Edinson Cavani: Time Has Come for Striker to Make Move to Premier League

An Edinson Cavani move to Manchester City would be beneficial for everyone involved.

You know, except for every other team in the Premier League. 

According to the Mirror's Steve Bates, we are nearing that exact situation, as City is reportedly working to land the Uruguay striker:

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Manchester City have taken their first step towards ditching Mario Balotelli—by making a £45 million bid for Napoli striker Edinson Cavani, writes the Sunday People.

The bid was made by City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain at Christmas—BEFORE Balotelli’s training-ground fight with manager Roberto Mancini.

Despite support from City’s wealthy owners for the madcap striker, patience has now worn thin among Balotelli’s Etihad teammates.

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It's pretty clear what Cavani would bring to the Blues, who have struggled to find consistency up front from Mario Balotelli or Edin Dzeko. 

In 16 Serie A appearances for Napoli this season, the 25-year-old forward has tallied an astounding 16 goals. He has racked up 4.3 shots, 1.2 completed dribbles and even 1.1 key passes per contest.

According to WhoScored.com, his match rating in those games is 7.93. 

By comparison, no one has more goals and only a couple of Andreas—Pirlo and Ranocchia—have a better average match rating. 

Cavani is a world-class goal scorer who is strong, physical and effective in the air. He can find the back of the net from pretty much anywhere around the box, and if you put him in front of elite playmakers like David Silva, Samir Nasri (sometimes) and Sergio Aguero, it's scary to think what he would be able to do. 

But this is a transfer that would be more than beneficial to Manchester City, which trails crosstown rival Manchester United by seven points in the EPL. It would be beneficial to Cavani, too.

The young striker has proven to be too much to handle for Serie A. He's easily one of the most dominant players in Italy and there's simply nothing left there for him to accomplish on an individual level.

There may be arguments about what league showcases the most talent in the world, but there is no question that the EPL would be a step up from Serie A. 

Should Cavani have success in England, he would unquestionably enter the small group of elite strikers—if he isn't there already. 

I think he, the Manchester City organization and the City faithful would be OK with that.

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