£32 Million Fee for Eliaquim Mangala Will Prove to Be Good Value for Man City

The £32 million Manchester City spent on 23-year-old Eliaquim Mangala this summer saw many eyebrows raised. It’s a huge sum of money to spend on a defender, particularly one whose experience has largely been gained in Portugal’s Primeira Liga; hardly one of Europe’s most difficult leagues.

After much deliberation and a failed January bid, Mangala was viewed by the City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, and the club’s Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, as a player worthy of the huge investment, yet others remained unconvinced.

His inactivity in France’s World Cup squad, where he was behind the likes of Liverpool’s Mamadou Sakho, Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny and Real Madrid youngster Raphael Varane, led to questions about his credentials. For £32 million surely you’d expect a defender capable of keeping Sakho out of the international picture?

After all, the Premier League is an unforgiving league, where time on the ball is of the essence and mistakes are punished with ruthless efficiency. Defenders have to be accomplished or else risk being undone. Could Mangala, a player with little experience when compared to others who could have been brought in for less money, prove to be a misguided acquisition?


Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2299364-32-million-fee-for-eliaquim-mangala-will-prove-to-be-good-value-for-man-city