Nicolas Otamendi who won plenty of plaudits for his performances for Manchester City during their Premier League-winning campaign, but even then, there are those who were often a little unsure of the Argentinian centre-half.
Those critics have had all of the fuel they could ever need during this year’s World Cup. In the first two group games in particular – against Iceland and Croatia – Otamendi was left wanting as the Argentine defensive unit struggled in a way rarely seen by the two-time World Cup winners.
With goalkeeping issues, right midfielder Eduardo Salvio shoehorned in at right back, the relatively inexperienced Nicolas Tagliafico at left back, Otamendi and fellow centre-back Marcos Rojo were looked at to be the rocks holding the Argentina defence steady. While Rojo won favor by scoring the goal that sent Argentina through to the knockout stages of the tournament, Otamendi has had an extremely disappointing World Cup.