Why Javi Garcia should swap Premier League for Serie A

Javi Garcia of Manchester City

Despite losing Edinson Cavani over the summer, the arrival of Rafael Benitez at Napoli has ensured that the success they have enjoyed over the past few seasons looks set to continue. With the likes of Gonzalo Higuain,Pepe Reina, Raul Albiol and Jose Callejon joining Benitez at the San Paolo, the team was strengthened and Cavani’s departure did not leave too big of a void.

According to Talksport, the next man to join Benitez’s Italian job will be Man City’sJavi Garcia. Branded a ‘flop’ by some, the Spaniard could join the large Spanish contingent in Naples as the former Liverpool and Chelsea manager looks to add a central midfielder to his side’s ranks.

With Yaya Toure and Fernandinho now the established midfield pairing under Manuel Pellegrini at the Etihad, Garcia looks unlikely to play regular first team football and has made only eight appearances for the Sky Blues this season, completing the full 90 minutes on just three occasions.

Garcia has failed to provide a genuine creative threat this season; he is not a dynamic, exciting midfielder and this is reflected in the fact that he has created no chances and has attempted just one take-on – in contrast, Yaya Toure has attempted 16. These figures suggest that the 26-year-old offers no direct attacking threat and, whilst this is usually compensated for by a midfielder’s defensive ability, this has not been the case so far this season.

Garcia’s defensive abilities have seen him feature in the Man City back four in the past, and as such one would expect him to have a high rate of completed tackles; the Spaniard, however, has won just 3 out of 9 (a mere 33%) and has proven to be defensively frail when called upon this year. Whilst Man City are currently so dominant in attack that this defensive ineptitude can go relatively unpunished, it could be pivotal in a tight encounter; it’s clear that, based on his tackling ability, Garcia is not the type of player Pellegrini needs in his team and could be sold to Napoli in January.

On the other hand, whilst he has not posed a direct attacking threat this season in terms of chances created, Garcia has fulfilled an important role in the heart of the Man City team. He has been used to link defence and attack, providing the attacking players with the ammunition they require to threaten teams. In this role, the Spaniard has been extremely successful, completing an average of 94% of his passes as he keeps his side ticking over. This is an underappreciated duty and Garcia is actually more valuable than is often realised.

However, whilst Garcia fulfils this crucial role well, the likes of Toure are also able to do this whilst simultaneously providing more of an attacking threat – the power of the Ivorian works in conjunction with his brilliant ability to create a fluid team move through his passing ability and renders Garcia’s strengths relatively useless because of this.

Whilst the Spaniard is undoubtedly a good player, his frailties in vital areas detract from his other talents and mean that he is unlikely to become a first-team regular for Man City; for this reason, Pellegrini should look to offload the midfielder to Napoli and recoup some of the £17 million which his predecessors forked out to bring Garcia in.