It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[Tony - MCFC]

Would you like to elaborate a little bit more please??

Just be nice to have a nice peaceful weekend before all the transfer stuff kicks off again.

 

[doobyedoobye]

The market is outrageous.

Hojland is now worth 100 mil a striker with 9 goals is worth 100 million euros.

I seen a post saying Villa would want 80 million for Ollie Watkins

Rice valued at 120 million.

Hopefully the additional catalyst required to see the promotion of more talented youth to the first team..

 

[Gabriel]

Next year will be a tough season.

To go for it again takes a special breed of mentality. The physical and mental exhaustion of last season will cement the wish to move on for several players, who will understandably feel that they will never feel again what they have felt in 2022/23.

We know that some key players will leave, and we also know that some are coming to the end of their time as the best. We also know that teams are more tactically astute than they were and it requires consistent tactical innovation to stay one step ahead.

What we also know is that there will be a spine of players whose mentality is absolutely imperious - Gundogan, DeBruyne, Rodri, Dias, Nathan.

We know that Pep improves players - some of our younger and newer players will probably be better again than they were - Akanji, Grealish, Alvarez, Erling, Kalvin and Rico.

Some may have newer roles that have exciting opportunities - Phil, Stones.

We know that we have younger players returning that could be an unexpected bonus - Tommy Doyle, James McAtee.

We have some superb talents from the academy who may be phased into the squad - Oscar Bobb, Mebude, Borges. I think that Bobb, Ndala and Dada-Mascoll are the best we have, but the latter are only 16-17.

We expect to buy - Kovacic and Gvardiol seem to be on the cards, and would be strong additions (IMO).

I have mentioned 20 players (excl. Dada-Mascoll and Ndala), including 6 who are very young. Those I haven't mentioned are either strongly rumoured to be leaving, or expected to be loaned.


This is a big season, and I am thankful that it will be Pep in charge because it's going to be a tough one, IMO.
Who have I missed? Opportunities are clearly there in central midfield and in the wing positions.

Good post, though you have overlooked the goalkeepers. ;-)

Agree with much of what you say and would also add that much of the ‘flux’ will be in midfield and attack (most of the players mentioned are in those positions), which is why it is important that the defence is both strong and dependable. New players and young players inevitably make mistakes, but having a strong defence behind them means they have a platform to be creative. I think we’re on the brink of seeing another exciting ‘new’ side.

 

[oldius]

A mate of mine, a Chelsea fan, has just sent me this:

I may be biased, but if you get Kovacic (which seems to be the general concensus of opinion in the media) you are buying a superb player that will fit like a glove into City's style of play.
I rate him so highly that he would have been right at the top of my list of players that Chelsea do not want to be losing this summer.

 

[decmancity]

The market is outrageous.

Hojland is now worth 100 mil a striker with 9 goals is worth 100 million euros.

I seen a post saying Villa would want 80 million for Ollie Watkins

Rice valued at 120 million.

JWP worth 65 million

Those players are worth that much to the club they are leaving. That's all it is.

 

[oldius]

Good post, though you have overlooked the goalkeepers. ;-)

I knew I'd missed something! No changes there, I hope.

 

[Centurions]

Those players are worth that much to the club they are leaving. That's all it is.

With no guarantee they'll get anything like those sums of money if and when they go.

 

[mancityscot]

The market is outrageous.

Hojland is now worth 100 mil a striker with 9 goals is worth 100 million euros.

I seen a post saying Villa would want 80 million for Ollie Watkins

Rice valued at 120 million.

JWP worth 65 million

I think it’s more those clubs not wanting to sell.

With the exception of maybe Southampton

 

[Gingers Dad]

I don't think we sign many players who we don't think can be first team.
Ake and Akanji both looked like they could be squad, now look at them.

I don't think any outfield player signs to be a squad player. Everybody is there to fight for a first team place. Some just start from further back than others.

 

[vicblueman]

That inter rb who shit his pants every time he crossed the half way line, he looked completely brain dead with the ball at his feet

The games i have seen in him he's played a lot better to be honest .
Your going off 1 game playing against the best team in the land ?
Walker would of looked the same playing against us in inters team .

 

[Dukefan9]

The market doesn’t match FFP restrictions this summer it feels like. Something is going to have to break here

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

Good. I know Mbappe is a great player but his attitude stinks.

I don’t care. A wonderfully gifted player when he can be arsed….I would love him at city.

 

[Mad 4 It]

Trouble is Pep only has two seasons left, what will we transition into unless he’s staying (I bloody hope so), he’s going have his work cut out to get all these players upto full speed, I’m expecting quite a drop off with all these comings and goings. If we can get to the end of those March fixtures in the top 2 I think we could do it, going to be a big ask but hopefully the newcomers will be hungry for that title and number 4 has never been done, another record for us to break.

He should stay and smash all of bacon faces records :)

 

[bluenova]

The market doesn’t match FFP restrictions this summer it feels like. Something is going to have to break here

It could be that the market is getting back to "normal" post Covid, and PL clubs can now start spending the TV cash with less worries about debts.

The TV money in the Premier League has gone through the roof in recent years (the deal at the time of our takeover was £2.5b in England, but is now over £10b). You've got a whole division full of clubs who can spend big sums, or pay their players big wages, and the top clubs who can spend absolutely huge sums without breaking sweat.

Without Covid we'd probably have seen a more obvious progression in transfer fees, rather than what seems more like a big bang.

 

[Newman Noggs]

It’s what separates teams like ours, constantly evolving and sweeping up awards, and united, who are a joke because they cannot let go.

This is the fundamental problem united have. Their whole business model is based on their "famous history". But the world moves on very quickly and, with social media, attention spans are getting shorter. It's why Sky's business model is fucked too.

 

[its a Barm]

Anyone have a good idea how much we have to spend after last year's winnings are added to the pot.

 

[blueparrot]

Anyone have a good idea how much we have to spend after last year's winnings are added to the pot.

No idea, but expect we have far more to spend than we will spend.

 

[Dobsy]

I remember Khaldoon saying they want to win the league with 5 or 6 academy players in the starting line up within 10 years. Or something. Or did I dream that?

Assuming I didn't dream it, they don't throw these things out for fun, but because they are real objectives.

This would be interesting and a great challenge.

Who makes the grade though?

Currently in the squad are

Rico Lewis
Foden
Palmer - I really thought Cole would kick on this season but he's not really contributed that much. Still great potential.

With the greatest respect to all of them ..

I've heard great things about McAtee and he's clearly a talented footballer, but never thought, yet, that he's shown enough to be City first team squad.

I think T Doyle would be in the first team squad by now if he was going to make it at that absolutely elite level. Again though, clearly really talented and I could be wrong.

Harwood-Bellis seems unlikely as we are in for Gvardiol.

Wilson Esbrand also has been out on loan.

To be fair to the above 4, we signed Ake from a relegated Bournemouth side, and that worked out well. They were all playing in teams just promoted from the Championship so maybe they'll be involved.

Mbete seems unlikely as he was playing in League One last season, that's a big jump.

Delap seems unlikely because we have Haaland and Alvarez and play with 1 striker.

 

[simon23]

So the state of play as we all think at present is

Pretty certain that we are in for and talking to:
Kovacic
Gvardiol

Possibility:
Rice

For me we need something more creative if we areto loseeither or both of Bernardo and Gundo (plus the Mahrez story as well)

Of course we could get a surprise break out season with someone like McAtee (who Ive always really liked the look of) but that wont cover it....and there seems to be very few links at all to attacking options - loosing Bernardo and Gundo and Mahrez would mean we would need it even if we got all 3 mentioned above as none are creative or goal scoring players

We also have the very real issue of KDB ...he was immense for parts of the season and especially in the run in BUT there were also times where he was clearly struggling and we were carrying him....even without this current injury he would need protecting and now it seems it could be even more of a necessity to phase him out .......

 

[simon23]

I remember Khaldoon saying they want to win the league with 5 or 6 academy players in the starting line up within 10 years. Or something. Or did I dream that?

Assuming I didn't dream it, they don't throw these things out for fun, but because they are real objectives.

We have just done it with Foden, Rico and Palmer in the squad so there is 3 and the first two played bug parts in our season