VINCENT KOMPANY

did not just turn his back on the most successful club in English football by electing to become player-manager of Anderlecht — he rejected one of the biggest contracts in sports broadcasting. His retirement would have seen him snowed under with offers from major networks — as the first big name out of Sheik Mansour era Manchester City, he could have named his price. The problem with City’s success is that it is all too new. They have now won more trophies in Mansour’s tenure as they did in the 114 years before he arrived. Meaning those free to discuss City are from a bygone age. Mike Summerbee, Shaun Goater, Richard Dunne — what do they truly know of City as it is now? Kompany was that missing link. Plus, he is an urbane black man, strong-minded and intelligent, qualified to speak on all the major issues in today’s game. It was as if he was built to specification at punditry central. And he’s turned his back on it all. One imagines, privately, City will be as frustrated as anybody. Not for the first time, he was going to be their main man.