Manchester City have agreed a new ”long-term deal” with Dutch defender Karim Rekik. But can the impressive 18-year-old prove his former club wrong and become a first-team regular at The Etihad?
Manchester City have of course earned a reputation as one of the biggest buying clubs in world football. While that has seen the likes of big name players Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Yaya Toure arrive at The Etihad it has also seen a huge financial influx trickling down into the development side of the game. This has included the acquisition of top young talent and one such talent is Dutchman Karim Rekik.
When he was signed in March last year it caused massive repercussions as his former club Feyenoord fumed at the transfer saying it was bad both for the club and Rekik’s future development:
”In most cases these moves do not work out, especially for the boy himself – when they go abroad they are just 16 and it all seems great but if you look at the statistics the majority end in huge disappointment for the player. He can get a big foreign club, but he never gets in the first-team and is then released and returns, several years later to the Netherlands.’’
Feyenoord claimed the deal was ‘simply stupid’ but after recent events it appears that City do hold him in their long term plans.
He signed what is being described as a ‘’long term deal’’ with City this week as they see him as an integral part of their plans to bring in more young talent into the first-team in the coming years.
Rekik was obviously delighted with the new contract:
‘‘I really hope to be a big player for City one day. If I train against those players it’s great for me, it’s fantastic to play against these great players and it can only help me learn. I’m delighted to be staying at City.”
He is obviously a talented player; a back injury has hindered his development slightly but he has been the regular captain for the Elite Development Side and NextGen squad. Equally adept at both centre back and on the left hand side the Dutch youth international enjoyed an impressive loan spell at Portsmouth last season despite the south-coast clubs eventual relegation.
What remains to be seen is whether Feyenoord are proven right on their former protégé. While the new contract is obviously a good show of faith that he is going about his development in the right way it is still some way before Rekik is playing alongside the likes of Vincent Kompany and Matija Nastasic in the first-team.
The one thing to take from recent events is that Rekik is possibly the biggest prospect in the City youth team and certainly a player who’s progress should be tracked.
Do you think Rekik can ever be a City first teamer?
image: © imbecillisalad
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