Real Madrid target Brahim Diaz has tough choice to make at Manchester City

Chris Bailey 14:20 02/11/2018
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  • Brahim Diaz finally stretched his legs – as well as the back of the net – for Manchester City on Thursday night. By Sunday, though, it will only have put him in a fouler mood.

    Unless Pep Guardiola rewards him with a spot on the bench the 19-year-old will once again be in the Etihad Stadium’s stands, peering down on a pitch that will seem as far away as it has ever been.

    Guardiola gushed over the 19-year-old’s two-goal showing in his post-match press conference and claimed City will ‘do everything’ to keep him.

    Except play him, of course. He hadn’t appeared since the last round of the Carabao Cup against Oxford in September.

    With Real Madrid circling in preparation for the end of Diaz’s contract next summer, the pull of returning to Spain for the Malaga-born attacker must be strong.

    Should he head to Madrid or stick it out in Manchester? We examine the pros and cons below.

    CASE FOR MANCHESTER CITY

    Learning from the best

    FBL-ENG-LCUP-MAN CITY-FULHAM

    No club had more representatives than City in the quarter-finals of last summer’s World Cup – an astonishing 11. You’ll find a similar influence over the previous two editions while Guardiola was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

    Guardiola’s attention to detail is legendary, but so is his way of communicating his ideas. As Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary only confirmed, he is hardly some nerdy obsessive who struggled with his words.

    Players buy into his philosophy because he makes it all seem rather simple, even if the margin of error for his demands over movement and structure can boil down to mere milimetres on the pitch.

    Stay with City, and Diaz will have this all drummed into his mind. Perhaps restricted playing time for a season or two is a price worth paying. He’s still a teenager, after all.

    Stability

    Florentino-Perez-RonaldoWhereas City are a supremely well-run club, managed by the excellently well-run City Football Group, Real operate at the whims of a president who is ostensibly up for election every four years – but simply has power coursing through his fingertips.

    Florentino Perez has never had any issue with axing a manager, jettisoning a player (even Cristiano Ronaldo), lining up his next superstar, and Real have  just bundled boss Julen Lopetegui out of the door after four months in charge.

    Indeed, Perez reportedly reneged on a deal to install Antonio Conte after floating the idea to some of the senior egos in the dressing room.

    Is this an environment in which a naive 19-year-old will flourish? And will the next manager really mortgage their tenuous future on mere potential in Diaz?

    No guarantee of football

    It is hard to believe Diaz would get a huge uptick in playing time at the Bernabeu. While Diaz is versatile – comfortable across the line as an attacking midfielder – Isco, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric all remain and that’s without getting to the slightly older boy wonder Marco Asensio.

    Even Vinicius Jr, whom some would have you believe is the next big name in a famous lineage of Brazilian attackers, has dabbled here or there in the first-team. And that’s with Madrid sans-Ronaldo, and sans many goals. He would also be a competitor for playing time down the right.

    Perhaps, in City, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.

    CASE FOR REAL MADRID

    Route to first-team blocked

    … with that said, the first-team picture is murkier than a Manchester autumn at City. More so than Madrid.

    Diaz’s head must have dropped a few inches lower when Riyad Mahrez turned up in the north west, and with Raheem Sterling reportedly on the verge of signing a new contract, City are built for the long term with or without their precocious Spaniard.

    Phil Foden is best in a more central position than Diaz and there is a glint of hope, if and when a 32-year-old David Silva moves on, that he will be the successor. But even he will be getting itchy feet – and he’s a year younger than Brahim.

    What next? The quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, a third round run-out in the FA Cup?  Guardiola can teach him as much as he likes on the training pitch. What exactly is he training for?

    Success of Jadon Sancho

    Jadon Sancho’s brass-necked move, forcing his way out of City as a mere 17-year-old, now looks incredibly sensible in light of recent events.

    The England wunderkind has not so much tore up the Bundesliga as put it through a shredder, having scored four and assisted six in the league for Borussia Dortmund. He’s only started three times.

    Does Sancho have exponentially more talent than Diaz? Probably not. However, being in the right place at the right time is not just down to luck. A change of scenery, whether to Real or elsewhere, is better than desperately hoping you are named on the bench.

    1030 Jadon Sancho
    Pep Guardiola’s youth record

    Guardiola is a wonderful coach. But a wonderful drum-beater for young players? That has been incredibly over-played during his career.

    True, Guardiola was the man who gave Sergio Busquets his debut at Barcelona as well as Thiago, who subsequently followed him to Bayern Munich. He has also been a major influence in the progression of players such as David Alaba, Sterling and one Lionel Messi.

    Since coaxing other-worldly stuff out of the Blaugrana, though, Guardiola has spent a lot of money on players in the same manner that the likes of Jose Mourinho get castigated for (he does tend to get more out of them, of course).

    Trust in Pep, but he ain’t necessarily going to give you reps.

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