‘Frontrunner’ for Player of the Year – Ruben Dias

So how exactly did Ruben Dias even end up at Manchester City? The signing of the season wasn’t even meant to happen believe it or not, the Portuguese international was third on Pep Guardiola’s shopping list.

Guardiola and City’s hierarchy opted for 29-year-old Kalidou Koulibaly originally, but their negotiations with Napoli, who they have a bit of history with regarding transfers, went south and they had to look elsewhere.

Next in line for the blue side of Manchester was Jules Koundé who looked all but certain to be the next name on the long list of defenders that Pep has brought to England.

However, Sevilla were unwilling to accept Nicolas Otamendi as part of the deal, whereas Benfica were. That seemed to be what tipped the scales in Dias’ favour as it meant City could offload some deadwood while also lowering the already hefty price tag to £65m.

There was a lot of talk around the club, primarily by fans that this was not the signing for a side who wanted to win their third Premier League title in four years and that the City hierarchy had let Pep down by settling for their third choice.

It’s safe to say, no one around the club is complaining anymore.

Dias has simply oozed confidence from the moment he stepped foot in England as the Portuguese international boasted that he: “was looking sharp” when he first arrived in Manchester.

Just days after the transfer was completed, the City boss threw Dias in at the deep end and handed him his debut start against Leeds, which resulted in a 1-1 draw.

Bearing in mind he had only been in England a matter of days, City’s new #3 held his own very well, especially considering City had just conceded five goals at home to Brendan Rodger’s Leicester City the weekend before.

After 23 games in the league, Guardiola’s side have only conceded 14 goals, seven of which came within their opening three games of the season. If you want to be extra picky and exclude penalties, three of which came in the Leicester game, City have only conceded nine open play goals.

Dias is arguably the best centre half in the world at the moment, with Virgil Van Dijk out for the entire season. He has also formed statistically the best defence in Europe, alongside his partner, John Stones.

However, thanks to Dias’ impact and leadership the two have proved the perfect fit for each other. They have started 13 games together this season and they have only conceded two goals during that time.

One of those goals was a 92nd-minute consolation goal in a 3-1 away win at Stamford Bridge and the other was a Mohammed Salah penalty in a 4-1 win at Anfield.

If you need any further proof of Dias’ impact on City’s defence, the Sky Blues had not won at Anfield for 18 years, Dias’ first visit there he won 4-1.

Stones and Dias are the perfect combination because the Portuguese centre half is a real leader and a complete out and out defender, he has even said:

“I’m a defender. I’m there to defend. Nowadays the idea is that a defender needs to do much more. My focus has always been on becoming better and doing more but I’ve never forgotten that, first of all, I’m a defender. If not me, then who else will take pride from defending? It gives me pleasure to make the other team feel powerless.”

Whereas the Englishman is a ball-playing defender who is constantly looking to build the play. The former Everton man has always given the impression that he needs a leader next to him to help his overall game; Dias is that man.

Everyone expected it to be Aymeric Laporte who would partner City’s summer signing, and it seems like he did as well, which is something Guardiola didn’t like.

It is no secret that the Spaniard does not tolerate complacency, which is what happened to Laporte, the Frenchman became lazy and thought there was no pressure for his starting spot.

In City’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in November it also seemed as if there was a clash of personalities between Dias and Laporte, almost as if the latter did not take very well to being the man following orders rather than giving them.

Between game week four (Dias’ second game in a City shirt) and game week 23, the league leaders never accumulated a higher xGA (expected goals against) than 1.0, over a three-game rolling average.

As you can see by this graph, in their opening three games Man City were conceding more than their xG tally shows they should have been. But ever since Dias’ debut the only time they have conceded more than expected was the GW7-GW9 when they drew 1-1 to Liverpool and lost 2-0 Spurs.

Former Liverpool centre half and Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Carragher is one of many to have praised the 23-year-old, saying:

“Manchester City’s Ruben Dias may be on the verge of joining the elite group of centre-halves named Player of the Year.

The strikers usually get the glory. Based on the criteria the award should go to someone who has had the single biggest impact on the destiny of the Premier League title. That makes Dias the current frontrunner.”

According to the bookies, he is an outsider for the award at 9/1.

Dias has helped steer City top of the league by seven points with a game in hand. He is also a key reason City have broken a top-flight English football record of 15 consecutive wins in all competitions, this has now since been extended to 16.

Ederson is sitting at the top of the table for clean sheets (14) and will be hoping to add another golden glove to his cabinet with many thanks to the immense protection Dias has provided.

Something that may not seem all that impressive and/or a big deal, Dias was given a much-needed rest when Pep and co. travelled to Cheltenham for their fourth-round FA Cup fixture.

However, when the visitors went 1-0 down Pep opted to bring on Dias almost immediately, rather than throwing on all of his attacking power. City went on to win the game 3-1. This testifies best to Dias’ influence, that his manager trusted him to have an impact on the game, even from the defence. It’s almost as if his presence just filled the City players with confidence.

His presence has done just that to everyone around him, Stones’ all-round game massively improved, Joao Cancelo is now City’s preferred right-back over Kyle Walker. Oleksander Zinchenko who also looked on his way out in the summer has made the left-back position his own.

All three of these players were out of favour at the end of the last season, but Dias’ positivity and leadership has helped them all immensely.

Ever since City hosted Newcastle United at the Etihad on Boxing Day, Pep has integrated a 3-1-3-3 formation, which he was never able to do before because he didn’t have enough reassurance from his defence, but with Dias at the back he hasn’t hesitated to use, and this new formation is a vital piece of City’s success.