Why Isco Would Be a Dream Summer Transfer Target for Manchester City

One of Sir Alex Ferguson’s great strengths when he was manager of Manchester United was his ability to replace his best players before their performances began to nosedive. Ferguson would spot way before anybody else when a player was on the decline.

Perhaps their intensity on the training field had suffered, or their demeanour around the club had changed. Whatever the signs were, Ferguson was a master at spotting them and finding new players who could evolve his side.

The best example came in 1995. The Red Devils sold Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes, much to the surprise of United’s fans. Ferguson, though, knew he had a group of young players waiting in the wings who could bring more hunger and desire to the side than the players he was letting go. United went on to win the double, and Ferguson’s judgement was rarely questioned again.

Manchester City might need some of Ferguson’s perceptiveness in the coming years. They have a set of players who are aging; a core who have ushered in a period of success at the club for the first time in well over 30 years but who will need replacing in the coming years.

Take Yaya Toure. The Ivorian has been hugely significant in City’s new era of winning football, but, at 32, it’s clear he will not go on forever.

He’s a unique player, one whose transformation from a restricted defensive midfielder at Barcelona to a match-winning force of nature at City represents one of the great stories in recent times. He has two years left to run on his deal and has plenty left in the tank, but the day will come, sooner rather than later, when Toure will need to be succeeded by a younger version of himself. 

Paul Pogba looks like the only player in world football capable of replacing him. He, too, has a mix of power, pace, stamina and goalscoring ability that Toure has. According to James Robson at the Manchester Evening News, Pogba is one of the club's top targets this summer, and it’s easy to see why.

But there’s a similar scenario developing where David Silva is concerned. It may be less pressing, but nonetheless it's something the club will be acutely aware of.

Silva is three years Toure’s junior and has never relied on pace. His game is all about the subtleties of his pass-and-move game; floating into pockets of space on the pitch that pull defenders into areas they simply don’t want to be in.

He will go on for a good while yet, but he’s 29 and eventually will need replacing. Which is why signing Isco from Real Madrid, a player seen as the heir to Silva’s throne at international level, would be a dream move for City this summer.

Isco almost joined City in the summer of 2013 when Manuel Pellegrini first arrived at the club. The two had worked together at Malaga, almost making it to the Champions League semi-final but for refereeing incompetence. With City in the closing stages of negotiations, Real Madrid outflanked them, using their distinguished history of success to tempt the youngster to the Spanish capital.

Now, at 23, a move to City could be on the cards again. According to Bruce Archer at the Express, Isco is unsettled at the Bernabeu and could surely be tempted to the Premier League. 

"I am not very content," he said in April, after Real moved into the Champions League semi-final with victory over Atletico Madrid. "I thought I was playing well." 

Because of injuries to other squad members, Isco played plenty of games for Madrid last season—56 in total—but a feeling persists that when everyone is fit he isn’t part of their elite XI. Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos were the preferred front six. With Sergio Ramos popping up as a defensive midfielder on a few occasions, Isco’s status was questioned still further.

With Carlo Ancelotti having been replaced by Rafael Benitez, the makeup of Real Madrid’s first XI for next season is, as yet, unknown. Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid president, wields considerable power, though, and it was perhaps his front six, rather than Ancelotti’s, that was blocking Isco’s path.

If he was to become available this summer, there seems little doubt City would show interest. Isco was superb for Pellegrini at Malaga, and the fact the Chilean tried to make him his first signing as City manager speaks volumes.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

He's exactly the kind of player Pellegrini likes. City are committed to an attacking style of football—possession-based and easy on the eye. Isco would slot in with ease. 

He would easily work alongside Silva. In a 4-2-3-1 formation, which City ended last season playing, Silva and Isco could interchange between the left and central roles in support of the main striker, Sergio Aguero. With a new right-sided player with pace, perhaps Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling, City’s attack would suddenly have a new dimension.

Silva will eventually decline, and in Isco, City would have a ready-made replacement. Succeeding Silva, who is arguably City’s greatest-ever player, is a difficult task, but of all the players playing in Europe right now, the Real Madrid man, the one who got away when Pellegrini arrived at the club, looks the most viable option.

With City in need of a squad revamp this summer to ensure there's no repeat of last season's disappointments, there will be plenty of activity at the Etihad in the coming weeks. 

Signing Isco should be an absolute priority. 

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Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.