Fernandinho thought little of moving to centre-back this season for Manchester City because his football education prepared him for every position.
Pep Guardiola declared shortly after arriving at the Etihad that he wished he had 10 Fernandinhos , and it has taken three transfer windows to find a suitable replacement for the 34-year-old.
City's manager has deployed the Brazilian in central defence this season as a result of the failure to sign a defender in summer and Aymeric Laporte's injury, and has no plans to move him out despite the fitness of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.
Fernandinho had become an immovable part of the City midfield under Guardiola but his upbringing playing street football gave him a basic understanding of every position that he has carried with him through his career.
“In Brazil it’s very common for players to play on the street in barefoot. They get plastic balls or whatever they can find and use their imagination to create a game of football," he told mancity.com . “Sometimes it’s two against two, sometimes three against three. You get some one against one as well.
“I didn’t really understand the concept of having a position at that time. Sometimes I’d start in goal because I was the youngest, then I played in the backline. Sometimes I would play in midfield and attack and we would rotate so we could play in every position whilst having fun at the same time.
“That helped me a lot when I started to train to become a professional footballer.”
