Loan Signing Profile - Christian Ribeiro

Paul Binning, proprietor of the excellent Bristol City site 'The Exiled Robin' gives his view on United's latest arrival.


Players tend to go out on loan for one of two reasons.  Either they are no longer required by their parent club but aren’t an attractive enough proposition to sell, or they’re young and need games to develop their experience and confidence.

The ones who have most success whilst borrowed tend to be the latter and Christian Ribiero certainly falls into that category.  The vast majority of Bristol City fans view this move as just that and would be disappointed if it was the beginning of the end for the popular Welshman at Ashton Gate.

A key reason Ribiero isn’t a regular starter at Ashton Gate is due to wretched luck with injuries.  He suffered a cruciate ligament injury just half an hour into his debut which put him out of action for more than a year and recently spent a few months out with back and hamstring injuries.  

A strong defender, he is decent in the air, has pace and good defensive qualities.  Ribiero has generally played at right-back for City but probably looked at his best when played on the right-hand side of three centre-halves.  This tends to cut out his biggest weakness, which is being caught out of position, generally due to a fondness for bombing forward from the full back position.  Playing at right-back he also tends to drift into perhaps his more natural central position, leaving left-wingers with far too much time and space.

On the plus side, he is one of the better full-backs we’ve seen when going forward in recent times and certainly doesn’t suffer from the metaphorical nosebleed, often showing composure and no little skill when threatening the opposition’s back line.

Linked with Everton before he’d made a first-team appearance, the fact that he has been capped twice for Wales shows his raw talent, as with fewer than 30 games under his belt for City he has had little chance to impress – everyone at the club will be hoping he can have a run of games at Brunton Park and come back ready to challenge for a first-team spot.