Manchester City introduced the signing of Portuguese worldwide centre-back Ruben Dias on a six-year deal from Benfica on Tuesday within the hope of fixing the defensive issues which have dogged Pep Guardiola’s aspect over the previous 12 months. Benfica on Sunday confirmed that they had reached an settlement to promote Dias for 68 million euros (USD 79 million) plus an additional three.6 million euros in potential bonuses, with Nicolas Otamendi heading in the other way for 15 million euros. “To have the chance to affix a membership like Manchester Metropolis is a improbable alternative for me and one I could not flip down,” stated Dias, who has 19 worldwide caps, in a Metropolis assertion.
“Their success speaks for itself. They’ve been the dominant workforce in England over the previous few years, enjoying an attacking model of soccer which I really feel fits my very own recreation.
“It’s actually thrilling to be a part of such a gifted squad and to play for a world-class supervisor like Pep Guardiola, who has a confirmed observe report of creating younger gamers like myself.
“I imagine I can enhance right here, at a membership whose ambitions match my very own, and I’ll give every little thing to achieve success and win titles.”
Benfica coach Jorge Jesus stated on the weekend that promoting Dias was vital for the membership to steadiness their accounts after a defeat by Greek aspect PAOK within the third qualifying spherical of the Champions League ended their hopes of reaching the group stage.
Dias turns into Metropolis’s third signing of the summer time after centre-back Nathan Ake from Bournemouth and Spanish winger Ferran Torres.
The necessity for extra defensive reinforcements was evident as Metropolis had been thrashed 5-2 at residence to Leicester on Sunday — the primary time a Guardiola aspect has ever conceded 5 in his distinguished managerial profession.
“Ruben is a participant we’ve got admired for a while and we’ve got been impressed with how he has progressed at Benfica,” Metropolis director of soccer Txiki Begiristain stated.
“He has developed into an actual chief and as a defender, he has all of the attributes we’re in search of. He’s robust within the air, good in one-v-one conditions and technically he is superb, so we’re assured he can thrive in our system.”
Nevertheless, Dias turns into simply the newest in a string of costly defensive signings, totalling over 450 million euros, since Guardiola was appointed in 2016.
Regardless of enormous worth tags, John Stones, Joao Cancelo and Benjamin Mendy are usually not first-team regulars, whereas Ake has been signed as back-up to Aymeric Laporte.
Promoted
Otamendi, 32, received a number of main honours throughout his time on the Etihad, together with two Premier League titles, and made greater than 200 appearances in all competitions in 5 seasons.
The Argentine worldwide has beforehand performed in Portugal, turning out for Benfica’s bitter rivals Porto between 2010 and 2014.
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