When it was apparent the Chilean would be leaving Malaga this summer I was sure he was destined for another crack at one of the Super Clubs of European football.
The good job he did when at Malaga did not go unnoticed.
His achievements include;
-Only narrowly losing to eventual champions league finalists Dortmund in extra-time.
-Getting the best out of his group of players at the top level under what can only be described as crazy financial constraints by Al- Thani the Malaga owner.
-Achieving both a top 4 and 6 finish whilst having to sell Santa Cazorla and Solomon Rondon and the like.
-Pellegrini also got the best out of Isco who has recently moved to Real Madrid.
-His teams play an attractive and expansive style of play.
-A 2nd place finish and champions league semi-final with lowly Villarreal.
-A season at Real Madrid where he amassed a record number of points for a 2nd place finish.
This list of achievements is quite something.
Pellegrini & City
First he was linked to the vacancy at Chelsea and to be honest it would have been a forward step by Abramovich to bring him in, someone who would play the brand of football the Russian has wanted since taking charge. Instead Abramovich went for the fans’ choice re-appointing Mourinho. That allowed Txiki Begiristain and co to swoop in and make him the new coach at The Eittihad Stadium.
Pellegrini will be moving into a new environment and its important to bear in mind he’s only every managed in La Liga when it comes to European club football. I’m sure that his good grasp of the English language and the Latin contingent already at City will be a massive boost to him as he will go about trying to make City top dog in England again, and make a reasonable impact in the Champions League unlike ex-boss Mancini.
Unlike Mancini- Pellegrini is a thoughtful measured type of guy. He would have most probably handled the chaos of the Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli incidents very differently. Mancini had clearly lost the dressing room by the end of last season, especially after the embarrassing FA Cup final defeat to Wigan. Pellegrini in contrast will get the big players on his side to work for himself and the good of the team – just like he did with Riquelme and Forlan at Villarreal.
Jesus Navas one of 4 summer signings made by City
On top of that Pellegrini and those above him have spent serious money and most importantly spent it wisely. The team lacked serious width last season so he solved that problem and outlaid £17.6m for Jesus Navas from Sevilla who will give them that natural width and directness and the pace to be able to hit sides on the counter-attack.
Fernandinho joined from Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk for £35m to give that extra dynamism in the midfield alongside Yaya Toure which is often lacking when Gareth Barry or Javi Garcia are next to the big Ivorian.
Two footed player long-time Juventus and Arsenal target Stevan Jovetic joined from Fiorentina and Spanish hitman Alvaro Negredo from Sevilla joined for around £26m each. Both will add to the squad in particular Jovetic who will be a massive upgrade on Nasri and Milner and is just the type of small technical player Pellegrini likes. They have all looked very comfortable with each other during pre-season and this is without Sergio Aguero being added to the mix. It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how he fits all these new attacking players into his favoured 4-2-3-1 system. I doubt the spending will be finished yet as he may look to add another central defender and left-back to his squad.
Kompany could be on trophy-lifting duty again come may
That being said many pundits have made Chelsea favourites for the title but for me City by far have improved more than any other side from last season a top class manager with top class signings, and planned ones not just the scatter-gun approach makes me think the Title will be hoisted high by Vincent Kompany in May.
