Brazil's Oscar (L) fights for the ball with Croatia's Ivan Rakitic during the 2014 World Cup opening match at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo June 12, 2014.
Brazil's Oscar (L) fights for the ball with Croatia's Ivan Rakitic during the 2014 World Cup opening match at the Corinthians arena in Sao Paulo June 12, 2014. REUTERS

Field rivals Manchester United and Manchester City are bound to go head to head for the Croatia international, Ivan Rakitic. According to the Express, when Rakitic only signed in the summer for Catalan giants, from Sevilla, there have been many allegations and rumours that he failed to impress manager Barcelona Luis Enrique.

Despite the ace's numerous appearances on and off field, which have amounted to a total of 20 appearances, Rakitic still did not make it straight to the Barcelona's system. According to reports, the Croatia international has attributes that just don't rightfully fit in the Barcelona's system.

Rakitic's failure to get into the Barcelona system has surely put his persona not only under scrutiny from experts, coaches, and game analysts but also put his performance in doubt especially in the immediate future. This will certainly reach Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal and it has been reported that van Gaal would have had the chance of signing in the former Schalke star during the summer. For some reasons, the sign up did not push through.

It's been a common knowledge on field that the Red Devils has an open window come January and knowing that AS Roma will not sell its first choice target Kevin Strootman, Rakitic has the opportunity to be reconsidered. As Manchester United is about to take down Manchester City in the Premier League championship, Rakitic has been seen as the perfect replacement for Frank Lampard who is about to depart from the Manchester United.

One month into the new season back in September, the Croatian and his team were topping the league with five wins and one draw, having scored a total of 17 goals and conceding none. However, Ivan Rakitic still had his fair share of ups and downs as a member of Barcelona. But then again, a £20 million-sign up is all Barcelona could listen to when it comes to buying in Rakitic in the team. That would be around £6 million-a price more than bringing him to Nou Camp.

RELATED STORIES