10 Manchester City signings who failed to impress

#3 Maicon

Man City’s dilly-dallying in the 2012 summer transfer window and their failure to beat their neighbours United in their pursuit of Robin van Persie had sent bad signals to the management, who moved quickly on deadline day to strengthen the squad in the face of renewed competition at the top of the league table from both Chelsea and United, significantly stronger after their business in the transfer window.

One of the panic signings they made was Maicon, who was still near the top of his game despite being aged 31, and ranked among the world’s best right backs. What City failed to realize was that they already had ample talent in the form of the ever-present Pablo Zabaleta and the dependable Micah Richards, and the position they actually needed to strengthen was certainly not at a full back spot.

Maicon, in the face of competition, could not make many appearances and remained a peripheral figure, only appearing occasionally in the league matches once or twice a month. He left less than a year later for Roma on a free transfer, having only made 13 appearances all through the season.

At £3 million, Maicon was not very costly. But his signing and eventual departure represents the problem that overloading a squad of elite talent in a particular position can cause an imbalance to the squad. Now aged 33, Maicon is still playing at a fairly competitive level for Roma and had featured for Brazil in the World Cup.