Aymeric Laporte

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mccity said:
By the way what ever happened to the vengeful wrath of Txiki and never forgiving Laporte? I'm genuinely curious after everything I've read over the last year.

Was it even a real thing or has it been a major change of heart? I mean there was a Sam Lee article on why we pulled out on Sanchez from a couple weeks ago referred to the Laporte snub and our subsequent response and he's in the loop!?


ps If it's already been answered just point me in the right direction thanks.
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it's a fan made up thing. Has always been. Silly and childish too if you ask me.
 
Please with this potential signing,looks commanding and at ease on the ball,on videos I have seen of him.
Our approach to transfers in seems to be more professional and strategic,there is a well thought out plan
on player values and we stick to it,hence Sanchez coterie pricing him out of our value range.
 
Andrew___K said:
Yeah, it seems a bit strange. Here's my interpretation of Txiki's 'change of heart', using Sam Lee's tweets as a guide. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As I assume Guardiola has set the goal to complement Stones and Otamendi by two CBs:
1) young, preferrably left-sided top talent to eventually replace Otamendi (let's call him CB No.3)
2) reliable experienced reserve CB for cups and rotation purposes (CB No.4).

Initially, the plan was to fill in No.4 vacancy in Jan (hence the interest in Evans), and deal with a much more complicated No.3 transfer next summer (Skriniar, Kimpembe, Upamecano, Umtiti were mentioned amongst potential candidates).

But after the Sanchez fiasco and realization that prices will soar up even higher in summer, during emergency Khaldoon/Pep/Soriano/Txiki meeting it was decided to work on key positions (CB No.3 + DM) immediately in Jan. Laporte is obviously No.3, and I'm not even sure he was the most desirable candidate - but the only one with release clause. It would be unrealistic to get the likes of Skriniar in winter window. That's how Txiki's 'change of heart' could be explained - he had no choice.

As for CB No.4: IMO City's summer bid for Evans is still possible. Another option is Komps solving his health problems to some extent and performing this role next season (perhaps sharing it with Adarabioyo, Latibeaudiere and Eric Garcia).

So, If I'm right, Txiki has sacrificed his pride (and, possibly, quality of a new CB) to avoid another summer transfer saga. Looking at the state of market, I think it was a right decision.
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Sounds good to me. Appreciate the detail you went into!

Dax777 said:
it's a fan made up thing. Has always been. Silly and childish too if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Probably. I guess it saves face a bit on our part as fans.

I think there's an element of truth though, in that (I reckon) Txiki was royally pissed off at the time and maybe even said to insiders that he wouldn't ever go back in whilst in the heat of the moment. But he's not so unprofessional that it'd actually be the case, as we've seen. I suppose saying Txiki doesn't forgive makes for more clickable reading too.
 
If anyone wants a good cry translate the tweets he's been liking all day/night. One that particular struck me was one that basically said he could've left for pretty much nothing but chose to stay and brought more in for his childhood club and he will forever be a legend and to win all the titles with "El City" . He's the anti-Ross Barkley. He did right by Athletic and the door will always be open for him there and now we have a motivated top CB looking to play his way into the World Cup roster.
 
Andrew___K said:
Yeah, it seems a bit strange. Here's my interpretation of Txiki's 'change of heart', using Sam Lee's tweets as a guide. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As I assume Guardiola has set the goal to complement Stones and Otamendi by two CBs:
1) young, preferrably left-sided top talent to eventually replace Otamendi (let's call him CB No.3)
2) reliable experienced reserve CB for cups and rotation purposes (CB No.4).

Initially, the plan was to fill in No.4 vacancy in Jan (hence the interest in Evans), and deal with a much more complicated No.3 transfer next summer (Skriniar, Kimpembe, Upamecano, Umtiti were mentioned amongst potential candidates).

But after the Sanchez fiasco and realization that prices will soar up even higher in summer, during emergency Khaldoon/Pep/Soriano/Txiki meeting it was decided to work on key positions (CB No.3 + DM) immediately in Jan. Laporte is obviously No.3, and I'm not even sure he was the most desirable candidate - but the only one with release clause. It would be unrealistic to get the likes of Skriniar in winter window. That's how Txiki's 'change of heart' could be explained - he had no choice.

As for CB No.4: IMO City's summer bid for Evans is still possible. Another option is Komps solving his health problems to some extent and performing this role next season (perhaps sharing it with Adarabioyo, Latibeaudiere and Eric Garcia).

So, If I'm right, Txiki has sacrificed his pride (and, possibly, quality of a new CB) to avoid another summer transfer saga. Looking at the state of market, I think it was a right decision.
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I don't think Txiki sees it as sacrificing quality, he was a always a target.
To quote Sam Lee, "Manchester City's January transfer plans may have changed several times, but Pep Guardiola's long-term strategy has remained the same – and Aymeric Laporte has always had a prominent role in it.".
Are the others you mentioned(+may be Koulibali) better than Laporte in your opinion ?
 
BlueindianNewcity said:
I don't think Txiki sees it as sacrificing quality, he was a always a target.
To quote Sam Lee, "Manchester City's January transfer plans may have changed several times, but Pep Guardiola's long-term strategy has remained the same – and Aymeric Laporte has always had a prominent role in it.".
Are the others you mentioned(+may be Koulibali) better than Laporte in your opinion ?
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TBH, the only CB's we know for sure we've approached recently have been VVD, JFE & Laporte. The fact we needed another CB is what has probably led to all the speculation with Europe's top & attainable CB's.
 
BlueindianNewcity said:
I don't think Txiki sees it as sacrificing quality, he was a always a target.
To quote Sam Lee, "Manchester City's January transfer plans may have changed several times, but Pep Guardiola's long-term strategy has remained the same – and Aymeric Laporte has always had a prominent role in it.".
Are the others you mentioned(+may be Koulibali) better than Laporte in your opinion ?
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It's very difficult to say who's better, perhaps Pep doesn't see any difference at all. That's why I said 'possibly', it fits my narrative, but I can't be sure about it. I'd take Skriniar over Laporte judging by this season's performances, but AL is a leftie - very important quality for CB making long diagonals to RW in Pep's system.

As for the other young French defs, the performances for NT will help to rank Laporte against them in the near future. Right now AL isn't even capped (though they have quite stubborn coach, it may change after the World Cup).

Personally, I'm happy with Laporte's purchase, it was a good choice. Even if he wasn't the best possible candidate, think coaching and team coherence are more important for defender than raw talent.
 
I think our current problem which may get worse for the future is that we have a team now that accepts our pay structure.
Basically we make our shrewd purchases perform first on an initial wage then raise their wage to match their achievements within the Pep team culture plan.
As our friend Mr Sanchez has shown he wants star money because he sees himself as the top man and can get him with a team whose fans need stars to pay to see not value players.
We will make mistakes of course but imagine mistakes after paying massive money for players who cannot integrate into our team.

Surely this strategy will continue and we will get value first then develop them into stars which may include cashing in on our home made stars Monaco style from time to time.

Or there again perhaps we are forced to do this by FFP and we would have competed for the likes of Sanchez more aggressively if not constrained by an Organisation that simply did not want us initially and in the future tries to make things difficult for us.
So until our disposable income matches say Uniteds we are forced to be selective as we increase our income then leave them to increase their costs thus narrowing the available spend margin in our favour.
 
Andrew___K said:
It's very difficult to say who's better, perhaps Pep doesn't see any difference at all. That's why I said 'possibly', it fits my narrative, but I can't be sure about it. I'd take Skriniar over Laporte judging by this season's performances, but AL is a leftie - very important quality for CB making long diagonals to RW in Pep's system.

As for the other young French defs, the performances for NT will help to rank Laporte against them in the near future. Right now AL isn't even capped (though they have quite stubborn coach, it may change after the World Cup).

Personally, I'm happy with Laporte's purchase, it was a good choice. Even if he wasn't the best possible candidate, think coaching and team coherence are more important for defender than raw talent.
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Thanks. Makes sense.
 
Easy said:
Guillem Balague on Laporte: “At 6ft 2in he perhaps is not the tallest in the division
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I have read a number of sources which say he is 1.91m, ie just over 6'3'', that's a good height for a CB, we need a bit of height. I suspect more teams will look to score against us airily, after conceding 2 headed goals against Bristol.
 
mccity said:
Sounds good to me. Appreciate the detail you went into!



Probably. I guess it saves face a bit on our part as fans.

I think there's an element of truth though, in that (I reckon) Txiki was royally pissed off at the time and maybe even said to insiders that he wouldn't ever go back in whilst in the heat of the moment. But he's not so unprofessional that it'd actually be the case, as we've seen. I suppose saying Txiki doesn't forgive makes for more clickable reading too.
Click to expand...
Txiki has been very professional about this signing and done what is best for the Club and not his own ego.
Well done to him ... again.
 
Is he confirmed as a definite signing yet? He’s young and perfect to be moulder by Pep. He obviously sees something in him.
 
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