It's a romantic theory & Lavia has huge potential, but in the absence of Rodri I don't think Lavia is quite ready yet. Maybe in a couple of seasons, probably/possibly, but not right now imo.
So if we allowed Philips to leave for £50m, who can we get to replace him for the same money? Luiz on a free? Could he adequately replace Philips as competition/cover for Rodri? Why not?
Mmm Villa tried to sell Jack to anyone but Us. They are of the levy mold. Sell them nothing or for an inflated fee if we must. Wankers.View attachment 74645
View attachment 74646
Douglas Luiz is running down his contract, with a free move to Arsenal in the summer being mooted. Apparently Villa want Philips as his replacement.
Personally I strongly believe Philips should be given a chance to prove himself at City. I saw enough in his last England appearance & his last few City appearances, where he looked like the busy, effervescent player who could pass & tackle that we thought we were getting.
https://www.footballinsider247.com/...ity-star-kalvin-phillips-in-club-record-deal/
It's a romantic theory & Lavia has huge potential, but in the absence of Rodri I don't think Lavia is quite ready yet. Maybe in a couple of seasons, probably/possibly, but not right now imo.
So if we allowed Philips to leave for £50m, who can we get to replace him for the same money? Luiz on a free? Could he adequately replace Philips as competition/cover for Rodri? Why not?
We won't get Lavia for 50m if Chelsea and Arsenal are snooping.Use the £50m for Lavia to come back a year early and Southampton gain an extra £10m and Lavia could be a long term solution in an environment he already knows
Douglas Luiz is running down his contract, with a free move to Arsenal in the summer being mooted. Apparently Villa want Philips as his replacement.
You're right.What are you on about? He is contracted until 2026.
We won't get Lavia for 50m if Chelsea and Arsenal are snooping.
I don't know why we agreed to 2 years before the buyback clause kicks in.
What we need is competition & cover for Rodri. We can't keep rinsing him out game after game, season after season.I think Luiz would be a great signing on a free , someone who also knows the club environment and was one we looked into bringing back with our buyback clause? Luiz would probably be ok with being a back up, playing in cup games and the last 10-15 minutes of games in a bigger club and champions league etc on a higher wage?
It's a romantic theory & Lavia has huge potential, but in the absence of Rodri I don't think Lavia is quite ready yet. Maybe in a couple of seasons, probably/possibly, but not right now imo.
So if we allowed Philips to leave for £50m, who can we get to replace him for the same money? Luiz on a free? Could he adequately replace Philips as competition/cover for Rodri? Why not?
I'd still rather keep faith with Philips. It's OK getting £50m for him, but how much would an adequate replacement cost & would that player be better than a fully fit Philips?Mmm Villa tried to sell Jack to anyone but Us. They are of the levy mold. See them nothing or for an inflated fee if we must. Wankers.
What we need is competition & cover for Rodri. We can't keep rinsing him out game after game, season after season.
I'm more than happy to keep faith with Philips, or if he wanted to leave to give Luiz an opportunity, but would Luiz want to come here to be a bit part player at the peak of his career?
Do City buy squad players anymore?
So he did... My apologies. Last summer I know Arsenal were interested, but Villa said they wanted him to extend & would rather keep him & allow him to rundown his contract.What are you on about? He is contracted until 2026.
For the same money?I agree about Lavia. To be honest I think he's better off not coming back to us yet as he's hardly going to play anyway.
However, Phillips' quality shouldn't be too hard to replace. Similar to Lavia, I don't think he's ready to step in for Rodri yet and whoever else we bring in would probably also struggle to fill that void. But there are plenty of players out there.
If a bid came in & Philips was interested, that would tell us all we'll need to know.I guess everything will depend on how Phillips feels if a bid for him comes in? City don’t tend to write players off after one season unless they desperately want to go and a valuation is met so the perfect situation is Phillips gets it next season and plays more to give Rodri more of a break
I think that is the dilemma.It's OK getting £50m for him, but how much would an adequate replacement cost & would that player be better than a fully fit Philips?
For the same money?
If there was someone out there with more quality than Phillips we would have signed them.Wouldn't have the foggiest mate. The bottom line is that I didn't rate the Phillips signing at the time and there's nothing anyone can say to convince me that we couldn't have found more quality for the same price. So if we can get that money back from him I'm not going to complain.
As a disclaimer, I've got nothing against the guy and I'm happy for him to stay and hope he proves me wrong if he does.
But if a club like Villa were to offer around £50m for him then I think it could be beneficial for him and us.
I've seen a vast improvement from him in his last England appearance to the recent cameos he's made for us.I think that is the dilemma.
Will we ever see a fully fit Philips playing regularly.
He's getting so little game time with Rodri playing all the time.