Ruben Dias - Benfica confirm sale to City

[Jacko1956]

To be fair it does seem like we were interested last year but the price was going to be too high. So someone we already wanted now comes in at a cheaper price and you can flog Otamendi? It may not be the panic buy some people suggest.

Wasn't the fourth choice but Benfica had a release clause of 90m inserted and wouldn't sell him last season when he was top of our list. Something seems to have developed quickly . Most likely they need money due to the present crisis.

 

[M12Blue]

Never a good idea to go for your third or fourth choice to save a few quid , I thought we went for the best players to be the best team , our recruitment seems based on saving money & will not push us back to the top. Buy average players you end up with an average team

Sorry mate but that’s bollocks

 

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

I don’t mean to offend you but that has to be some ridiculous fan fiction. Leave Napoli high and dry with an excellent player remaining with them? ADL won’t lose sleep over KK staying. Monchi was not leaking false reports. Our own insiders have said as much. In this scenario we are the sole losers as we failed to get multiple targets, whilst settling for someone way down the list.


Don’t take this badly but you can’t rely on City to come out and be sincere in these situations. We spent 99% of our time window shopping for KK? Every reporter, even with the best City sources have said we were pushing for him. We decided it was enough and went for Kounde (plus potentially Gimenez) before realising that he is expensive. We were using our mouthpieces to leak our interest in these players. Finally we have arrived to one week before deadline and have finally found a CB we can afford. The entire background to this signing makes it a terrible decision. If we were chasing Dias for the entire window, I would accept that Pep identified him as a quintessential part to our defence. However, as things stand, he was a number lower down on the list than a few players which is worrying as it reeks of a panic signing.

How do you know Dias was not the one Pep wanted

No one has a clue it’s just the media and social media stating who we are after or not

We need a CB and I am sure we will sign one

But I haven’t a clue which one

 

[oldius]

They certainly have made an attempt for those 3, as it has been widely reported. You can continue to believe the fantasy that Dias was our number one target. Why have we dragged out signing a RCB until the final week of the transfer window?

I don't think anyone is saying that he was our number one target. I suspect we had four or five targets who were suitable and then it becomes which deal we can get over the line. We also may not have finished. I have noted that you continue to be a voice of doom in a number of threads - what is it that you get out of that, or of being a City fan?

 

[The1nvisibleMan]

Wasn't the fourth choice but Benfica had a release clause of 90m inserted and wouldn't sell him last season when he was top of our list. Something seems to have developed quickly . Most likely they need money due to the present crisis.

Yeah and we’ve taken advantage of that it seems. It may be a risk shopping for a central defender from the Portuguese league but there have been other players from the Premier League or other top 5 leagues who didn’t work out so maybe its more about the player than the actual league

 

[Kokonut1307]

I don't think anyone is saying that he was our number one target. I suspect we had four or five targets who were suitable and then it becomes which deal we can get over the line. We also may not have finished. I have noted that you continue to be a voice of doom in a number of threads - what is it that you get out of that, or of being a City fan?

Being a voice of doom with how the season has already kicked off as one the hardest due to an injury crisis that we are facing? Excuse me but I can’t understand how anyone with some insight can’t comprehend that we are in a vulnerable situation. If you are content with how things are progressing, you must have been happy with Liverpool taking us to the cleaners last season.

 

[The slaughtered lamb]

Or a ballanced team, based on what we need, not what they cost.

Seeing as all CB we have been linked with are priced around the €50-€70M euros mark with the €70m being napolis stupid asking price, why are you assuming we don't consider all option equally suited, yet we were choosing KK on age and experience rather than the hope of youth.

We may rate JK and RD as highly as KK for all you and I know in their ability but wanted experience.

I din't see us downgrading on playing ability or us going for 3rd/4th choice, but recognising we cannot deal with some parties and so move onto to our other viable options.

I think it’s exactly that. KK was targeted for experience as much as anything but we couldn’t get the deal over the line due to the price/ADL; I really hope that’s us done with dealing with him now.

To that extent, if KK was first choice you could call Kounde a ‘panic buy’ too if we’d managed to get him. I would guess the margin of preference on the younger CBs we’ve targeted is small and one is just as likely to be successful as another; even DoFs with their sophisticated scouting software can make mistakes.

We really should give him 45 mins before turning him into a pariah.

 

[Grealish’s Shinpads]

How do you know Dias was not the one Pep wanted

No one has a clue it’s just the media and social media stating who we are after or not

We need a CB and I am sure we will sign one

But I haven’t a clue which one

If Dias was our number one target it wouldn’t have emerged a week before the deadline. Why would we brief sources close to the club about KK and other targets all summer to then move for our supposed number one target a week before the deadline?

 

[KnaresboroughBlue]

The entire background to this signing makes it a terrible decision. If we were chasing Dias for the entire window, I would accept that Pep identified him as a quintessential part to our defence. However, as things stand, he was a number lower down on the list than a few players which is worrying as it reeks of a panic signing.

We were apparently in for him last Summer, so it is hardly a panic signing. I have no idea where he was on the list and neither do you. None of our supposed targets have gone elsewhere yet. So if we go for Dias, it will be because he's the one that we believe to be the best option.

 

[richards30]

can`t believe if its as close as has been made out that we will let him play today?