At the start of the season, left-back seemed like one of the lowest priorities for Manchester City.
Oleksandr Zinchenko looked accomplished in the 5-0 opening-day win at West Ham and set to make the position his own after stepping in during Benjamin Mendy’s injury absence of 2018/19.
Angelino was back from an impressive year at PSV Eindhoven after City exercised a buy-back option, and also looked ready to contribute. And there was Mendy, too, if the Frenchman was able to get a run of games together. But things don’t always go to plan.
Zinchenko hasn’t always convinced in the way Pep Guardiola would have hoped, while Angelino - sent on loan to RB Leipzig in January - has made noises hinting at a desire to stay in Germany for more than just a few months.
Mendy, meanwhile, has stayed relatively healthy, featuring more often than in either of his previous two City campaigns, but there may still be cause for Guardiola to pursue a new left-back option once the transfer window opens.
And if the City boss was watching Saturday’s Bundesliga Revierderby, the answer to his left-back problem may have been staring him in the face.
Dortmund set up with three at the back in their victory over Schalke, with Raphael Guerreiro operating more as a wing-back than an orthodox full-back, so the Portuguese’s two-goal contribution should be assessed in that context.
Nevertheless, the former Lorient man is the sort of player who could offer City a lot in a back four role.
Guardiola has long been a fan of full-backs who get forward and support his attack, be it David Alaba at Bayern Munich or Dani Alves on the right-hand side at Barcelona, and we shouldn’t be too surprised to have seen him attempt to use ZInchenko - a midfielder in his younger days - into a left-back in his City set-up.
Guerreiro is the best of both worlds, playing a more expansive role with Dortmund but also slotting in as a more orthodox left-back during Portugal’s Euro 2016 and 2018 World Cup campaigns.
This season, though, he has seven goals and two assists in the Bundesliga, pointing to someone who is as much an attacking threat as he is a defensive asset.
City’s attacking approach certainly lends itself to an overlapping left-back, or at least one with the capacity to get up and down the pitch at will.
Guerreiro has covered more than 208km in the league this season, and while a couple of team-mates have covered more ground, it is worth noting he has achieved this despite starting just 18 of Dortmund’s 26 league games.
It’s easy to lose count of the number of times Guardiola’s side score their trademark goal - a ball played over the defence from deep and a cut-back from a wide player.
That's why the ability to contribute at both ends of the pitch, especially with a right-footed left-winger like Raheem Sterling in front of you, can be a huge asset for a left-back at the Etihad Stadium.
Additionally, Guerreiro has shown with his attacking play that he could also be an option for the left-wing role in certain games.
City saw the value of using a left-footed player in that role last season when they had a fit Leroy Sane at their disposal, and the addition of a player comfortable anywhere down the left would ensure Guardiola retains that option even if Sane leaves in the summer.
Of course, all of this comes with a huge caveat. The uncertainty over City’s European future means questions remain over both their short-term transfer approach and the willingness of players to go without Champions League football if the club are unsuccessful in appealing against their ban.
However, all things being equal, Guerreiro looks like the ideal player to help City put their left-back woes finally behind them.
