3 | Ruben Dias - 2025/26

To be fair he'd be brilliant in Serie A, where the pace of the game is a little slower. Or La Liga / Ligue 1.

He seems to struggle with the number of games and intensity of it all now, with injuries becoming more frequent.

If we could keep him as third/fourth choice and roll him out in cup and easier UCL fixtures he'd be fine. Though not sure he'd be happy about that.
 
Might not rate him as highly as I used to, but letting him leave this summer would be a mistake. Pep, Bernardo, Stones, Ake and potentially Rodri all going at once is a lot of change to the leadership group of the dressing room. Need to have as much continuity as possible going into next season under a new manager with the amount of turnover we’ve seen the last 2 years.
 
pbueno16 said:
Might not rate him as highly as I used to, but letting him leave this summer would be a mistake. Pep, Bernardo, Stones, Ake and potentially Rodri all going at once is a lot of change to the leadership group of the dressing room. Need to have as much continuity as possible going into next season under a new manager with the amount of turnover we’ve seen the last 2 years.
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No it's the right time imo.

I love Ruben. I'm so thankful for his service and I to this day can't explain how he didn't put the ball in his own net in Istanbul.

But we got into major trouble by holding onto players we loved and keeping them past their prime.

It's the right time to split and keep most of our team under 29.

Triage means sometimes you have to make difficult choices! Just look at Real Madrid.. they split with Casemiro when he was 28 after he had won them 5 CL's.
 
Keep.
I’d be aiming to start the season with a back three shape of Khusanov, Dias and Gvardiol, with Rodri and someone else in front of them.
If Guehi then shows himself to be good enough to oust Dias, great.
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
www.goal.com

Ruben Dias wants out! Pep Guardiola departure leaves Man City defender pushing for €60m summer transfer - with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich & PSG all keen | Goal.com UK

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias is reportedly pushing for a €60m summer move following the departure of manager Pep Guardiola.
www.goal.com
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If, and obviously it remains an if until it actually comes from him (interviews at the WC might be interesting), it's true he wants out then let him go.
He potentially has his prime years as a CB ahead of him, he's only 29, but I've never wanted to keep players who don't want to be here especially if someone comes in with a decent offer
 
sh249 said:
Keep.
I’d be aiming to start the season with a back three shape of Khusanov, Dias and Gvardiol, with Rodri and someone else in front of them.
If Guehi then shows himself to be good enough to oust Dias, great.
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Lol. If Dias stays he'll be trying to oust Guehi. And i think Dias will leave because he's down the CB pecking order. Not the player he was and unlikely to become as good as he was.
 
eastmanc said:
Kush is the best central defender at the club. You won't get many Blues agreeing with your post
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In terms of skills yes.

But experience is important as well and leadership.

He lacks those.

But potential is there and we are lucky to have him.

Against Everton, you don't play world-class attackers and Ruben's experience and leadership is more important.

Against Arsenal, under Rodri-Bernardo's leadership, Khusanov played great match and we would have probably struggled with Ruben there, as we played high pressing and needed pace to survive their counters.

But against Everton, when Rodri wasn't there and things went wrong, Khusanov started to make simple mistakes.
Same applies to Guehi, who has just arrived to a big club from low-tier team.

That's why Ruben-Gvardiol duo is important for marathon, as most games we play against average teams and we just need to avoid simple mistakes, for which their experience helps us a lot.

if we order our defenders considering skills + experience.

1) Gvardiol - great skills, good experience
2) Ruben - average skills, great experience
3) Khusanov - great skills, small experience
4) Guehi - good skills, good experience
 
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All season I've thought that Khusanov has been the best defender in the team and many others too. But just looking at the stats now, it may be closer than I thought. Dias' ball playing/aerial/duel stats have been second to none this season. The only thing that worries me is his lack of pace when playing the high line, something we've seen Khusanov excel in this season: sprinting back to make last-ditch tackles. It will be interesting to see what happens under the new boss and who his favourites are next year.
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
Lol. If Dias stays he'll be trying to oust Guehi. And i think Dias will leave because he's down the CB pecking order. Not the player he was and unlikely to become as good as he was.
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As I say, if Guehi proves himself a better option, great.
As for the pecking order - let’s be honest, we’ve no idea how highly Maresca might rate Dias and Guehi respectively.
I like Guehi. But I’ve not (yet) seen enough to say he’s definitely an upgrade on Dias.
Put Dias between Khusanov and Gvardiol (or two similar options) and I see no reason why he can’t get back to his best.
 
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