Jamie Redknapp

But to be fair to him, he's really grown.

Now, they have missed him in midfield in that holding midfield role, but signing a new contract, it was always a bit of a formality in terms of appearances and that kind of thing.

But most importantly, both parties, both the player and the club, really wanted him to stay for another year.

And on that basis, I think that he's a hugely important part of the squad because he brings leadership as well as much as anything.

They've lacked for leaders in the absence of Vincent Kompany.

And Fernandinho absolutely is the one player that you can guarantee will knit that dressing room together.

Yeah, relatively so.

I mean, look, we've got this bit of news out today where you follow some reports in Brazil that this promising youngster, Jan Couto, fullback, part of the Brazilian Under-17 World Cup winners last year, City have moved ahead of Barcelona in the race to sign him, which would be a huge coup, wouldn't it?

Because certainly according to the reports in Brazil, Barcelona were all set to sign him.

conversations I've had here in Manchester today tell me that actually City have now managed to get ahead of Barcelona.

They have, by the sounds of it, bid more money.

The deal could rise to up to £12 million depending on how he performs.

But the point is they've got this global scouting strategy.

They're trying to bring in the hottest prospects in the world, as we've seen Barcelona do for many, many years.

And if they're able to actually beat Barcelona to a sign like this, I think it'll be a huge coup.

So the player at the moment, he's only 17, so he can't officially sign for City.

But what they can do is they can sign a pre-contract agreement so that when he turns 18 in June, he will officially join the club.

And as I say, City moving ahead of Barcelona and other Premier League clubs that were interested in him.

So yeah, great day in that respect.

It's a funny one.