Boubakary Soumare has become a hit on loan at Sevilla and is said to be wanted permanently by the La Liga club, but he has qualities Maresca was asking for during the transfer window

Enzo Maresca didn’t even get one new midfielder in January, never mind the two he wanted. While Stefano Sensi was the priority and the man City came very close to signing, he’d have been accompanied by a more physically-imposing signing if Maresca had had his way and financial restrictions did not have to be considered.

In every game bar one in the first half of the season, one of Wilfred Ndidi or Cesare Casadei started. Come January, Ndidi was injured and Casadei was back at Chelsea, leaving Maresca with a hole to fill.

When City drew at home to Ipswich, Maresca rued that he didn’t have a “different kind of player” to bring off the bench to help see out the win. He later clarified that what he meant was someone with more physicality.

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With Ndidi potentially out until April, Maresca is having to make do. Dennis Praet, Yunus Akgun, and Kasey McAteer have all been given a chance but it is the former that seems to be the favourite for now, Praet starting more regularly, with Maresca admitting he brings a little more physicality compared to his current rivals. The Belgian has been growing in effectiveness too.

But there is actually a physical midfielder on City’s books who is fit and regularly playing well. It’s just he’s doing it on loan at Sevilla.

Yes, Boubakary Soumare is now a La Liga regular. The City midfielder broke into the Sevilla side for a draw with Real Madrid in October for the first of 14 appearances in the starting line-up across their last 17 matches.

Soumare’s performances have now reached a level of quality and consistency where the noises coming out of Spain are about how Sevilla will look to balance their budget to be able to afford to sign him permanently in the summer. The club are said to be “delighted” with how he’s playing, according to Spanish media.

But given his build, City may consider giving him a closer look first before offloading him back to Spain. Of course, it’s all dependent on, firstly, City getting promoted, and secondly, Soumare wanting to stick around, which he may not after such a run of matches at Sevilla. But if he’s willing to give it a go, Maresca may do so too.

It’s not that Soumare is playing as Maresca would need him to at this moment. At Sevilla, the Frenchman is at the base of the midfield. From there, he’s showing good progression stats both with his passing and ball-carrying.

Maresca would need him to offer more attacking qualities higher up the pitch, moments of fleet-footedness in tight spaces, a willingness to get into the box and attack crosses, and the tactical intelligence to make well-timed runs beyond the striker to stretch the pitch.

It’s not known if Soumare can do any of those things, but the feeling before this season started was that Wilfred Ndidi wasn’t capable of such a role either, and yet Maresca has helped to adapt him. If Soumare is open to it, it feels Maresca potentially could draw the right qualities out of him.

Over the two years Soumare was at City, there were fleeting moments of how good he could be, 20-minute periods where he dominated games, surging past his markers with ease. The task was always to get him to deliver those qualities on a more consistent basis.

Maresca may feel he can be the manager to do that. If he did, and there were promising signs in pre-season, it would save City a good chunk of money they could spend elsewhere. If not, they will hope that his performances this season can at the very least attract a decent fee that can go towards getting Maresca the player he wants.