Rumours abound that Real Madrid may be offloading Guti this summer after Wesley Sneijder signed up to play for Los Merengues. Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City are both rumoured to be bidding for Guti’s services, with the price quoted to be in the region of 5m and one that is acceptable to Real Madrid.
I’ve been saying for the last two years that Tottenham need a quality, experienced central midfielder who can calm things down for the Spurs, especially during away games but also during home games against disciplined teams. In that respect a move for Guti would make sense for Tottenham and his experience would be invaluable as well.
After watching Manchester City play today against United, it’s clear that their central-midfield is light-weight and they too need a physical presence plus experience and quality in that position. Once again, Real Madrid’s Guti fits the bill.
However, there’s a big problem here and that’s of temperament. From what I’ve heard from Hugo and other Real Madrid fans commenting here on Soccerlens, I don’t think that Guti has the temperament to play in the Premiership; both Tottenham and Manchester City need a reliable, consistent performer to match their league ambitions this season and from what I’ve heard, Guti is not Mr. Consistency (Beckham is, but he’s gone to revolutionise US Soccer and he’s doing a great job of it too…but coming back to the subject…).
There will be questions about his ability to cope with the pace and the physical aspect of Premiership football but I feel that Guti would fit in the Premiership like a hand fits a glove in terms of pace and intensity – it’s his consistency I’m more concerned with.
After seeing Alan Smith take on a senior and impressive role in the Newcastle United squad, I’m thinking that both Tottenham and Manchester City could use another such player, perhaps plucked from the squads of the top four. Darren Fletcher and Claude Makelele come to mind – Fletcher would be better for Manchester City (they already have a holding midfielder in Hamann) while Makelele would do wonders for Tottenham (and allow them to be defensively astute while going forward with their flair players).
Anyway, coming back to Guti – what do you guys think? Any truths in this story? And will he be a good fit for either team?
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
