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Man City could return for £22.8m-rated 5ft 6in player in January – opinion

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Manchester City need a left-back. Benjamin Mendy has struggled for form, fitness and playing time since joining from AS Monaco in 2017 and Oleksandr Zinchenko has never managed to nail down a starting place since joining from Ufa in 2016.

We tried to sign Ajax defender Nicolas Tagliafico before the transfer window closed but failed to agree a deal in time and will now have to wait until January to return for him. The Athletic predict we’ll make another attempt for the 28-year-old in 2021, which is a smart move as he’ll improve our squad.

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Tagliafico joined Ajax from Independiente in 2018 and has gone on to make 102 appearances in all competitions, scoring 12 goals with 15 assists.

Last season, the 5ft 6in Argentine international scored three goals, made four assists, created 24 chances, completed 85.9% of his 1262 passes, won 47/85 aerial duels (55%), made 10/14 successful dribbles, blocked 18 shots/passes, made 50 clearances, won 44 free-kicks and averaged a tackle (61) or interception (40) every 20 minutes in 24 Eredivisie games, so he’d be a great asset for us.

Ajax only paid £3.6m (€3.95m) for Tagliafico, but his market value with Transfermarkt has risen to £25.2m (€27.4m). Ajax are requesting €25m (£22.8m) for the left-back which is more than affordable.

In other news, Joel Latibeaudiere could be on his way out of Manchester City amid interest from Norwich City and Reading

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.