Transfer truth, Ryan McAidoo and new signing – Man City questions answered

So, without further ado, here are the answers to some of your questions from this week:

Why is Allan not playing yet?

First, I must apologise for my editor. Normally I pick the questions but this week they have been helpfully picked out for me – only the names have been left off so I cannot address anyone by name. These also all feel like quite grumpy questions given City’s start but let’s get to them.

Allan is not playing yet because he isn’t ready yet. He had a slight issue when he joined which meant that he wasn’t risked for the Coventry game. Antoine Semenyo played on the wing as he has done every game, and Iliman Ndiaye was given his debut because he was fit and had been training and playing with Everton in the same league, so it was a bit of a no-brainer.

Then to Porto, and one of City’s most difficult Champions League trips of the season. No surprise again that, while Allan was able to be included in the squad, he wasn’t turned to as Maresca sought an immediate result. I wouldn’t expect to see Allan in the derby either, but perhaps against Norwich in the League Cup.

Transfer fees aren’t everything but the fee paid for Allan should give some perspective on the minutes he will get this season as a young player coming over from a different continent that doesn’t have much experience. Jeremy Doku, Semenyo and Ndiaye cost significantly more than him and Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki are much more established so Allan will start off as a squad player and have to go some to oust some of those names to be starting regularly.

Why are young lads like McAidoo not being given a chance?

Pretty much every word of the Allan answer also relates to Ryan McAidoo, except for the fact he’s an 18-year-old coming through the academy from than a slightly older rookie from Brazil. And the fact that he was given a chance against Palace and did well, and then came on in the final minutes of the Coventry game as well.

If minutes in two out of three Premier League matches so far isn’t being given a chance, then I’d say standards are too high – and certainly not being judged against how Guardiola treated young players. For McAidoo and Kaden Braithwaite to have already played in a league game is promising, and you’d expect more involvement against Norwich.

Is there anything Maresca is trying to do to stop opponents from going through our midfield so easily?

I think there may be an element of teams being able to get in behind City all season because of how attacking Maresca wants them to be, but around the first team they certainly believe that things will tighten up as new players settle into their roles.

We still have no idea what the best midfield combination is and I suspect there will be different options for different games given that if Ayyoub Bouaddi, Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez all play then Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden almost never will – and that isn’t going to happen.

Maresca has introduced a new press for the whole team that they are still working on, as well as a specific process for the defenders to work on in the build-up. Time will tell if it makes them tight, or tighter than they have been, but again given we are four games into a new era with a different manager for the first time in a decade – with younger players in place – it isn’t shocking that not everything looks polished.

What role will Enzo play in the team, and could his arrival have a negative impact on Cherki or Foden? Is it possible we could see Anderson, Enzo, and Cherki starting together?

I suppose Enzo Fernandez arriving could have a negative impact on Cherki and Foden if they decide that they may as well not play any more given their minutes are threatened. Fernandez does appear more likely to play further forward than the No.6 position – Maresca was talking about him on Friday in terms of the goals and assists he can get – but he gives City better and much deeper competition.

Anderson, Fernandez and Cherki will all start together in at least one game, but there is also Bouaddi and Foden to bring in and real pressure on players to perform because places are all up for grabs. Bouaddi is already speaking about that feeling having only just joined and it is about whether players rise to that – something that did Guardiola well for so long – or react negatively.

Is Semenyo helping the team?

Yes, don’t be daft.

Sorry, are we talking about the guy that’s set up the opening goal in the last two league games? As in, two out of three league games this season? So in 66 per cent of league games this season, or 67 if you want to be really fruity, he has set up the opening goal and somebody is asking if he is helping the team?

Sorry, I just don’t get it. Obviously he can do more, he had a shocker against Porto in midweek but he has a knack and an actual record of goals and assists that is elite. He’s also one of the senior players in the team already, having stepped up to take responsibility as soon as he joined in January.

On top of that, he is one of the few players in the City team that can say they’ve scored at Old Trafford…

I read that Man City have loaned Echeverri to Benfica on the basis that City will pay his FULL wages AND give Benfica an option to buy. Is this true? Surely City can’t be that desperate to get rid of the player?

Don’t believe everything you read. But do believe everything you read in these Q&As. Unless it was the one before deadline day where I got so much wrong.

Congratulations to this anonymous reader though on giving somebody in City’s recruitment team a genuine laugh when I checked this. City aren’t a club that generally does things like paying wages in full for sending players on loan but, having not seen the initial report and not wanting to judge the question, I had to confirm and can reliably tell you that it isn’t even close to being true. An option to buy doesn’t mean anything either given it has to have the full agreement of all parties.

What I will say is that Echeverri’s stock is a lot lower than it was last season. The club were inundated with offers last summer and he went against City’s advice to join Leverkusen on loan, it was a disaster, and then Girona in the second half of the campaign wasn’t much better.

Having not pulled up any trees in pre-season, going to Benfica could be a very good loan but the Argentine can’t afford to get lost there and not play regularly.