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In the wake of recent news about Sergio Aguero leaving Manchester City at the start of the season, we start to refute the 2011/12 Premier League winning side.
Part three focuses on the midfielders, what have they gone on to do since lifting the Premier League title and where are they now?
Believe it or not, City’s midfield didn’t just consist of Yaya Toure, David Silva and Samir Nasri that season. There were a lot more midfielders who helped City triumph over their biggest rivals, but some of them left and were forgotten about immediately, so who exactly were they and what did they do?
Yaya Toure
Toure is one of the few from this side who is remembered as a legend for the blue side of Manchester. The Ivorian joined the Citizens in 2010, two years prior to the sensational last day of the season against QPR.
The City midfielder contributed massively to the title win, with 13 goal contributions in the Premier League. Two of his most notable goals came against Newcastle United in the penultimate game of the season, in a 2-0 away win, which set City up perfectly for what everyone expected to be a comfortable final day.
Toure went on to stay at City for another six years after that season, peaking in the 2013/14 season, pushing Player of the Year winner, Luis Suarez, all the way to the award. He also scored a screamer against Sunderland in the League Cup Final, just months before lifting his second Premier League title.
The former Barcelona player eventually left City in 2018, after winning three Premier League titles, two League Cups, one FA Cup and one Community Shield.
He then went to Olympiakos for a year and ended up finishing his career in China, playing for Qingdao Huanghai.
Denis Suarez
Many people may know Suarez now as he has played for quite a few clubs since his brief spell in Manchester. The Spanish midfielder signed for the Citizens for a fee of £900,000. He only ever made two senior appearances for City and primarily played for under-23s.
The next step in his career was to Barcelona, where he played for their B side. Suarez then went onto bounce around several clubs in Spain, having spells at Sevilla (on loan), signing permanently at Villarreal and then coming back to Barcelona a year later. He then had a six-month loan spell, this time at Arsenal in 2019, where he made six appearances.
The 27-year-old ended his loan spell at the Emirates and signed for Celta de Vigo for around £15 million.
Abdul Razak
Razak’s career isn’t as glamorous as the other players on this list, unfortunately. After moving to Manchester in 2010, he failed to settle down at any club he joined.
He has failed to make more than 30 appearances at any club in his career, his most capped club is his current club, second-tier Swedish side, Örgryte IS, with 29 appearances.
The 28-year-old has also had spells at Portsmouth, Charlton Athletic, Brighton and Hove Albion and Doncaster Rovers.
David Pizarro
Pizarro spent the majority of his career, overseas, primarily in Italy. He accumulated just under 30,000 minutes in his time in Serie A.
He had long spells at Roma and Udinese, while also featuring for Inter Milan and Fiorentina while having a year-long loan spell at the Sky Blues in 2012.
He featured in a City shirt five times and provided one assist, before ending his loan spell at the end of the 2011/12 season.
After he decided his time in Italy was up, he moved back to his home country, Chile, to play for two of his former clubs, Santiago Wanderers and Universidad de Chile.
Samir Nasri
Nasri enjoyed a six-year stay in Manchester, after moving up North, from Arsenal in 2011. The French international helped City to their first league title in 44 years by providing 14 goal contributions in his opening season.
City’s #19 turned #8, had a successful career in Manchester, winning two Premier League titles, a League Cup and a Community Shield.
Nasri was vital to the League Cup win as well, as he scored a beautiful goal in the Final to put his side 2-1 up, as they eventually went onto win 3-1. He also received the Man of the Match award for his stellar performance in that match.
The 33-year-old’s career took a sudden turn for the worse after he fell out with Pep Guardiola almost immediately. He was sent out on loan to Sevilla and since then has failed to settle down at any club.
He has played for Antalyaspor, West Ham United and Anderlecht since permanently leaving Guardiola’s side, either side of his ban.
Nigel De Jong
In his time in the Premier League, De Jong made a name for himself as a typical, ‘hardcore’ midfielder, the type who abused their strength and would make their presence known.
The 36-year-old joined the Sky Blues in 2008, for £16 million and made Manchester his home for four years, before he was sold to AC Milan shortly after collecting his Premier League winners medal.
The Dutch midfielder has explored the world while playing his football, his transfers have taken him to the USA playing for LA Galaxy, to Turkey playing for Galatasaray, Germany while he played for Mainz and his most two recent clubs, have taken him to Qatar.
David Silva
Everyone is more than likely, well aware of David Silva’s career since the 2011/12 season but it won’t hurt to have a recap of such a brilliant player’s career. The Spaniard came to City in 2010 and spent the entire decade in England.
Silva bid an emotional farewell to the Citizens at the end of 2020/21 as he joined Real Sociedad, where he went on to help them win the Copa Del Rey.
The 35-year-old’s legacy in England is up there with the best, he helped spearhead City to four Premier League titles in his 10 years, while also collecting five League Cups, two FA Cups and a World Cup and two European Championships for Spain in that time.
Silva will be fondly remembered for the way he dictated the play, created chances and the way he oozed class while he did it.
He is one of the most elegant midfielders to play in the Premier League and pundits, former players, managers and just everyone in football acknowledges the influence he had on the sport.
City’s #21 received a lot of credit throughout 2017/18 as he was playing some of his best football, despite his newborn baby son, Mateo, struggling for his life after being born after just 25 weeks.
Arguably one of the highlights of his career is when his wife brought Mateo to the Etihad for the first game of the 2018/19 season and he scored a beautiful free-kick to show his son, just how good his Dad is.
James Milner
After playing for Aston Villa for two years, Milner joined City in 2010, where he enjoyed a five-year stay, winning two Premier Leagues, an FA Cup and a League Cup.
Milner was generally liked by City fans, as he played just over 200 games for the club, producing 64 goal contributions. The way he left the club to join Liverpool, by saying he left to win trophies, angered the blue side of Manchester.
Milner did eventually win trophies at Liverpool, but it took him longer than he would have anticipated, as his former club just got the edge over the Merseyside club to the 2018/19 Premier League title, before Milner won the 2018/19 Champions League and the Premier League the year after.
Gareth Barry
Gareth Barry joined City one year before his former Villa teammate, in 2009, after making an impressive 433 appearances for the club. The English midfielder went onto make 175 appearances for Man City, while also winning his only two major trophies in that stint, a Premier League and an FA Cup.
Although City is the club he served the second-longest, his career in the Premier League was far from over, as he went on a season-long loan to Everton during the 2013/14 season, before signing permanently for the Toffees in 2014.
After his four years at Everton, he went onto finish his career at West Bromwich Albion, for which he made 61 appearances, which made him the highest capped player in Premier League history, with 653, overtaking Ryan Giggs’ tally of 632.
Owen Hargreaves
Hargreaves switched the red of Manchester United, to the blue of Manchester City in 2011. He signed for the club on a one-year deal but only made four appearances in a Sky Blue shirt.
Despite being a City player for the 2011/12 season, he did not qualify for a Premier League winners medal.
The former Bayern Munich player announced his retirement in 2012. Since then he has become one of BT Sports’ pundits.
So as you can tell, even though City won the 2011/12 league title in such a fantastic fashion, not everyone’s careers went the same way. Some players made bigger things in their careers, while others faded away. Some became legends at City, others ended their careers with the Sky Blues, while others were just getting their careers started.
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