Man City's owners paying themselves £30m to land huge talent was a no brainer

Sir Alex Ferguson coined the phrase “twisted blood” when describing the ordeal defenders experienced trying to mark Ryan Giggs.

And on Wednesday night Sparta Prague’s Matej Rynes knew exactly what he meant as he tried - and failed - to shackle Savinho.

Marking Savinho is like trying to nail jelly to a wall and he played in fast-forward mode as he flitted one direction and then the other on ’s right flank.

The Brazilian is a ball of energy and even when he lost the ball to Angelo Preciado, he chased him down within a few strides to win it back. He skinned Rynes and cut the ball back from the byline, but Sparta goalkeeper Peter Vindahl saved his cross.

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Savinho then cut inside from Rico Lewis’ ball and dragged his left-foot shot well wide. He weighed in with an assist for Erling Haaland’s first goal, a spectacular backheel, as the floodgates eventually opened for City.

All Rynes could do to try and stop Savinho was foul him and it was a long night for the Czech. Savinho is the new Riyad Mahrez for the Blues and a real poster boy for the City Football Group.

The South American signed for City’s French sister club Troyes in 2022 from Atletico Mineiro in his homeland and was loaned out to PSV Eindhoven.

His time there was blighted by injury before he enjoyed his breakthrough season at City’s Spanish sister club Girona. Savinho scored nine times and contributed 10 assists as Girona came from nowhere to finish third last season.

It came as little surprise when he moved to the Etihad, with the CFG agreeing to pay themselves £30.8million.

Nailing down a place in City’s stellar attack is not easy, but he has the talent to make that right-wing berth his over the next few seasons.

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