Blues must make a call on defender

CITY are facing another transfer dilemma with defender Tosin Adarabioyo.

Having been at the club since he was five, the 22-year-old has been a poster boy for the academy and was fast-tracked through the age groups as he rose to the additional challenges and responsibilities.

Pep Guardiola was instantly impressed on arriving at the Etihad in 2016, declaring in his first pre-season that the youngster had what was required to immediately challenge for a first-team place.

But Adarabioyo came close to leaving less than 12 months later on a free transfer after getting just 121 minutes of game time before the club finally agreed terms to keep him.

Three years on and the academy graduate is approaching the final 12 months of that deal after successive years on loan in the Championship with West Brom and Blackburn respectively.

Adarabioyo is expected to finish the campaign at Ewood Park once the season resumes but while his future beyond that is unclear the expectation is that he will be up a division next season after interest from a number of Premier League clubs.

The contract situation has been made more difficult by the ongoing uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

A new contract is not out of the question and the way City handled the situation three years ago shows that they have seen considerable value in him in the past, but there is considerable work to be done to convince him of a first-team future at the Etihad given the events of the last few years.