Zabaleta To Leave Manchester City At The End Of The Season
Reuters / Phil Noble
Pablo Zabaleta is set to end his 9-year stint at Manchester City, as the veteran full-back has let the club know that he does not wish to renew his contract come summer.
The 32-year-old Argentine is one of the oldest serving players in the current Citizens squad, and he has made 332 appearances for the blue half of Manchester since joining the club in 2008.
City are preparing to give one of their most loyal players a lovely send-off in the season’s last game at home, when they face West Brom on Tuesday night.
Only Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany have been at Manchester City longer than Zabaleta, who arrived for a modest fee of £6.5m from Espanyol, only a day before Sheikh Mansour was announced the owner of the Citizens in 2008.
The experienced full-back has been one of the most important player for City over the last 9 years. In fact, he was notably chosen as Manchester City’s player of the year for his performances during the 2012-13 campaign.
During his time at the Etihad, Pablo Zabaleta has collected his fair share of silverware. The decorated defender has won 2 Premier League titles, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cups, and 1 FA Community Shield.
Pep Guardiola has shown tremendous faith in the outgoing defender, who has already made 30 appearances this season, and scored 2 goals.
Whoever Manchester City recruit to replace Zabaleta in the summer will surely have big shoes to fill.
Written by Shorya Panwar 
Has 20+ years of experience managing Schalke in Football Manager 2017. Believes wing-backs are the most complete footballers in the modern/evolved football. Writes weird stuff on his personal blog.