Barcelona – Inherited: Carles Puyol, Rafael Marquez Signed: Gerard Pique (£5m), Martin Caceres (£13m), Dmitriy Chygrynskiy (£22m) Bayern Munich – Inherited: Jerome Boateng, Dante Signed: Medhi Benatia (£21m) Manchester City – Inherited: Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi Signed: John Stones (£50m), Aymeric Laporte (£57m), Nathan Ake (£41m) Carragher added: “These are all big money. They’re not small signings that you’re trying to improve coaching wise, you’re buying the ready made deal. “I look at Dias coming in and there’s a lot at stake. I think if he’s not a huge success, I don’t think Manchester City can win the league. “I don’t see Guardiola staying at City next season, certainly if they don’t win the league. If they win the league then he might sign a new contract. “That is the big fear for me for Manchester City also, this Pep project. This is the guy replacing Kompany. But if this doesn’t work I think it’s possibly the end of the Pep project.”,
TalkSport

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