English clubs interested in former Manchester City defender and Guardiola favourite – City Watch
Jérôme Boateng endured an unhappy year at Manchester City after joining in 2010 from Hamburg for £10.4 million. The young Germany international had just featured at the 2010 World Cup and arrived with a big reputation, but a combination of factors, including injury and being played at right-back by Roberto Mancini, led to a difficult season in Manchester.
Bayern Munich came calling and took the player back to Germany after just one year, and since then he has developed into one of European football’s best centre-backs, notably under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola during the City manager’s stay in Munich.
Things haven’t gone well this season for 28-year-old Boateng, though, and according to reliable German publication Kicker is concerned about his future at the Bundesliga club after an injury hit season that has led to him falling down Carlo Ancelotti’s pecking order lately.
Boateng was unhappy at starting on the bench behind Javi Martinez and Mats Hummels for Bayern’s DFB-Pokal semi-final clash with Borussia Dortmund recently. This difficult patch for Boateng does not necessarily mean he’ll quit the club, but he is concerned and Kicker claims he will sit down with Ancelotti at the end of the season to discuss his future.
An interesting detail in the report is that big English and Spanish clubs are interested in the World Cup winner. No names are mentioned, but Boateng was an integral part of Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich side and it makes sense on many levels for Pep to be interested should the former Blue decide to leave.
City are in the market for another centre-back this summer and have been linked with a host of big names, including Leonardo Bonucci, Virgil van Dijk and Aymeric Laporte, but a ‘second coming’ for Jérôme Boateng would have great appeal.
#BoaBack? #JeromeHome? It’s mere speculation at this point, but if Boateng does decide his future lies away from the Allianz Arena, could we see him return to his one and only English club?
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