A Summer of Spending ?

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

I remember last summer, Mancini saying all Dzeko needed was service from the wings to reproduce his form for Wolfsburg...we then had a misalignment in the messages from Mancini and Marwood, the former talking about needing to bring in six players and the latter talking about selling players and bringing in 'one or two'.

I wonder now whether the ownership wanted to use this season to evaluate the quality of the squad and determine whether it was good enough to win the title, or whether they genuinely thought we could win the title with the current squad.

I find it interesting that Mancini was reportedly in Lille to watch Eden Hazard at the weekend and again wonder whether he will get his wish this summer and the purse strings will be loosened....afterall he could argue that losses at swansea, everton etc were the result of being short on the players he wanted to bring in during the close season.....and don't forget Herman and several other players will be moved on in june...

The upshot is, does (potentially) not winning the title mean we will be spending £150 mill rather than £50 mill ?

Imo we are short on 4 players. Cover for Yaya (box to box player who can be a DM as well as an AM), left and right wingers (out and out), and a world class centre back to play alongside Vinny.

Thoughts ?

 

[Robert Jordan]

One thing was clear for me, the manager had some people who went against him when he wanted to get his targets. The question is who will get support from the owner in the summer?

 

[SuperYaya]

A world class full back? Did you mean a centre half? Think we're fairly safe at full back positions. Especially Kolarov, everyones favorite scapegoat. Where would we be without him to blame for everything!

Honestly we don't need to spend £150m, that's just silly. We should buy the right players and it wont cost that much. A good centre half you could probably get for <£10m, box to box player maybe <£20m (if we go for a fairly established one) and maybe one big signing, being a winger (Hazard?) for like £30m. That's about £60m and I'd be very happy if we did those moves.

 

[hateutd]

....what about at the end of the season?....That's the point!

 

[Matty]

Personally I think we need an upgrade and centre half, Kompany is fantastic, and Lescott has proven he's better than I thought he was this season. However Savic is too young and isn't ready yet, and Kolo Toure is 31 and inconsistent. I'd be looking to offload Kolo and bring in a mid-20's World Class centre half, giving us a choice of 2 from 3 for our games.

We definitely lack width and this prevents us from switching our style of play when the situation calls for it. Johnson is a wide player naturally, but we rely on Richards on one side and Clichy/Kolarov on the other for our width and I'm not sure it's a formula that always works. I think we need more width in the side, although it doesn't seem to fit Mancini's tactical philosophy so I'm not certain we'll be bringing any wide midfielders in.

On the Kolarov front I'm afraid, in my opinion, his lack of pace makes him unsuitable for a Premiership full back. Maybe we can covert him to a left midfielder to address the lack of width, or maybe we should sell him. Either way I think we need to be looking at another left back, and not a backup to Clichy but someone who can legitimately claim the starting spot.

A backup/alternative to Yaya would be ideal, however I don't think that will be an easy find. The strengths Yaya brings are hard to find in just one player, I'm sure there's someone out there who fits the bill, and hopefully our scouts are on the case.

De Jong only has 12 months left on his contract (or will have come the summer), 12 months ago the prospect of him leaving seemed remote, now it's not such a leap to suggest he won't be a City player for too much longer. De Jong is a very useful squad player, but he's no longer a regular starter. If he's prepared to accept this role then I'd be happy to keep him, however we may be forced to sell if he wants too much money, or more regular football. Should he go we need to look at a replacement central midfielder. Maybe Mohammed Abu would be worth a look, that's if he now qualifies for a work permit?

Up front I think we all agree the best situation is Tevez moving on in the summer. As proven when we had injuries/suspensions in January you need 4 strikers in the squad, so that measn we need an addition to Aguero, Balotelli and Dzeko. Personally I think we'll go for Guidetti, no financial outlay, fills one of the homegrown spots and has proven he knows where the net is in Holland. As a fourth option I believe he's worth a look.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

A world class full back? Did you mean a centre half? Think we're fairly safe at full back positions. Especially Kolarov, everyones favorite scapegoat. Where would we be without him to blame for everything!

Honestly we don't need to spend £150m, that's just silly. We should buy the right players and it wont cost that much. A good centre half you could probably get for <£10m, box to box player maybe <£20m (if we go for a fairly established one) and maybe one big signing, being a winger (Hazard?) for like £30m. That's about £60m and I'd be very happy if we did those moves.

yes, meant centre back.

i think you can add another 20-30% to those prices you mention just beacuse its us.

 

[decmancity]

Win the prem and we will see some spending as the money we bring in from winning it will be given to Mancini.

I echo the thoughts of the post above apart from bringing Guidetti back in as 4th striker. I am afraid he will not do himself or us any favours coming back and doing that. The only way i see him coming back is if both Dzeko and Tevez move on. That way he has a good chance of playing.

I think we just need to bring in a striker who will be happy to play 4th slot almost not one of the top talents in Europe. He needs to stay out on loan.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

Personally I think we need an upgrade and centre half, Kompany is fantastic, and Lescott has proven he's better than I thought he was this season. However Savic is too young and isn't ready yet, and Kolo Toure is 31 and inconsistent. I'd be looking to offload Kolo and bring in a mid-20's World Class centre half, giving us a choice of 2 from 3 for our games.

We definitely lack width and this prevents us from switching our style of play when the situation calls for it. Johnson is a wide player naturally, but we rely on Richards on one side and Clichy/Kolarov on the other for our width and I'm not sure it's a formula that always works. I think we need more width in the side, although it doesn't seem to fit Mancini's tactical philosophy so I'm not certain we'll be bringing any wide midfielders in.

On the Kolarov front I'm afraid, in my opinion, his lack of pace makes him unsuitable for a Premiership full back. Maybe we can covert him to a left midfielder to address the lack of width, or maybe we should sell him. Either way I think we need to be looking at another left back, and not a backup to Clichy but someone who can legitimately claim the starting spot.

A backup/alternative to Yaya would be ideal, however I don't think that will be an easy find. The strengths Yaya brings are hard to find in just one player, I'm sure there's someone out there who fits the bill, and hopefully our scouts are on the case.

De Jong only has 12 months left on his contract (or will have come the summer), 12 months ago the prospect of him leaving seemed remote, now it's not such a leap to suggest he won't be a City player for too much longer. De Jong is a very useful squad player, but he's no longer a regular starter. If he's prepared to accept this role then I'd be happy to keep him, however we may be forced to sell if he wants too much money, or more regular football. Should he go we need to look at a replacement central midfielder. Maybe Mohammed Abu would be worth a look, that's if he now qualifies for a work permit?

Up front I think we all agree the best situation is Tevez moving on in the summer. As proven when we had injuries/suspensions in January you need 4 strikers in the squad, so that measn we need an addition to Aguero, Balotelli and Dzeko. Personally I think we'll go for Guidetti, no financial outlay, fills one of the homegrown spots and has proven he knows where the net is in Holland. As a fourth option I believe he's worth a look.

I agree with most of that, although kolarov is a poor LB, he does give us something more going forward and i think mancini bought him for this reason, although he is too hit and miss and needs greater consistency.

I wouldn't be adverse to giving kolarov another season but with the right type of player in front of him.

Agree with the Yaya type player comment, incredibly difficult to find someone who will be as versatile.

In terms of stikers, i think we are about right although i wouldn't be too upset if Balotelli moved on, no doubt about his talent but he needs to apply himself much more. Guidetti should be a no brainer, although he will need to accept his status as 4th striker for solid starts in carling cup etc to begin with.

 

[Sleeping_Easy]

If people are looking for a player who can fill in for yaya and also play alongside him with there being a clash then the player for me is javi martinez. What our chances of getting him are i'm not sure but he's young, versatile, an international and a spanish mate for dave. Sounds good to me.

As for the CB position i think savic should go out on loan at a decent level club and just get experience. To me he constantly looks like someone who has natural talent but doesn't have the experience/decision making ability to really stand in for either kompany or lescott. Then buy a CB who can legitimately challenge kompany and lescott for a starting spot as we'll have a lot of games next year and them two having to start 90% of them is not something we should have. Kolo can stay for another year, then hopefully when savic returns he's able to come into the 4th CB spot.

As for width, Mancini and Platt were watching Hazard play last night, so this for me is a good indicator he's high the list of targets. Hazard seems to have the ability to act as a winger but also the skill to step inside and link up with those around him. I think he'd be a perfect fit, but i'm also impressed by muniain and think he'd be a great option but would the step up come too quick for him, after seeing him against the rags in the EL then no i don't think so.

The squad just needs 2/3 players (depending on outgoings). Lets not go back to the days of 6/7 new faces in a summer. We have a very good squad already it just needs fine tuning.

edit: I also think Nasri will step it up a level next season.

 

[cibaman]

I think we'll make one big signing, possibly two if we get decent money for Tevez. Plus a modest outlay replacing some of the back up players that haven't proven themselves. Doubt if we'll spend more than £30m net