Are Manchester City on the cusp of something special and could Dzeko have been a part of it?

Would bringing Dzeko in have made sense or would it have been a failure to relinquish a reassuring hold on the past?

With each passing year, Edin Dzeko’s reputation at Manchester City seems rosier than the one before. Forage through his name in the Twitter search bar and see his five-and-half years at the club eulogised with gushing emojis and clips of his towering headers and thonking first time finishes.

Dzeko may have scored some of the biggest goals in City’s history but truth be told, the adulation is a far cry from the things said about him when he left. And for all his goals and the titles they won, he never really shook off the critiques of his game.

Edin Dzeko celebrates his title-winning goal against Aston Villa

Perhaps then, we didn’t appreciate the Bosnian for the fine striker he was, especially given the shower of distinctively average forwards that succeeded him. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but so is nostalgia. The cropped-up images of Dzeko in a City shirt accrue feelings not felt much around these woods since David Silva, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany departed.

Man City Xtra @City_Xtra

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒... 🙏🇧🇦 @EdDzeko

Manchester City have been tentatively linked with Dzeko but most reports suggest the interest in a reunion is much stronger from the Bosnian’s side than from City’s. Generally, City don’t tend to sign players in the winter transfer window – Aymeric Laporte being the last major January buy – but as a stop-gap deal, might this actually make sense?

Would a lanky, slow 34-year old – a classic centre-forward by every denotation - cut it for Manchester City? Or would this be the sort of ‘vibes’ signing that saw legends like Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney painfully trudge through games at their former clubs.  

I mean, the case for Dzeko is not a bad one. His numbers are still pretty good. Sergio Aguero’s transition into a full-time streamer is all but complete and Gabriel Jesus continues to defy the laws of Expected Goals.

He has a profile we don’t have – in that he’s tall, works predominantly in the penalty box and loves to get on the end of crosses. Of all the shots he’s taken in the last five league seasons, 29% of them been with his head. His overall performance levels have been good too. Dzeko averaged an impressive 0.63 goals per 90 minutes in the league for Manchester City and has continued that trend into the twilight years of his career with AS Roma (0.52).

Then again, you might argue that he was born before the 1986 World Cup in Mexico (he’s old) and that traditionally players tend to age well in Serie A. Throw in the fact you’d be thrusting him back into the Premier League in a Guardiola set-up that seems to take six months to accustom to – and it mightn’t be worth it all.

My own view is that City should sign him – mainly for the ‘vibes’ and nostalgia but also that he could prove useful for when we’re stuck for ideas and resort to whipping in crosses till kingdom come. So let’s forget about the fact that Dzeko, a player known for his immobility and lackadaisical approach to the game, could never conform to Guardiola’s all-pressing, all-in system that hinges on every player doing their bit – and bring him back.

Manchester City are on the cusp of a something very special

There’s an old saying by Rudyard Kipling about the advantages of keeping your head when everyone around you is losing theirs. The footballing world is a jungle and City are the would be king.

Sitting pretty at the top of the league and on a what-seemed-incredulous-just-months-ago club record 12-match winning run, City are riding towards the sunset without having really shifted out of 2nd gear.

Meanwhile, every other team look shot, on the wane and ready to call it a day. Take Liverpool for an example. Like any Jurgen Klopp side they plough on but they look thrashed, downtrodden and are bleeding from the sides. Wagering on is what they do well I suppose but given they’ve somehow played the same XI every week for the past three years now, this fall from grace was hardly surprising.

Look further across the continent and realise that others too are reaping the sows of their squad mismanagement. The Spanish giants appear more subdued than Liverpool are and find themselves in real financial turmoil. Juventus too lag unusually behind the Milan clubs in Serie A whilst both of last season’s Champions League finalists (Bayern and PSG) have failed to smoothly navigate the Covid-infested waters.

My point is that something very special is on the cards for Manchester City, both domestically and in Europe. Sure, City tend to lose in the Champions League knock-outs to ‘smaller’ teams like Lyon, Monaco and Tottenham than the usual heavyweights, but maybe fortune will favour the fitter, brighter and better managed team this time.

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Ninety Three Twenty is an independent podcast and blog covering all the latest from Manchester City and Anis is a writer whose work has appeared on Sky Sports, Sports Illustrated and various Manchester City blogs on the internet.

This newsletter is a collection of thoughts, ideas and general bad takes on football from a Manchester City perspective. There’s a lot of discourse around the beautiful game so I want to create a space where I (and hopefully you) can discuss it in a fun way.

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