Wednesday morning brought the widely anticipated news that Aymeric Laporte (£6.5m) faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The Manchester City centre-half was stretchered off with a knee injury in the first half of Saturday’s win over Brighton and Hove Albion and has since undergone surgery, with the reigning league champions reporting that Laporte had damaged his “cartilage and lateral meniscus”.
No timeframe was put on his return by the club but widespread media reports suggest the French stopper will not return until 2020.
Who will replace Laporte at the back, then?
On paper, the Citizens only have two remaining orthodox centre-halves on the books: John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi (both £5.4m).
However, Fernandinho (£5.3m) featured in defence for a handful of games last season and has been training as a centre-half for the past few weeks.
With Stones sidelined with a thigh injury, the Brazilian was the man brought on alongside Otamendi on Saturday when Laporte was carried from the field of play.
Fernandinho said after full-time:
I’ve been training in this position the last couple of weeks. We still have two centre-backs but I can play in this position.
John was injured, Laporte comes off and I was the only one on the bench. It’s not a secret for me. The key is just to understand the concept of the way we have to play. The movements and the pace we use in games. It was my first time and I hope I can improve and do better next time.
Head coach Pep Guardiola said of the prospects of the Brazilian at centre-back:
He needs some processes, defensively especially. He is intelligent with a lot of experience and we will work with him. Unfortunately, we cannot right now because of the international break but we are going to work on it. We need him in this position.
Meanwhile, Guardiola said that he would have no hesitation in playing Kyle Walker (£6.0m) out of position.
Walker has featured in a back three for his club and country but never as a centre-half in a back four.
Guardiola said on Saturday:
It is what it is. It’s happened and the other guys will make a step forward. If one day I need to put Kyle Walker as a central defender, he is going to play there.
Laporte was the mainstay of the City defence last season, starting all but one Premier League match that he was fully fit for – a muscle injury affecting his capacity to play in Gameweeks 28 to 30.
In this article, we will look at the games in which Laporte didn’t feature at centre-half, including the handful of matches he started at left-back.
Walker didn’t feature at centre-half in a ‘two’ once for City last season, so we will not cover him in the below analysis.
We will pay particular attention to who deputised as the left-sided centre-half, as it is this position that Laporte has occupied since his arrival in Manchester.
The results of each fixture are also included, with City’s score always first.
Premier League
Gameweek 15 – Watford (a) 2-1
Centre-half pairing: Kompany (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: benched, used as a substitute
Otamendi: benched, used as a substitute
Fernandinho: central midfield
Gameweek 21 – Liverpool (h) 2-1
Centre-half pairing: Kompany (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: left-back
Otamendi: benched, used as a substitute
Fernandinho: central midfield
Double Gameweek 25 – Arsenal (h) 3-1
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Fernandinho (R)
Laporte: left-back
Stones: benched, used as a substitute
Kompany: injured, not in squad
Double Gameweek 25 – Everton (a) 2-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: left-back
Fernandinho: central midfield
Kompany: injured, not in squad
Gameweek 28 – West Ham United (h) 1-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Kompany (R)
Laporte: injured, not in squad
Fernandinho: injured, not in squad
Stones: injured, not in squad
Gameweek 29 – Bournemouth (a) 1-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: injured, not in squad
Fernandinho: injured, not in squad
Kompany: benched, used as a substitute
Gameweek 30 – Watford (h) 3-1
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Kompany (R)
Laporte: benched, unused substitute
Fernandinho: injured, not in squad
Stones: injured, not in squad
| Player | Starts at LCB | Starts at RCB | On the bench | Injured | Starts in CM |
| Otamendi | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Stones | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Kompany | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Fernandinho | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
UEFA Champions League
Group Stage, Matchday 2 – Hoffenheim (a) 2-1
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Kompany (R)
Laporte: left-back
Fernandinho: central midfield
Stones: benched, used as a substitute
Round of 16, first leg – Schalke (a) 3-2
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Fernandinho (R)
Laporte: left-back
Kompany: benched, used as a substitute
Stones: injured, not in squad
| Player | Starts at LCB | Starts at RCB | On the bench | Injured | Starts in CM |
| Otamendi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stones | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kompany | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Fernandinho | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Domestic Cups
FA Cup third round – Rotherham United (h) 7-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: benched, unused substitute
Fernandinho: benched, unused substitute
Kompany: injured, not in squad
FA Cup fourth round – Burnley (h) 5-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: benched, unused substitute
Fernandinho: central midfield
Kompany: injured, not in squad
FA Cup fifth round – Newport County (a) 4-1
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: benched, used as a substitute
Fernandinho: central midfield
Kompany: injured, not in squad
EFL Cup third round – Oxford United (a) 3-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Kompany (R)
Stones: central midfield
Laporte: benched, unused substitute
Fernandinho: rested, not in squad
EFL Cup fourth round – Fulham (h) 2-0
Centre-half pairing: Kompany (L) and Stones (R)
Laporte: rested, not in squad
Fernandinho: rested, not in squad
Otamendi: injured, not in squad
EFL Cup quarter-finals – Leicester City (a) 1-1
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Garcia (R)
Laporte: rested, not in squad
Fernandinho: injured, not in squad
Stones: central midfield
Kompany: injured, not in squad
EFL Cup semi-finals, first leg – Burton Albion (h) 9-0
Centre-half pairing: Otamendi (L) and Garcia (R)
Laporte: rested, not in squad
Fernandinho: rested, not in squad
Stones: benched, unused substitute
Kompany: injured, not in squad
EFL Cup semi-finals, second leg – Burton Albion (h) 1-0
Centre-half pairing: Garcia (L) and Sandler (R)
Laporte: rested, not in squad
Fernandinho: rested, not in squad
Stones: benched, unused substitute
Kompany: injured, not in squad
Otamendi: rested, not in squad
| Player | Starts at LCB | Starts at RCB | On the bench | Injured | Rested/not in squad | Starts in CM |
| Otamendi | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Stones | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kompany | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Fernandinho | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| Garcia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Sandler | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Final Thoughts
Otamendi seems to be the clear understudy for Laporte, then.
In the 17 competitive matches that the Frenchman didn’t start in his usual position, Otamendi deputised as the left-sided centre-back in 13 of them.
Vincent Kompany stood in for Laporte on three occasions but of course has now left the club, while youngster Eric Garcia was the only other defender on the books who filled in as a left-sided centre-back (in the dead rubber of an EFL Cup semi-final, second leg against Burton Albion) in 2018/19.
Not since 2016/17 has Stones started a City league match as the left-sided centre-half, while on the two occasions that Fernandinho played in defence last season, he played as a right-sided centre-back.
Fitness-permitting, Stones and Otamendi will likely be the default pairing, with Fernandinho (and Walker, if necessary) chipping in with the occasional run-out.
Otamendi’s capacity to play on the left side of the central defence would seem to make him the more attractive, more secure option from a Fantasy perspective, although Guardiola would surely have to consider someone else in that position for the odd game or two given that City are also competing in the Champions League and Carabao Cup.
