Kompany deal confirmed

City confirm the signing of Vincent Kompany on a four year deal, for an undisclosed fee.

His interview on the official site is good: he seems pretty thoughtful and his English is immaculate. The most interesting development is that he says he will be playing holding midfield:

“I’ve been told that I’m going to play as a defensive midfielder. I like this position a lot so I’m absolutely happy with that. But as I said I can play as a central defender as well and if the job needs to be done there then I can do that as well as anyone else and still bring something to the team, if that's in the interests of the team I will do it as well. It’s up to the coach right now.”

This makes most sense. We may well need a left back, but not yet another centre half. Knowing that he'll start off in midfield means we can ignore those resurrected claims in the Mail that Corluka's move to White Hart Line is back on.

I don't really know how good Kompany actually is. In the last twenty four hours I've had quite a few conversations with friends, always establishing how good he is on Football Manager but never how good he is football. He seems to be immensely talented, but rather injury prone. He made 6 Bundesliga starts in 2006/07 and 18 in 2007/08. 101greatgoals has a helpful article here. There is a YouTube from 101greatgoals below.

The only point I can really make relates to his experience. He has played in the Champions League for both Anderlecht and Hamburg and has 23 full caps for Belgium. He won Belgian Footballer of the Year 2004/05, Young Player of the Year 2003/04 and 2004/05, and the Golden Shoe for 2004. And, born in April 1986, he's two months younger than Corluka, and only a few months older than Ireland and Fernandes.