Ahead of their crunch clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday Manchester City have been linked with much needed defensive reinforcements.
British media outlet, The Daily Star reports:
MANCHESTER CITY and Valencia will discuss an exchange deal involving Jose Luis Gaya and Eliaquim Mangala in the summer.
Manchester City signed Mangala for a huge fee of £31.8m in the summer of 2014 and he looked like the perfect physical specimen for the rigours of the Premier League. But he never quite got to grips with the English game and was anything but a safe pair of hands at the club.
But he has been decent since he was loaned to Valencia in the summer and could be an excellent bargaining chip if Manchester City do fancy Gaya.
The 21-year-old left back has played 11 times (1 goal) for the Spain U21 side and looks like exactly the sort of buccaneering wide man who would appeal to Pep Guardiola’s attacking instincts.
He made his breakthrough for Valencia at the back end of the 2012/13 season and made slow progress initially with only 4 appearances in 2013/14. But over the last two seasons he’s played 33 and 37 games respectively and become a stalwart of the Valencia defence.
He has maturity beyond his years and will surely be a Spain regular in future. But he also possesses the fearlessness of youth and loves to get forward – Gaya has excellent end product with a lovely whipped cross.
Manchester City fans – is this the answer to the problem left back spot or would a player with more experience be a better solution?