Declining Form of Matija Nastasic Needed Manchester City January Transfer Remedy

It’s September 18, 2012 and Manchester City have travelled to the Bernabeu for a daunting Champions League group match with Real Madrid. City, relative novices in the competition, were under severe pressure to qualify after failing to emerge from the group stage the year before. This was the biggest test of their European credentials to date.

As news of City’s starting XI filtered through, there was almost unanimous shock at Roberto Mancini’s decision to give 19-year-old Matija Nastasic his debut at centre-back. Why, in City’s toughest ever game in Europe’s elite competition, would Mancini choose to pick a relatively untested defender who had played just a handful of games in Serie A for Fiorentina before signing for the club?

Mancini obviously knew just how good he was, because it was a 90-minute masterclass in how to acquit yourself as a defender in a new side. Nastasic looked calm and confident, with his classy, well-timed slide tackle—a trademark of his—evident straight away.

Jon Super/Associated Press

It wasn’t a one off, either. It was a clear sign of things to come. Nastasic went on to play 28 games that season and not once did he look troubled, regularly coasting through games, displaying an intelligence and reading of the game way beyond his years.

A dip, at some point, seemed inevitable. His progress had been too serene, in a position that very often requires experience to excel. Sure enough, his dip has come this season.

No longer does he seem in complete control of everything, and no longer does he emit an air of calm assuredness for 90 minutes. Under Manuel Pellegrini, who has improved the form of the vast majority of the City squad, he often looks lost and panicked, and as such has lost his position as City’s first-choice centre-back partner for the irreplaceable Vincent Kompany.

Not that all signs of last season’s Nastasic have disappeared. We are still treated to a majestic slide tackle or a clever piece of reading of the game from time to time, but the days of him breezing through 90 minutes with serenity have gone, for the time being at least.

He’s now pulled out of position, bullied off the ball and beaten in the air too easily. Martin Demichelis, a 33-year old stop-gap signing, is preferred to him for the moment, although, the wisdom of that decision is lost on some, even taking into account Nastasic’s decline.

All of which makes City's failed pursuit of Porto's Eliaquim Mangala incredibly frustrating for the club. Centre-back is the one gap in their first XI that needs plugging, and Mangala is one of the most sought-after players in European football. It would hardly be a surprise if a deal was resurrected in the summer.

Darko Vojinovic/Associated Press

His arrival would have eased the pressure on Nastasic and allowed Kompany the stability of a settled partner, but the days of City waving around an open cheque book are gone. The club will not be held to ransom and felt Porto valued their player way too high.

None of this is suggesting Nastasic doesn't have a future at City. It's clear he's a very talented young man who will play at the highest level for years to come, and he can excel at City, even if extra competition is drafted in during the summer. He has still only played 77 professional matches and already has achieved so much. He needs some time now, though, to continue learning his trade so he can find his best form again.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2013-14 season. Follow him on Twitter here @TypicalCity.