Why Manchester City Transfer Target Davide Astori Is the Italian Titus Bramble

Manchester City transfer target Davide Astori isn't just a potential injury-replacement for Matija Nastasic—Astori is the Italian Titus Bramble.

According to Adriano Boin at Forza Italian Football, City are contemplating signing Astori as cover for Nastasic, a view reinforced by Charles Perrin at The Express. 

City director of football Txiki Begiristain, club CEO Ferran Soriano, manager Manuel Pellegrini and City's transfer advisers shouldn't be engaging in such a high-risk, high-reward type of transfer. 

GAME	ASTORI MISTAKES EXPLAINED
Genoa 2-0 Cagliari	Hacked clearance eventuates in Merkel's goal. Misjudges flight of the ball enabling Immobile to score.
Cagliari 4-2 Siena	Concedes a penalty with a scissor-tackle on Vergassola.  Missed header leads to Calaio heading home.
Inter Milan 2-2 Cagliari	Missed header leads to Palacio scoring. Nets own goal. Lucky not to concede a penalty.
Cagliari 0-2 Chievo	Loses 1-on-1 vs. Hetemaj, who creates Paloschi's goal.
Cagliari 1-3 Juventus	Sent off for second yellow after tackling Giovinco from behind.
Roma 2-4 Cagliari	Awful positioning allows Marquinho to score.
Cagliari 1-1 AC Milan	Rugby tackles Balotelli to concede penalty and second yellow.
Cagliari 4-3 Torino	Concedes penalty by tugging Bianchi's shirt.
Bologna 3-0 Cagliari	Fails to tackle Gilardino, who creates Taider's goal.
Cagliari 2-1 Fiorentina	Missed header eventuates in Cuadrado's goal.
Napoli 3-2 Cagliari	Scores own goal.
Juventus 1-1 Cagliari	Loses aerial contest to Vidal, who creates Vucinic's goal.

The Bramble reference isn't just another way to express how bad Astori is, it's meant to show you how a defender with world-class upside is blowing it.  

Revisionist history will paint Bramble's career as an epic failure which overshadows the period in his career which made him a favourite under the late great Sir Bobby Robson, via his autobiography:

"

He was the best passer we had at the back of the team. He's a big lad with two good feet. In the tackle, he cleans people out.

If he cuts out his mistakes, he will become one hell of a player. 

At times I would say to him, 'Forget about what's in the newspapers. Don't read them. I like you. I think you're a great player.'

I called Charlie Woods in and instructed him, 'Charlie, tell Titus what you think about him,' and he did. 

Alan Oliver was very unkind to Titus. He would write an article about Titus in March and bring up a mistake he had made last September. 

No journalist ever applied that unforgiving historical approach to Gary Speed or Alan Shearer or Shay Given.

They only did it to Titus Bramble. 

"

Astori has always had the ability (his football education was at AC Milan), though his lack of self-belief—like Bramble—is why he's toiling away at Cagliari instead of being a starter at Milan. 

Astori was once part of a Cagliari backline that conceded three goals in 15 minutes against Udinese. 

Then there was the 5-3 loss vs. Genoa in 2010 when he and his teammates conceded four goals in nine minutes. 

Didn't Nastasic endure some hardships in Italy? 

Sure, Nastasic had growing pains at Fiorentina where he was below-par in a 5-0 loss to Juventus and a 3-0 loss to Napoli. 

But he was a teenager for the Viola whereas Astori, 26, is regressing instead of progressing. 

The "high-risk, high-reward" part is an inference to Astori making 72, 110, 118 and 114 interceptions in his last four seasons. 

His passing can be immaculate as he's completed 85 percent or higher of his passes on 17 different occasions last season.

In an ideal situation, he'll overcome his inner demons and maximise his potential under Pellegrini, who revitalised the floundering career of Martin Demichelis.

However, Astori's bad body language, the self-pity and constant lapses in concentration are major red flags City can't overlook. 

Betting on players with low intangibles is never a good idea and you'd like to hope that Begiristain would have learnt from the €25 million Dmytro Chygrynskiy debacle at Barcelona.

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Statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, Fox Soccer and Squawka.com