Man City May End Up Regretting Failing to Nuture Matija Nastasic's Potential

Some things in football are difficult to explain and Matija Nastasic’s failure to establish himself as a regular under Manuel Pellegrini is certainly one of them.

The Serbian left the club this week, moving to Schalke on loan until the end of the season, with the German club securing an option to buy should the deal work out, via BBC Sport.

It’s a great move for Nastasic, a player who appeared unlikely to ever convince Pellegrini he was worthy of a first-team place at City. It was a strange situation given the quality he showed in his first season at the Etihad under Roberto Mancini, a campaign in which the young centre-back demonstrated an understanding of the game that belied his age.

Sang Tan/Associated Press

His debut, of all places, came in the Bernabeu during a Champions League group match. Mancini was known for working in mysterious ways, and dropping a 19-year-old into such a high-profile, difficult match to make his first appearance for the club certainly took many by surprise.

Joleon Lescott was the man who made way, a defender who the previous season had been one half of a solid centre-back pairing and who was fast becoming a fans’ favourite.

Lescott, though, has always struggled somewhat with the ball at his feet, unable, really, to play from the back with any real comfort. Mancini, looking to move City into the next phase of their development into a more expansive style, wanted defenders with natural ability on the ball, and the teenage star who had made just 29 appearances at Fiorentina before his switch to English football, was earmarked as the man.

And his debut suggested Mancini had picked up a gem. It was a quite remarkable display underlined by composure and intelligence. City lost after a collapse in the final stages, a situation which irked the fans, but Nastasic emerged with his reputation enhanced significantly.

It proved to be the catalyst for a fine season for City’s newest defender. The club struggled and Mancini ultimately lost his job, but the teenager was a huge success. Hailed as one of the finest defensive prospects on the planet, he looked set to form a long-term partnership with Vincent Kompany, the club’s best defender and captain. The City fans had a new hero.

Inexplicably, though, the following season could hardly have been more different. He looked nervous under Pellegrini, despite the club, as a whole, having been lifted by the Chilean’s arrival. While others who had struggled the previous season flourished under Pellegrini’s man-management style, Nastasic was going backwards.

Then injuries struck. No one, not even Pellegrini, could explain the extent of the injury to his knee, but it kept him out for much of the season. He couldn’t find any rhythm, and, as a result, slipped further down the pecking order. His last appearance of that season, in the home defeat to Chelsea, was a disaster for Nastasic, and he rarely looked like featuring for the club again. He made just 13 league appearances, a significant fall from the 21 he managed the previous year when he had established himself as a key figure.

Pellegrini, who hadn't seen the best of him, had seemingly given up.

Sang Tan/Associated Press

And this season he was banished completely, with Dedryck Boyata often selected for the bench ahead of him. He played in the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, with City missing a host of players returning from World Cup duty, but never featured again.

Pellegrini is yet to fully explain the reasons which prevented Nastasic from featuring regularly under his tutelage, something he is likely to be pressed on when he faces the press ahead of this Sunday’s home match with Arsenal, but the defender now needs to use this move to Schalke to resurrect his flagging career.

He showed enough in his first season at City to suggest, in the right environment, he can flourish. The talent is there, he just needs further experience. It’s unlikely he’ll return to City in the summer, regardless of his form in the Bundesliga, and it could be a move the club end up regretting.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes were obtained first-hand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.