You and me both!
I think Pep and Khaldoon believe they need a player who is under 25 if they are going to spend real money and give a 5 year deal. That allows some sell on at 29, if needed, or an extension at 28.5 if the player has shown desire, ability, and a good record of being available to play when needed.
We are not onl6 building a world class project at the first team level and Academy, but trying to attract world class personalities that will mesh with the kind of team spirit Pep wants. In addition, Pep is ruthless. You don’t cross him and live to tell about it. People think Fergie was a ruthless dictator, and he showed his temper regularly, but I think Pep is the proverbial iron hand in the velvet glove. He doesn’t give second chances to people who diss him and, if Sanchez has waivered from the deal they clearly had, that’s Sánchez done, over, finito, dead to him. Coincidentally, I think Khaldoon and our owner are EXACTLY the same way! They pays their money, they makes their choice.
City are not fucking around. If this plays out the way it looks like it is going to, with Sanchez going somewhere else, City’s actions and comments will have put every other player who wants to even try to fuck them about on notice: “We are City...don’t fuck with us.”