Balotelli.

[SamTheGuru]

Nonono! You cannot pay a 19 year old this much!!! If he does turn out to be a star, in 3 years time he will want to be the highest paid player in the world! Then 3 years later he will want to be on half a million a week! Just no!

You don't dictate a players wage because of their age, you dictate their wage because of their talent. If RSC is getting 90K a week, why does Mario not deserve that when he is a far superior talent that RSC? When the lad gets his next contract he will be 25-26, in his prime, make him the one highest paid players in the world, if he develops the way many expect, with another 5-6 year deal, then he will be 31-32 years old when that is up. Seems to be pretty logical to me, given the current market, and the automatic price hike City is paying these days.

He will get his next contract at the age of 23. I believe he is just turning 20 and signing a 5 year contract in which case a new contract will more than likely be tied up with 2 years to go if he is any good. 5-6 years? What planet are you from? Players are constantly pushing for better contracts/wages. Not only that it will be a bit of an insult to the rest of the team. Age/Experience does largely dictate wage packets. He is 19 years old at the moment! It would shatter any wage structure that we have altogether!

 

[i8rags]

we have a lot of defenders of various ability, but we have no defence. this should be settled and a unit and its along way off that. even a new center half wont solve this issue, although it may improve it. the center is the heart of the matter. we either stick with a pairing and accept its gonna be ok or we gamble on improving it at the risk of unsettling it.

 

[Keith Moon]

Its silenzio stampa from both Inter and the Pizza man, so I guess that as soon as Inter has wrapped up the Maicon deal they will officially announce the departure of both players.

 

[twinkletoes]

The CB position worries me, we spend all this money improving the squad yet one of the most glaring deficiences is the CB position... imo it will come back to haunt us.

-- Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:02 am --



I agree with that nev, but for me we need a quality CB mate.

My biggest fear is that we still don't have a natural leader, nobody that's vocal enough to pull the team together when the chips are down.
Stoke away and were 1-0 down you need someone out there that's lifting the team and willing to bang heads together with respect from others.............we currently don't have that?

If we had signed Terry then I dont think that Hughes would have been sacked.

 

[The Fixer]

My biggest fear is that we still don't have a natural leader, nobody that's vocal enough to pull the team together when the chips are down.
Stoke away and were 1-0 down you need someone out there that's lifting the team and willing to bang heads together with respect from others.............we currently don't have that?

If we had signed Terry then I dont think that Hughes would have been sacked.

He would of fit the bill on both very good defender and a natural leader however imagine the shit due to the bridge and Terry stuff fcuk a duck :O)

 

[Lomas has a lob on]

My biggest fear is that we still don't have a natural leader, nobody that's vocal enough to pull the team together when the chips are down.
Stoke away and were 1-0 down you need someone out there that's lifting the team and willing to bang heads together with respect from others.............we currently don't have that?

If we had signed Terry then I dont think that Hughes would have been sacked.

If Terry had signed, the team would have imploded. Bullet dodged by us on this occasion.

 

[Blue Hefner]

My biggest fear is that we still don't have a natural leader, nobody that's vocal enough to pull the team together when the chips are down.
Stoke away and were 1-0 down you need someone out there that's lifting the team and willing to bang heads together with respect from others.............we currently don't have that?

If we had signed Terry then I dont think that Hughes would have been sacked.

Is that some sort of joke? Every manager could say that 'if you let me sign the national team's captain, i'll improve results' Ridiculos
Without getting into a Hughes in/out debate i feel if we would have had Terry, Xavi, Messi and Torres we would still have been shit

 

[nickson71]

If we had signed Terry then I dont think that Hughes would have been sacked.

If Terry had signed, the team would have imploded. Bullet dodged by us on this occasion.

true but we need a Terry type player but not on with the personal baggage associated with the original

 

[Jimma]

If Terry had signed, the team would have imploded. Bullet dodged by us on this occasion.

true but we need a Terry type player but not on with the personal baggage associated with the original

most will prob not agree, but the only one i can think of - Kompany

big guys who can throw his weight around, ive never seen him be shy of speaking his mind, only difficulty might be the language barrier.

 

[johnny crossan]

Is this recycled or new?

Sky Italia claim imminent big money City deal

Italian sports news broadcaster Sky Sport Italia claim that Manchester City are only 48 hours away from officially confirming the acquisition of Inter Milan’s Mario Balotelli.
The Italian under-21 international has been heavily linked with a reunion with former Inter boss Roberto Mancini with reports now claiming that a five year contract worth £2.8 million each season being negotiated.
The combustible, mercurial hitman is recognised as one of the most exciting prospects in Serie A. While Inter are thought to be keen on holding onto their strike starlet it has been accepted by the club’s hierarchy that should a suitable big money offer be forthcoming from Manchester City then a deal could be agreed.
Balotelli missed the nerrazurri’s pre-season friendly against Chelsea last week and was also absent from Tuesday’s match against Panathinaikos. It is believed that the arrival of City’s latest big money star could herald a further cull of City’s current first team squad. Roque Santa Cruz, Emmanuel Adebayor and Craig Bellamy have all been tipped to quit Eastlands with several continental suitors eyeing deals.

 

[Danamy]

My biggest fear is that we still don't have a natural leader, nobody that's vocal enough to pull the team together when the chips are down.
Stoke away and were 1-0 down you need someone out there that's lifting the team and willing to bang heads together with respect from others.............we currently don't have that?

If we had signed Terry then I dont think that Hughes would have been sacked.

Terry had no intention on coming he just used City to get a better deal out of Chelsea.............he pissed a lot of people off in the process for his own gain but that's the type of guy he is though!

 

[york away to this!]

was told on the stadium tour that balotelli was a done deal about two weeks ago.

not sure why it's taking so long therefore to finalise but with weasely agents and everyone else trying to screw what they can out of us it's no surprise that the deal is agreed in principle than it takes a while to sort out personal terms and so on.

Incidentally, I think Balotelli looks like an over-cocky cock - hope he lives up to his own belief!

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

The CB position worries me, we spend all this money improving the squad yet one of the most glaring deficiences is the CB position... imo it will come back to haunt us.

-- Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:02 am --



I agree with that nev, but for me we need a quality CB mate.

My biggest fear is that we still don't have a natural leader, nobody that's vocal enough to pull the team together when the chips are down.
Stoke away and were 1-0 down you need someone out there that's lifting the team and willing to bang heads together with respect from others.............we currently don't have that?

This is bang on and exactly why we went balls out for Terry.

Unfortunately, these type of players seem few and far between, these days?

I'm hoping Yaya when he gets more accustomed to his surroundings will take the lead.

But Barry, who shouldn't even be in the starting eleven, Kompany, Given, Kolo.

All too passive. It's all about respect. It's such a shame Tevez doesn't have a grasp of the lingo.

It's also maybe entwined. Centre-backs are usually the ones entrusted with the role...and we don't have one to piss in.

 

[Raymoz]

De Jong for captain for me, hard as nails,eloquent,intelligent and born winner.

 

[justalittlemoreeffortade]

I agree that Yaya seems the best fit going forward to be the leader on the pitch. i think that maybe we should just opt for this and let him grow into the role. as for central defence, well my heart tells me that we desperately need to improve in this area but not sure that we need to buy. CB partnerships rarely just happen, like leaders they tend to grow and the one thing that we didn't have the luxury of last season was a settled pairing for one reason or the other and I think that most of our problems were caused through a lack of understanding rather than a lack of ability. Yes all of our options in the position could do with an extra yard of pace but with the additions that we have already made then we should have enough about us to compensate for that.
The key I believe is for Bobby to make his mind up on his best pairing and then just going for it. Yes they will make mistakes, yes this will be a worry and cost us points early on, but if (and I believe they are) the players we have to select from for the positions are the quality that most in the know think that they are. Then the partnership will learn from its mistakes, heal itself and grow.<br /><br />-- Thu Aug 05, 2010 11:02 am --<br /><br />

De Jong for captain for me, hard as nails,eloquent,intelligent and born winner.

I whole-heartedly agree, but even though I really hate to say this as I am a big fan, I am not sure that he is going to make the 25.

 

[manc93]

De Jong for captain for me, hard as nails,eloquent,intelligent and born winner.

I agree with that 100% he's a leader and will do a much better than kolo in my opinion

 

[davelyncooper]

I believe that Marouane Fellaini would be a stella centre back, yes I know he is supposedly a midfielder but all the same I still think he would make a great centre half. why?....he's only 22, over six foot four inches tall, he is physically strong, an incredible athlete and a wonderful header of the ball.


I await the abuse that I know is going to come my way but all the same, I think the guys a real star.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

I see people are suggesting Yaya should be our leader. Kolo himself has said that Yaya is more passive and reserved than him, saying they are exact opposites! There's 2 things in that. Firstly, as good a player as Yaya is, he's not captain material. Secondly, Kolo is deluded if he thinks he is the opposite of passive!

 

[bluemoon201164]

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/147725/Man-City-Balotelli-deal-off/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/vie ... -deal-off/</a>

sorry if allready been posted.

if not this dont look good.

 

[justalittlemoreeffortade]

I believe that Marouane Fellaini would be a stella centre back, yes I know he is supposedly a midfielder but all the same I still think he would make a great centre half. why?....he's only 22, over six foot four inches tall, he is physically strong, an incredible athlete and a wonderful header of the ball.


I await the abuse that I know is going to come my way but all the same, I think the guys a real star.

Brilliant if the sole purpose of a CB is to head the ball however he is from the Paul Scholes school of tackling!