Two players are locked together in our poll to discover Manchester City ’s player of the season so far.
Blues fans were invited to rate the performances of the City stars over the first seven months of the campaign – and there was no separating defender Ruben Dias and midfield ace Ilkay Gundogan, tied on 9.2 out of ten.
Dias has been sensational since his £62million move from Benfica, helping to shore up a defence which leaked goals at crucial times last season, and adding leadership to the squad.
Gundogan has been an under-rated member of Pep Guardiola ’s squad since his arrival as the manager’s very first signing in 2016. But his goalscoring streak of 14 goals in the last 23 games for his club has caught the eye and boosted his popularity among supporters.
Gundogan and Dias are the only two players to have topped nine out of ten in our poll, but they are closely followed by a group of players who have all scored eight or more.
Top of that chasing pack is John Stones, who looked to be heading for the exit door at this time last year, suffering from lack of form, personal issues and injury.
He has re-established himself as first choice for both City and England, forging a solid partnership with Dias, and earning a rating of 8.9 out of ten from our readers.
Close behind Stones are Joao Cancelo (8.6), Phil Foden (8.4), Kevin De Bruyne (8.3), Ederson (8.1) and Riyad Mahrez (8.0).
But not every player has delighted the fans, and at the bottom of the heap is Benjamin Mendy, whose future at the club is in question – he is effectively third choice left-back behind Aleks Zinchenko and Cancelo.
That is reflected in his rating of 4.1 out of ten. That is the only rating of less than five other than Eric Garcia, whose decision to leave the club this summer – and Guardiola’s insistence on giving him games nonetheless – irritating some supporters. He was rated as 4.4, below injury-hit stars Nathan Ake (5.0) and Sergio Aguero (5.2).
One player whose rating has plummeted is Raheem Sterling, who picked up just 6.5 out of ten – the same as substitute keeper Zack Steffen.
Sterling’s form has dipped in the last few months – after scoring 31 goals last season he has managed just 13 so far in this campaign and was dropped by Guardiola just before the current international break.
