I cannot see him ‘thriving’ in the premier league. He had a few games where he was the best player on the pitch in the Prem but that was almost 5 years ago and has been under performing since. The way football is now they cannot allow a player a free role just to attack.
At Man City everyone fights hard to win the ball back. No one sits on the halfway line. Same for every top team. He’s not good enough offensively to be forgiven for his defensive issues
Used to back him to the bitter end but I’ve given up with him