Assessment of our business this summer | Poll Added

[Ric]

SO FAR.... it's a mixed bag for me.

I think Kovacic and Gvardiol look like great business from what I've seen.

I do think that keeping Walker is a massive "signing" for us and Bernardo is the same. Walker is a beast of a defender and can still do more than a job. He looks even better this season - maybe Pep and the armband have done something? Bernardo isn't replaceable for the fees mentioned so I'm glad both look like they are staying.

The outgoings are slightly disappointing, but not massively so.

I thought we'd had the best years out of Gundogan and I'd hate to have seen him slipping past his best with us. He was a great player but once you start hitting the 32/33 then you just won't have the legs to play like we need. Similar to Mahrez although I was probably more disappointed to see him go as he seemed to have more years ahead of him (I know he's about the same age as Gundo). Laporte has barely played in the last year so I'm not too bothered that he's going. If someone said we'd offload 3 players who are (give or take) 30 or more for around £50m I'd be happy with that, plus the wages will be freed up.

I think the club have probably made a few enquiries and just not found the players we want for a sensible fee. I would imagine that we definitely went in to ask about Rice and Bellingham but were not willing to pay the sums. I don't think Paqueta is a £90m player either. I suspect the Saudi money might have spooked a few teams with them not wanting to lose too many players. Chelsea are also a wildcard and we have to find players who won't be of interest to them either. Liverpool found this out to their cost!

It's hard for us as quite simply, there's not many players we can easily improve on, even the "second string" players. Top players won't want to sit on the bench so we have to find players who have the right attitude, will be happy to rotate and have the desire and ability to learn from Pep, plus not have their heads turned by big money.

I think we will sign Doku and he will give us something very different. I also suspect we might go into this season as one of a "rebuilder" where we look at Palmer, McAtee etc a bit more closely. Maybe we decide to hold our firepower this season and go all in next season.

Either way, I trust the club and Pep. They've shown over many years that they know a LOT more about players than we do!

Very fair assessment, pretty much sums up how I feel too.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

Right now, we are not stronger and lighter in terms of bodies, but we still have a couple of weeks left, so we will see and until the fat lady sings who knows.

 

[mosssideblue]

Peoples opinions on this transfer window have been exhaustingly expressed in other threads all throughout the summer.

This thread is just going to cause more flapping and more unneccessary arguments.

the OP is stirring the shit

 

[Sheikh rattle and roll]

Let’s all get realistic whether we like or dislike our business so far this Summer
We have just won 4 trophies have dominated the league for the last 10 years and won numerous other titles
We have developed the CFG brand globally built the CFA the new concert venue and are on our second extension to the ground
Therefore we are one of the most successful operators in the business
We are not run by idiots
We are run by the top top people in the business with the best manager in the world
Read the above and drink it all in
Then trust these guys to do their jobs
If we feel we need strength we will get it if we are happy and good to go trust the guys
Yes they don’t get everything right but they are right 90 percent of the time

 

[Goldust]

Personally feel we need just 1 starter in the team who can play off the left or centrally. We can not allow for complacency and city have always been so good, as we’ve had competition in all areas, something that strives the players on.

 

[Damanino]

I will assess properly when window is closed. So far I cannot believe there wont be at least 1 winger, and 1 serious midfielder brought in. there is still time.

But in theory if the deadline would have been lets say 2 hours ago and this is it, after the interest in Bellingham, Rice, Paqueta, Doku, Oliseh, Mitoma, Veiga etc., then thats not a good look especially with the KDB injury as an additional huge factor and I think general feeling is now this season will be heavy on injuries on all clubs, some players already got almost season ending injuries across top teams and we are two rounds into the season. last season was brutal with the WC in the winter, players would have needed extra break especially the WC players now they are back into a brutal tempo, again international breaks will restart with rubbish qualification and friendly games players coming back injured from those too, CL, Carabao, PL etc...
on top of that we have these extra supercup games, bit of a fixture nightmare around December for us still to come, more games, more injuries, more tired players, more rotation needed, quality of the bench will count more.

certainly players leaving and taking quite the time to decide affected our planning, at one point few weeks ago it looked like Gundo, Mahrez, Walker, Bernardo all leaving. Imagine that shitshow ...
we managed to fight back on Walker and Bernardo, which is great as we can see how important Walker still is he bossed the right side alone vs Castle and Bernardo will be needed big time too.

have a feeling both Palmer and McAtee will leave, possibly on loan but one of them for sure, so the first team squad is really thin.

Paqueta imo was almost done, but this unexpected betting joke cost us, albeit certainly was overpriced at 80ish and he was plan C, so wonder how quick we can be on plan D whoever that is.

10-11 days more of the window, Txiki needs to strike, we will have new injuries, that is certain, and Phillips imo is not trusted by Pep, thats why Paqueta was targeted to fit both 8 or 6 as well if needed with some good off the ball, hard working skills.
new winger imo should have been here earlier, we really taking our time on it, not sure why. maybe Mahrez leaving caught by complete surprise, and we did not plan to get wingers at all, but with Bernardo always wanting to leave this should have been on our mind either way.

 

[Semper aggressus]

Unfinished. I hope!

So far though Gvardiol and Kovacic look like very good, potentially excellent signings.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

I think there is a danger that we focus too much on the one in, one out thing. For me gundo and Mahrez going and kdb injured is covered by kovacic, Palmer and foden.

 

[Blue and true]

Mediocre, and that's being fair. It's clear we've wanted a midfielder all summer, irrespective of what Pep may say in public, and we're still no closer to signing one. We now effectively need two with Kev being out, and the fact Phillips may as well be a hologram.

We've also lost our most productive attacker that isn't named Haaland, and the idea that one of the academy lads is going to offer what Riyad did is fanciful.

We've done well in the opening two games, but the squad is close to looking threadbare in the midfield and attack, and if we don't back Pep in the next couple of weeks I can't see us sustaining a title challenge. As the squad stands; injuries will fuck us.

And just found out John is injured for a few weeks; so that's another Rodders back up written off short term.

 

[Blue and true]

SO FAR.... it's a mixed bag for me.

I think Kovacic and Gvardiol look like great business from what I've seen.

I do think that keeping Walker is a massive "signing" for us and Bernardo is the same. Walker is a beast of a defender and can still do more than a job. He looks even better this season - maybe Pep and the armband have done something? Bernardo isn't replaceable for the fees mentioned so I'm glad both look like they are staying.

The outgoings are slightly disappointing, but not massively so.

I thought we'd had the best years out of Gundogan and I'd hate to have seen him slipping past his best with us. He was a great player but once you start hitting the 32/33 then you just won't have the legs to play like we need. Similar to Mahrez although I was probably more disappointed to see him go as he seemed to have more years ahead of him (I know he's about the same age as Gundo). Laporte has barely played in the last year so I'm not too bothered that he's going. If someone said we'd offload 3 players who are (give or take) 30 or more for around £50m I'd be happy with that, plus the wages will be freed up.

I think the club have probably made a few enquiries and just not found the players we want for a sensible fee. I would imagine that we definitely went in to ask about Rice and Bellingham but were not willing to pay the sums. I don't think Paqueta is a £90m player either. I suspect the Saudi money might have spooked a few teams with them not wanting to lose too many players. Chelsea are also a wildcard and we have to find players who won't be of interest to them either. Liverpool found this out to their cost!

It's hard for us as quite simply, there's not many players we can easily improve on, even the "second string" players. Top players won't want to sit on the bench so we have to find players who have the right attitude, will be happy to rotate and have the desire and ability to learn from Pep, plus not have their heads turned by big money.

I think we will sign Doku and he will give us something very different. I also suspect we might go into this season as one of a "rebuilder" where we look at Palmer, McAtee etc a bit more closely. Maybe we decide to hold our firepower this season and go all in next season.

Either way, I trust the club and Pep. They've shown over many years that they know a LOT more about players than we do!

Why should we hold our firepower this season? Some may not realise this, but we have a chance at making history this season by winning a fourth consecutive league title. No team has ever done it. There's also the prospect of back to back CL's.

The club should be going for it, and thus far, when you factor in sales, we haven't spent a penny.