City are reported to be interested in signing Forest Green midfielder Charlie McCann, as reported by the Daily Record, via The 72.
21-year-old McCann might play for the League Two strugglers, but he is woefully out of place there, given his pedigree. After starting out as a youth at Coventry, he was picked up by Manchester United and spent four years at Old Trafford. In 2021, Scottish giants Rangers came knocking, paying a fee that could rise to £750,000 for his services.
He appeared for their first team, as well as their B team, but last January, Forest Green paid an undisclosed sum for his services. Bear in mind that this is the same window they were reportedly ready to pay £300,000 for Ethan Erhahon, so I’d imagine the fee for McCann was substantial.
Since then, he’s played 32 times for them, scoring once, but only three of those came last season. A bulk of his football has been in League Two, and that’s where the other interest in his services comes from – Notts County are also thought to be chasing his signature.
McCann plays in the centre of the park, but these days, just saying ‘midfielder’ is not enough. He’s a holding midfielder, a CDM or a six, depending on which modern classification you use to describe a position on a pitch. He joined Forest Green after Erhahon turned them down, so it seems he is in a similar bracket to him.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone at @RangersFC for the past 18 months. I have met some amazing people and made some memories that will stay with me forever. I’d like to thank the club for the opportunity they gave me and to the amazing support of the rangers fans💙🤍❤️#watp pic.twitter.com/aScyBpRtkr
— Charlie Mccann (@charliemccann__) January 24, 2023
Looking over his stats, he certainly seems to be a decent passer of the ball – 63.9% accuracy with passes to the final third and 65.9% forward passing accuracy (for reference, Etahn Erhahon is 72% and 73% this season). I think there’s a big element of potential around McCann, and longer term, he would allow us to play a slightly tighter two-man holding midfield, akin to Danny Cowley’s 4-2-3-1 formation of a few seasons ago.
It would make sense – young player, good pedigree and a position we need an additional body. The fee wouldn’t be small, there’s no doubt about that. We’re certainly talking six figures, not close to the John Akinde record, but I’d suggest still a decent outlay. That’s the thing that niggles me – my impression was we’d be doing loans this window unless something special came up.
Is the rumour likely to be solid? It does sound plausible, so I wouldn’t rule it out, but if you’re waiting for a scarf today, I wouldn’t hold your breath.