It has been a busy few months at Manchester City this summer. The club have sold a number of players including Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Raheem Sterling, while they have brought in the likes of Erling Haaland, Stefan Ortega and Kalvin Phillips.
The reigning Premier League champions had a great start to the season with a 2-0 victory at West Ham United last weekend but manager Pep Guardiola is still looking to add to his squad, with the club closing in on their fourth signing of the window - and it is an area that needed addressing.
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Following Zinchenko’s departure, City were left without a natural left-footed full-back, with Portuguese right-back Joao Cancelo occupying the position currently. Guardiola was in for Marc Cucurella earlier in the window but eventually pulled out as the club were unwilling to meet Brighton & Hove Albion’s price tag for the Spaniard and he subsequently joined Chelsea for £62 million.
City were forced to look elsewhere and have turned their attention to the largely unheralded Jupiler Pro League in Belgium. There they have uncovered Anderlecht’s Spanish defender Sergio Gomez, and they feel that he is the perfect long-term investment to become their permanent left-back in years to come.
Sergio has good chances to be part of City team - otherwise, he will be loaned out to La Liga side Girona.
The 21-year-old is set to join City after an £11 million deal was struck between the two sides and there have already been murmurs that he could join one of the City Football Group’s other clubs on loan for the season, with Girona a possible destination. One thing that is particularly interesting about this move for the Anderlecht youngster is the fact that City icon Vincent Kompany was recently manager there before joining Burnley in the summer. At the very least, it is likely City will have sought Kompany's opinion on Gomez's ability.
Before moving to Anderlecht last summer, Gomez was part of Barcelona’s academy from 2010 to 18. From there he went to Borussia Dortmund, where he was only able to make three first-team appearances while spending two seasons on loan with Spanish club Huesca. He was also part of the Spain side that won the Under-17 Euros in 2017.
Gomez will be a player whom Premier League fans will not know too much about and they will be interested in what qualities he possesses to persuade one of the biggest clubs in the world to sign him. For starters, in 39 games in 2021-22, Gomez scored six goals and provided 11 assists - the kind of impact in the final third that Guardiola desires in his wide defenders. Passing and pressing are also part of his repertoire, which is why Guardiola sees him as a long-term asset for City.
With the defender having years ahead of him in his playing career, he is a sensible investment for City and even if he doesn’t feature in the squad straight away, City fans will know they will get to see him line up for them at some point and it is one that could prove to be worth the wait. Fans in these parts are big admirers of the name Sergio, thanks to a certain Argentine striker who is written into club legend there. So the supporters are sure to give their next acquisition a very warm welcome.
