It's Quiet thread 14 - 'do one' edition

[domalino]

We have supposedly had something 'massive' on the go for a while.

I do wonder if it is Messi again.

I hope not. Squad needs major improvement.

We've seen at Juventus that one big star player isn't enough.

No one in the world, quite possibly in history, unlocks a parked bus like Messi.

So I suppose you could say he'd fix our issues because it wouldn't matter if we went 1-0 behind and they paked the bus, we'd just batter it down. It's what he's done for Barcelona for the past 4 years with a much worse supporting cast than ours.

His pressing and defensive numbers are like Silva's 3 years ago, so with an organised energetic team around him it would work.

I'm still not sold on it entirely though. It would have to come off perfectly to be worth the money and the outrage.

I don't know what it is, there's just something stopping me from 100% getting on board with Messi, even though the positives are so huge.

 

[hgblue]

We have supposedly had something 'massive' on the go for a while.

I do wonder if it is Messi again.

I’m hoping it’s Kane. Would be a major statement and an immense addition.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

dybala?!!

It is actually Messi mate. I was told something couple months back about an approach from his side, some whispers in Abu Dhabi.

Just didn't say anything apart from on PMs.

I mean, it's Messi FFS and heard it all before, so didn't want to put much faith in it.

 

[domalino]

It is actually Messi mate. I was told something couple months back about an approach from his side, some whispers in Abu Dhabi.

Just didn't say anything apart from on PMs.

I mean, it's Messi FFS and heard it all before, so didn't want to put much faith in it.

Whelp, here we go again!

 

[mccity]

I think we are really overlooking that when we did 100 points, we had a makeshift lb, I think that season the reason we didn't concede a lot of goals was Fernandinho he was everywhere in midfield won so much in that midfield that season which helped our defence immensely, we don't have that anymore no power or aggression in that CDM position.

Fernandinho did his role really impressively, but the real difference maker was having Ederson and Walker, as well as Otamendi and Stones stepping up (although Fern helped those two too). Having that assured defence meant we could push up; something we've had issues with season; and squeeze the game, letting Fern dominate. But it's worth remembering that the next season, with a different makeshift LB, we won 14 games on the bounce and had a mightily impressive defensive record with largely Gundogan instead of Fernandinho.

You compare this season and Pep's first with the two in the middle and the big difference is that in the two title winning seasons for the most part our CBs were of a very high quality in performance. In 16/17 and this season barring a brief Kompany/Otamendi partnership at the end of the 16/17 season we've had all sorts of issues in the middle. In 16/17 we had the Bravo problem too, and a real bad fullback situation which hit a nadir with Fernandinho at LB.

I don't want to take anything away from Fernandinho because he was such a key player in our successes then, but I believe our success came from the defence giving the midfield and attack licence to press and dominate.

 

[I'm Blue]

It is actually Messi mate. I was told something couple months back about an approach from his side, some whispers in Abu Dhabi.

Just didn't say anything apart from on PMs.

I mean, it's Messi FFS and heard it all before, so didn't want to put much faith in it.

Who wouldn’t want Messi?
The only sticking point for me would be the wages he’d demand/deserve.
Would it upset the rest of our top players/earners?
I’d be buzzing either way and straight out to get my Messi shirt : )

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Whelp, here we go again!

 

[argyle]

It is actually Messi mate. I was told something couple months back about an approach from his side, some whispers in Abu Dhabi.

Just didn't say anything apart from on PMs.

I mean, it's Messi FFS and heard it all before, so didn't want to put much faith in it.

Would be a mistake, imo.

With the money that would be spent why not at least try for Mbappe?

Or even better bring in more players to improve all the weaknesses in the squad.

 

[mccity]

It is actually Messi mate. I was told something couple months back about an approach from his side, some whispers in Abu Dhabi.

Just didn't say anything apart from on PMs.

I mean, it's Messi FFS and heard it all before, so didn't want to put much faith in it.

Can you say this again but with a video?

Edit: Nevermind

 

[mccity]

Would be a mistake, imo.

With the money that would be spent why not at least try for Mbappe?

Or even better bring in more players to improve all the weaknesses in the squad.

There's a negative percentage chance Mbappe comes to City, it's maths defying. If PSG ran out of money and had to sell and we were the highest bidder he'd still not come. I don't know why but as long as there'd be other clubs interested he'd pass.

 

[domalino]

Maybe Arteta will have impressed enough at Arsenal to warrant consideration in a few years time, but not yet.

There's a negative percentage chance Mbappe comes to City, it's maths defying. If PSG ran out of money and had to sell and we were the highest bidder he'd still not come. I don't know why but as long as there'd be other clubs interested he'd pass.

Messi would be a lot cheaper than Mbappe anyway.

Messi can leave with no transfer fee, so you immediately save £200m++.

Messi would bring in sponsors in a way Mbappe just wouldn't. You can't understate the draw of probably the most famous athlete on the planet.

PSG are already talking about upping Mbappe to Ronaldo/Neymar levels of salary - about €40m a year - and we wouldn't get him signed for cheaper.

 

[borassic]

We have supposedly had something 'massive' on the go for a while.

I do wonder if it is Messi again.

rag

 

[RayCTID]

Mbappe is the fresher player though.

 

[i8rags]

It is actually Messi mate. I was told something couple months back about an approach from his side, some whispers in Abu Dhabi.

Just didn't say anything apart from on PMs.

I mean, it's Messi FFS and heard it all before, so didn't want to put much faith in it.

What kind of fee would he command?

 

[01cravend]

Messi would come in on like 4x what Kev is on. That leads to Kev saying hang on a minute I'm regarded as one of the top 5 players in Europe right now I want closer to what he's on. Then it snowballs and we have the highest wage bill in Europe with absolutely no hope of shifting any of the players we are paying mad wages to... It's not happening

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Would be a mistake, imo.

With the money that would be spent why not at least try for Mbappe?

Or even better bring in more players to improve all the weaknesses in the squad.

Because Mbappe has no interest in playing for us.

Messi seemingly does.

No other player pays for himself outside of fake Ronaldo.

 

[domalino]

Messi would come in on like 4x what Kev is on. That leads to Kev saying hang on a minute I'm regarded as one of the top 5 players in Europe right now I want closer to what he's on. Then it snowballs and we have the highest wage bill in Europe with absolutely no hope of shifting any of the players we are paying mad wages to... It's not happening

That's not really how it works though. Messi was on 5x the salary of Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets and Villa when they were undisputedly the best players in the world.

The thing about Messi is that every single player who walks on to a training ground immediately describes him as being on a completely different planet. They know how much better he is than them, more than we could ever understand.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Messi would come in on like 4x what Kev is on. That leads to Kev saying hang on a minute I'm regarded as one of the top 5 players in Europe right now I want closer to what he's on. Then it snowballs and we have the highest wage bill in Europe with absolutely no hope of shifting any of the players we are paying mad wages to... It's not happening

I'm pretty sure Messi would get his money somehow.

As would Kev, by whatever means.

 

[cjn]

We have supposedly had something 'massive' on the go for a while.

I do wonder if it is Messi again.

We always do, and this summer will be no different to the ones before when it doesn't happen (not a shot at you).

 

[PJM1891]

He's still pretty good.