Breaking down Pep Guardiola's £425 million defence at Manchester City

Image Credits: Manchester City
Image Credits: Manchester City

Joao Cancelo (£60m)

Image Credits: Manchester City
Image Credits: Manchester City

Joao Cancelo came from Turin as the most expensive right-back ever but has had a disappointing start to life at the Etihad. Cancelo signed a bumper six-year contract that saw City paying £27.4 million-plus Danilo as a makeweight in the deal. The Portuguese international struggled in his debut campaign and has offered little threat to 29-year-old Kyle Walker's starting berth. He clocked a mere 600 minutes in his disastrous first season.

He was supposed to be the perfect modern-day full-back when City availed his services, but has been a shadow of his former self at Juventus as he failed to deliver offensively and defensively. He's been surplus to requirements lately.

Yan Couto (£5.4m)

Image Credits: Girona
Image Credits: Girona

Brazilian teenager Yan Couto signed for Manchester City in March, after heavily being linked to Barcelona. The Coritiba youth product was an undisputed starter at right-back for the U-17 World Cup-winning Brazil team. One of the most outstanding talents of his age-group, the starlet will ply his trade at Spanish Segunda Division club Girona after agreeing on a season-long loan.

Nathan Ake (£41m)

Image Credits: Manchester City
Image Credits: Manchester City

Pep Guardiola snapping up Nathan Ake from a relegated Bournemouth side for £41 million, amid an incredibly inflated market, raised plenty of eyebrows. The 25-year-old Dutchman has been a regular fixture in English football since his move to Chelsea from Feyenoord in 2011.

Ake's failure to convince Antonio Conte resulted in him moving to 'The Cherries', where he became indispensable. Predominantly a centre-back, he has also been deployed as left-back and as holding midfielder, thus fitting into plenty of systems.

Ake is a solid addition and offers admirable versatility to an ailing backline.

Ruben Dias (£65m)

Image Credits: Manchester City
Image Credits: Manchester City

City have lavished £64m on Benfica Center-half Ruben Dias to take their defensive summer reinforcements above the £100 million mark. The deal also saw old horse Nicolas Otamendi moving in the other direction for £18 million. He is a vocal and pro-active defender with a willingness to push up into the midfield when needed.

The Portuguese defender is expected to seamlessly slot into Guardiola's system and ease their defensive issues by being a stable partner for Laporte.

He is the leader Manchester City have been lacking since Vincent Kompany.

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Edited by Deepit Magee
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