It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[Dialog]

Must admit, I thought Kovacic was older than 29.

He looks older. Close to retirement older!

 

[Semper aggressus]

City, like in the past, pounces on bargains if they see it. Kovacic for 30 ish mil is a bargain in todays market.

No point buying a bargain if it’s not even as good as what you already have. Kovacic is an Aston Villa level signing.

 

[TrentGrisham]

Kovacic isn’t as good as Rice or Bellingham is he?

Hope we’re not worried about ffp and going for the cheap midfield option. Things are cheaper for a reason.

City are pretty much dominating this league, with the best manager in the world, and will be favourites again for every trophy next season too. We’re a hell of a draw for any player, why aren’t we after the very best available?

Kovacic isn't even better than James Maddison IMO.

If we're talking about Pep coaching up a player with untapped potential then we should be going for Maddison who would potentially be cheaper and is much younger. Maddison has had multiple good performances vs City with far less quality around him than Kovacic.

 

[DeBlueLou]

No point buying a bargain if it’s not even as good as what you already have. Kovacic is an Aston Villa level signing.

That's just not true, haha! For squad depth in the level of quality Kovacic is, its a massive bargain.

 

[Coatigan]

Yeah, Kovacic, Guerreiro and Gvardiol won't take that much time to finish once the final is done... Anyone bigger than that would take time though, but that depends on sales.

Depends on who is leaving and when. No way we sign Gvardiol, before a CB leaves. If it is Laporte leaving, depends on how long till a deal foelr him is agreed.

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

So, assuming that Laporte, Cancelo and Bernardo go, and Gundo stays:

Laporte -> Gvardiol
Cancelo -> Guerreiro
Bernardo -> Bellingham? Or someone of that calibre.

Looking at the squad, target #3 is surely either a Phillips replacement (Rice/Lavia) or a winger (Palmer loaned out). Possibly a long term Walker replacement if Pep thinks Rico is a midfielder, although Akanji and Stones would probably give us enough cover there.

However, if Kovacic is coming in as an extra body, I can see us being more willing to give Phillips one more year.

Two big question marks there:

1. Who's the Bellingham alternative?
2. Who are we looking at out wide?

 

[Don Karleone]

He looks older. Close to retirement older!

Think we'd all look older playing for Chelsea recently.

 

[DeBlueLou]

Depends on who is leaving and when. No way we sign Gvardiol, before a CB leaves. If it is Laporte leaving, depends on how long till a deal foelr him is agreed.

I do think City already know Laporte wants to go and wont wait around for him to leave first.

 

[blueparrot]

Kovacic isn’t as good as Rice or Bellingham is he?

Hope we’re not worried about ffp and going for the cheap midfield option. Things are cheaper for a reason.

City are pretty much dominating this league, with the best manager in the world, and will be favourites again for every trophy next season too. We’re a hell of a draw for any player, why aren’t we after the very best available?

We’re after the players we want to be after. Our record shows we’re usually right. Who else was after Gundogan, or Bernardo, when we bought them, they weren’t the big shiny names then. For what we want he’s better than Rice, and is better than Bellingham now, maybe not better than Bellingham will be.

 

[Semper aggressus]

I assume you said similar about Aké, Akanji etc.?

There weren’t really world class players in their position available then though, but now there is Rice and Bellingham yet we’re after Kovacic. Not really improving the team that. If Gundogan or Bernie leave it’d be weaker, Kovacic isn’t as good as either.