January window

Give Fulham Phillips and 10 million less than Bayern were going to pay for Palinha before the deal fell through.

He's the only person available and good enough to walk straight into the side in January to make an impact.

In the Summer, take Florian Wirtz whatever the price. Give his Mum and Dad their own private fucking Etihad planes the lot, whatever it takes, no fucking about over a few million quid.
 
Posted on the Phillips thread about whether an arrangement could be made between us and Juventus to switch Phillips + cash for Rabiot. Both players are 28, same as Palhinha, but Rabiot is out of contract in the summer and Juventus might need cash now— no European football. He’s vastly more experienced, than either with a wealth of Champions League experience, and has the height and physique to play in central midfield. There have always been, however, numerous question marks over his ‘character’, so that might deter us. Then again, you can have a lovely character and simply not get on the Etihad pitch these days. Not the ideal solution then, but depending on our squad needs and availability, perhaps a cheaper stopgap until we learn Paqueta’s fate.
 
Gabriel said:
There have always been, however, numerous question marks over his ‘character’, so that might deter us
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Also gotta take into consideration that Rabiot is absolute shite and miles off our quality. There`s a reason why he`s been playing for Juve for so long, and no other top clubs want him. I`d genuinely take Phillips over him
 
Delphinho said:
Also gotta take into consideration that Rabiot is absolute shite and miles off our quality. There`s a reason why he`s been playing for Juve for so long, and no other top clubs want him. I`d genuinely take Phillips over him
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He wouldn’t be playing so frequently for the French national squad if he were quite as bad as you suggest, surely. I’m not suggesting that he’s the answer to all our prayers, far from it, but Phillips doesn’t even seem to be in Guardiola’s breviary!

As I’ve said elsewhere, I only think we’ll make a move for someone in the window if we have genuine concerns about the continued availability of certain players (de Bruyne, Stones, Kovacic, and another Rodri suspension) and how that might impact our chances of competing. Rabiot would be a cheaper alternative and might help fill in.
 
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Kippax Street 1880 said:
Give Fulham Phillips and 10 million less than Bayern were going to pay for Palinha before the deal fell through.

He's the only person available and good enough to walk straight into the side in January to make an impact.

In the Summer, take Florian Wirtz whatever the price. Give his Mum and Dad their own private fucking Etihad planes the lot, whatever it takes, no fucking about over a few million quid.
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Palhinha would be an excellent signing imo, plenty of suitors including the Rags and Liverpool.
 
Withnail said:
Palhinha would be an excellent signing imo, plenty of suitors including the Rags and Liverpool.
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Been mentioned on here that he has a £65m release clause as well mate and that Fulham wanted Phillips last summer to replace him.
 
Whilst I 100% agree that we need to sign another defensive midfielder (and a left back please) the problem is will any player that is good enough to play for us be happy to be Rodri’s understudy and spend most of his time on the bench ?
 
OntarioBlue said:
Whilst I 100% agree that we need to sign another defensive midfielder (and a left back please) the problem is will any player that is good enough to play for us be happy to be Rodri’s understudy and spend most of his time on the bench ?
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It won't be just about being Rodri's understudy. The player will have to be also capable of playing in the '8' position (I hate that phrase), but can also play a double pivot alongside Rodri. You could even have Rodri playing the Stones role when Stones is out of the team.
 
Delphinho said:
Also gotta take into consideration that Rabiot is absolute shite and miles off our quality. There`s a reason why he`s been playing for Juve for so long, and no other top clubs want him. I`d genuinely take Phillips over him
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He's not shit, he's inconsistent and apparently is a real mummys boy, I think she's his agent or manager and she is a fucking Harpy by all accounts. I have seen him have excellent games for France and PSG against quality opposition and if we're talking January panic buys we could do worse. He has ability, don't think we would go for him anyway as he was on our books for a short while as a kid and left on bad terms.
 
Gabriel said:
He wouldn’t be playing so frequently for the French national squad if he were quite as bad as you suggest, surely. I’m not suggesting that he’s the answer to all our prayers, far from it, but Phillips doesn’t even seem to be in Guardiola’s breviary!

As I’ve said elsewhere, I only think we’ll make a move for someone in the window if we have genuine concerns about the continued availability of certain players (de Bruyne, Stones, Kovacic, and another Rodri suspension) and how that might impact our chances of competing. Rabiot would be a cheaper alternative and might help fill in.
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Same national team that consistenly played Sakho and Zouma over Laporte. Was mostly useless whenever I saw him for France anyways
 
Delphinho said:
Same national team that consistenly played Sakho and Zouma over Laporte. Was mostly useless whenever I saw him for France anyways
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Played in the World Cup final and has been instrumental in France’s rebuild in recent seasons. We’re clearly not going to agree on his merits, so probably best to park the discussion.
 
Gabriel said:
Rabiot would be a cheaper alternative and might help fill in.
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We won the Champions League last season and reached record breaking revenue. Why should our aim be to bring in cheap alternatives that "might help fill in"? Rabiot is not awful in anyway, but its a Brokelona or Rags type of signing. Would just scream panic buy. In my opinion.
 
Vester said:
We won the Champions League last season and reached record breaking revenue. Why should our aim be to bring in cheap alternatives that "might help fill in"? Rabiot is not awful in anyway, but its a Brokelona or Rags type of signing. Would just scream panic buy. In my opinion.
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I agree, I don’t understand the logic. Win everything, best in world. What do you do after? Dump the midfield and replace with Chelsea bench warmer and a chap who’s above average for wolves. Why didn’t wr push harder for rice? We should be getting the best of the best!!
 
Vester said:
We won the Champions League last season and reached record breaking revenue. Why should our aim be to bring in cheap alternatives that "might help fill in"? Rabiot is not awful in anyway, but its a Brokelona or Rags type of signing. Would just scream panic buy. In my opinion.
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Because, as I mentioned above, I would only go for such a player if we had continued concerns about the ability of Stones, Kovacic, and de Bruyne to play consistently through to May. Phillips may leave or isn’t going to feature, Nunes is taking time to find his feet, and that leaves us with Lewis. We are light on physicality, height, and experience in midfield, attributes that Rabiot possesses. If the club thinks it can cope, fine, but spending 70 million on Palhinha in this window, who wasn’t a target last summer, would scream ‘panic‘ more loudly. As I’ve said, we’ll probably await the Paqueta verdict before spending big, so it’s more a question of whether Guardiola thinks he needs more now.
 
Gabriel said:
Because, as I mentioned above, I would only go for such a player if we had continued concerns about the ability of Stones, Kovacic, and de Bruyne to play consistently through to May. Phillips may leave or isn’t going to feature, Nunes is taking time to find his feet, and that leaves us with Lewis. We are light on physicality, height, and experience in midfield, attributes that Rabiot possesses. If the club thinks it can cope, fine, but spending 70 million on Palhinha in this window, who wasn’t a target last summer, would scream ‘panic‘ more loudly. As I’ve said, we’ll probably await the Paqueta verdict before spending big, so it’s more a question of whether Guardiola thinks he needs more now.
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I guess the main difference is that I think Palhinhas qualities makes him a capable backup for Rodri, while Rabiot is more of an 8 than a natural 6. We need a capable Rodri backup, we dont need another 8 on a similar level as Nunes/Kovacic. If we are going to upgrade these guys (which I think we should to), it should be a higher level player than Rabiot. It should be an elite level player that's a worthy replacement to Gundogan. Just my opinion.
 
Vester said:
I guess the main difference is that I think Palhinhas qualities makes him a capable backup for Rodri, while Rabiot is more of an 8 than a natural 6. We need a capable Rodri backup, we dont need another 8 on a similar level as Nunes/Kovacic. If we are going to upgrade these guys (which I think we should to), it should be a higher level player than Rabiot. It should be an elite level player that's a worthy replacement to Gundogan. Just my opinion.
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Very little hope Paulinho sees himself as a capable back up to Rodri.
 
Vester said:
I guess the main difference is that I think Palhinhas qualities makes him a capable backup for Rodri, while Rabiot is more of an 8 than a natural 6. We need a capable Rodri backup, we dont need another 8 on a similar level as Nunes/Kovacic. If we are going to upgrade these guys (which I think we should to), it should be a higher level player than Rabiot. It should be an elite level player that's a worthy replacement to Gundogan. Just my opinion.
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Like who ?
 
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