Richard Dickson sent Vital Manchester City the following:
When you think of the perfect centre back who do you think of? What attributes do they possess? What era did they play in?
Bobby Moore, John Terry, Tony Adams, Ronald Koeman, Fabio Cannavaro? Talk about the pace of modern and athletic nature of today’s game and you have to pose the question, ‘Would past defenders have coped with the pace of the modern game?’
Consider the attributes of these players, strength, passing ability, intelligence, bravery, leadership, and speed of thought, an ability to tackle cleanly and distribute the ball. Add to this a stable off the field life, charity work and clean living and I believe you have the recipe for the perfect Centre-back.
Bought in 2008 from SV Hamburg by Mark Hughes as a young but already a full Belgian international (vs France 2004), for by today’s standards a paltry £6m.
Vincent Kompany began his City career as a tough tackling, ball playing, and defensive midfielder. He quickly found his feet amid the frenetic pace of the premier league. A reliable tackler and great distributor who was level headed and fierce in the tackle.
Injuries led him to his favoured position of centre half, ousting club captain and fan hero Richard Dunne, where Vincent has rapidly become a world class centre half. A man of the match performance this year against Chelsea heralded the arrival of a new City hero. Calm on the ball with amazing positional sense, strength and a tackling ability to put fear into the hardest of centre forwards.
Off the field Vincent is quietly spoken, in a stable relationship with a Mancunian lass and is the father of Sienna, born this year. Vincent works hard for charity and is a registered FIFA ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages. He has worked for, and invested his own money in many projects which aim to provide education and safe living accommodation for children living in poverty.
Having ironed out the occasional lapses in concentration that marred his early outings in the centre of defence, I purport that Vincent is rapidly becoming a world class defender and if his meteoric rise continues, he will no doubt become the lynch pin of our back four in next seasons Champions league run out. He will become a city stalwart who will be written in the annals of our beloved blues and mentioned in the same breath dare I say as Bell, Lee and Summerbee.
Do you agree with author Richard Dickinson? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section directly below this article
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