Why Manchester City Are Right to Let Matija Nastasic Join Schalke Permanently

Outside the transfer windows we might be, but the world of football recruitment never really stops, and German Bundesliga side Schalke 04 have made the transfer of on-loan Manchester City centre-back Matija Nastasic permanent.

BBC Sport report that the Serbian has joined on a four-year deal and is "proud and happy" to be at the club, who sit fifth in the German top flight, one place and one point outside the Champions League spots.

For Nastasic it is undoubtedly a good move to secure regular playing time, but Manchester City can also be confident that, despite losing a talented young defender, they have made the right move for themselves too.

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Nastasic will be at Schalke until 2019. The release clause was €9.5m. #S04 #MCFC

— Bundesliga Spotlight (@BundesligaSpot) March 11, 2015"

Manuel Pellegrini's Choices

Though Nastasic was injured for a fair portion of the first half of the 2014-15 season, he was available to manager Pellegrini at the start of the campaign and was simply continually overlooked, after playing the full 90 minutes of the Community Shield.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Indeed, that was his only appearance of the season for City as he was not even picked for domestic cup matches, despite being a part of Pellegrini's title-winning team last season. He made 13 league appearances and played four times in the Champions League in 2013-14.

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@SimonGleave No one knows why Nastasic was ostracised. You have to think Pellegrini thought he didn't fit his system? Mangala will be fine.

— Danny Pugsley (@danny_pugsley) February 7, 2015"

This term, Pellegrini has favoured captain Vincent Kompany with new signing Eliaquim Mangala in central defence, with Martin Demichelis still clocking up plenty of minutes and even Dedryck Boyata getting the odd game. For a defender to be out of favour, with less rotation typically in that area of the field, it was always on the cards for Nastasic to exit and City won't miss his presence too much.

Nastasic's Future

As for the defender himself, he showed during the 2013-14 season that he was a capable player who had the potential to be extremely accomplished. A good reader of the game with recovery pace to drop in behind his partner, Nastasic accumulated a fair amount of experience at the top very quickly, considering he was still essentially third-choice.

Now at Schalke since January, he has played in seven consecutive Bundesliga games since the end of that month, being booked just once and helping his side close the gap to the top four to just a point.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

He has also played in both Champions League games against Real Madrid, which ended in a narrow aggregate defeat, and will be given the chance by Schalke boss Roberto Di Matteo to establish himself as part of the team as a first pick.

City's Constant Rebuild

Jan Kruger/Getty Images

The other side to Manchester City's ability to sell and not worry too much about the departure of Nastasic is their continual need to invest and improve the squad.

Some departures are necessary, others are natural, and for all the vast amounts of money spent by the club over the past few years there are not really that many players in place who can be considered of the very top drawer of talent.

Mangala may go on to prove himself one of the modern top defenders, but it hasn't happened yet, so another defensive addition next summer is not outside the realms of possibility. Nastasic clearly wasn't going to be a part of that newest transition for the club, and it's certainly better for his own growth that he has been able to move on.

Undoubtedly the biggest winners could be Schalke, who secure a talented young international defender at a reasonable price, who has already shown he can perform in their team. They were in a win-win scenario, and should he go on to fulfil the expectations of him, they'll benefit in time both on the pitch and potentially in an eventual bigger sale.

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