Why didn’t we go for Renan Lodi?

Lodi signed for Nottingham Forest….What??…. I just could not believe the information. I had to double check it. It just didn’t make sense that a player who was playing regular Champions League football would join a team that was not even guaranteed top division survival. I know it’s just a loan deal, but again it defies logic to me. He is not even on that high of a wages for Atletico to get rid of him.

The question that bothers me even more is how we were not even linked to him. I know that we had rumours for a day, but that was about it. Surely Lodi should have been on the watchlist of our transfer department. We had played against him in the Champions League only last season. The way he cut inside from that left flank and his ability on the ball is something that Pep would surely not have overlooked.

Also, this inverted full back system would be the perfect fit for Lodi. He has very good recovery pace, an extremely good engine and is also very good defensively. An other very important attribute is that he has that recognition of space and an extremely good positional sense. In fact, you could say he is more dynamic than Cucurella in terms of playing sharp one twos and getting out of tight spaces.

This is not a complaint from me about our transfer department. In fact, we have been the best over the last 6 years in terms of bringing in the right players. We have been operating in the market with great values and not budging from our valuation of the players. But, the left back position is something we have not been able to successfully recruit in the Pep era. So, my feeling is more of a puzzling nature regarding our left back pursuit this season.

The counter argument to this would be that Pep has never needed a proper left back for his system. Maybe, Sergio Gomez might turn out to be one of the best left backs under the tutelage of Pep. There are infinite possibilities, specially with Pep Guardiola in charge.

City are known to conduct extensive background checks regarding the player’s attitude and how well he can fit into the dressing room. We never know, but maybe there were a few red flags in that regard. Other wise, I struggle to see how we did not have Lodi ahead of Sosa and Raum in our shortlist