Catastrophic transfers are killing us.

[eyalluvitt]

Fair points, well put.
It’s really only Palmer where we ballsed up but not for getting him out of the club when he wanted out. Instead for selling him for what’s turned out to be peanuts rather than for not loaning him for a season.

Loan or sale with a buyback clause is our usual, why we didn’t with him is criminal

 

[southamptonblue]

Your exact quote implies that you thought he had a *chance* of breaking out. You weren't exactly locked on to him being a star. What I said was people didn't think he was going to break out as the best player in a top 6 team in his last year at City, as that's what he did for Chelsea.

If someone had told you to bet the house on him being 2nd in Prem scoring in 23/24 with 22 goals in 34 games back on 6th Feb 2022, would you have done it?

It's not a case of thinking he will be either great or shit, plenty of people thought he had potential. But I don't believe that anyone would have sworn down on how good he actually was last season while he was playing for City.

Nobody knows about any young player, including Foden.....however, some of us thought Palmer "could" become as good as he has shown, you thought he would never be a 'top' player....and you were 100% wrong, so suck it up, and stop trying to convince yourself that nobody thought he could make it.
For the record, I didn't and still don't think, any of the others I've seen have a chance (including those who have left)....let's hope I'm as wrong about them as you were about Palmer ;)
Bobb looked the next best, but he certainly hasn't shown anything yet to suggest he will be anywhere as good as Foden or Palmer.

 

[southamptonblue]

Most of the leavers have gone on to have good careers mainly at sub elite clubs, whilst the next gen are now pushing to be in our first team squad.


Palmer. I would've kept him and was bemused by the "stay or go,but no loan" decision which appeared inconsistant with what had gone on afore.

Your right, there are no guarantees with young players, however what you stated above "mainly at sub elite clubs" and "i would have kept him" .....shows, like me, that you thought Palmer could make it at the top level ;)

 

[StockportJB76]

It is farcical that we do not have a second option at centre forward and in defensive midfield for a club who have generated the most income in the Premier League over recent seasons. Seems very obvious that the charges have affected our recent transfer policy, which has been cautious and the players bought have not been at the higher end of the wage scale, apart from Haaland (bought 2 and a half years ago). Contrast to the Aguero, Toure, Silva days. The large scale sales from the Academy, which also relate to these issues, have limited our options also. Simpson-Pusey was finding his feet the Premier League 2 last season, where the team finished near the bottom and had a poor defensive record. He needed loan experience, before being exposed to first team pressures, in my opinion.

 

[Eaststander1]

For so long we got nearly everything right, smart acquisitions. Well-timed and lucrative departures.

But it's been a disaster recently, the last 3 seasons are bad. Not here to bash any players, and Savinho is "first season" and young, he needs time.

But we have to accept that Savinho, Nunes and Doku are very serious downgrades in terms of output to where we once were.

Doku and Savinho, are young and might have a chance, but cost about £85 between them. Their delivery in terms of goals, assists and big chances is way off.

Nunes, looks like a disaster.
Phillips, total disaster.
Gundogen, very definitely hasn't worked.

Hindsight is easy, but those 5 are all part of a real reduction in quality.

Gvardiol is quality, but having a hard time....so is not delivering.

When it comes to departures we've made quite a few missteps in letting home grown quality leave, think Palmer, Lavia, Porro, Rogers, Delap maybe even Harwood-Bellis, or go a bit further back to Frimpong. We made good money, but we spent even more replacing them with worse.

Can't always get it right, and hindsight is easy, we cashed in on loads of lads (whole bunch to Southampton) and Doyle, Hamilton etc who have not emerged. But Palmer looks like a huge error.

As regards sales, Pep's policy of "unhappy players out", is the right one, and served him well. But Bernardo wanted out for a while apparently and we clung onto him. Mahrez's time was up, his age, got a good fee, but he often delivered in a way the new guys haven't. Sterling, Jesus, and Zinchenko haven't prospered elsewhere, but they'd be very useful to us now. Laporte as well, and Sane. Cancelo also is a huge upgrade on what we now have. I get it that players are moved on for different reasons, Sane wanted out, Cancelo was a mardarse, Julian wanted more game time, but some of them are big losses.

The old guard also looks broken, KDB is shattered and out of contract, Bernardo well off it, Walker finished, Stones, Ake, Dias, Akanji, all good but fragile or constantly out injured.

Fells like the squad is in a pretty bad place. I still think back that 6 months ago we played Madrid off the park over 2 legs and got mugged on penalties, so maybe I'm overreacting, but it feels like we've wasted huge sums on inferior quality, and failed to manage the age profile.

Big job for the new Sporting Director.

Gvardiols main problem is his lack of concentration and focus, that's leading to mistakes ..... there's little excuse for the amount of times he gives the ball away, even at his young age ..... the plus side to him is the goals he contributes.

I'd much rather have left Savinho, Nunes, Phillips and Doku where they were ... and just given Cole Palmer more game time, maybe a full season.

 

[Macca77macca]

Jeez I thought the Etihad had blown up or something from the title of this thread CATASTROPHIC TRANSFERS ARE KILLING US

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Loan or sale with a buyback clause is our usual, why we didn’t with him is criminal

Don't think Chelsea would have accepted one after paying £40m and add-ons.

We normally insist on them where we have accepted lower fees.

 

[southamptonblue]

It is farcical that we do not have a second option at centre forward and in defensive midfield for a club who have generated the most income in the Premier League over recent seasons. Seems very obvious that the charges have affected our recent transfer policy, which has been cautious and the players bought have not been at the higher end of the wage scale, apart from Haaland (bought 2 and a half years ago). Contrast to the Aguero, Toure, Silva days. The large scale sales from the Academy, which also relate to these issues, have limited our options also. Simpson-Pusey was finding his feet the Premier League 2 last season, where the team finished near the bottom and had a poor defensive record. He needed loan experience, before being exposed to first team pressures, in my opinion.

Despite being shite, Phillips WAS bought to cover DM, Kovacic was bought to cover there too.....so really we did/do?
We had Alverez to cover Haaland, and he played all over the place to get game time, and left! So who of that quality is going to want to sign (and stay)....for either position?
IMO.....it's nothing to do with the charges, just the financial rules making it harder to pay the wages an elite player wants...especially if he knows (and the club knows) that he won't be playing as much as elsewhere?

 

[Grassland Blue]

One things for sure, I didn’t realise how good Mahrez was until we brought in Doku and Savinho.

Makes me appreciate everything he did for us now!

And the keeper got nowhere near his pk's.....

 

[Longballutd]

It is farcical that we do not have a second option at centre forward and in defensive midfield for a club who have generated the most income in the Premier League over recent seasons. Seems very obvious that the charges have affected our recent transfer policy, which has been cautious and the players bought have not been at the higher end of the wage scale, apart from Haaland (bought 2 and a half years ago). Contrast to the Aguero, Toure, Silva days. The large scale sales from the Academy, which also relate to these issues, have limited our options also. Simpson-Pusey was finding his feet the Premier League 2 last season, where the team finished near the bottom and had a poor defensive record. He needed loan experience, before being exposed to first team pressures, in my opinion.

100% it’s criminal that the club have allowed this happen. Having just Erling is madness. At one point we had Tevez, Aguero, Balotelli and Dzeko in the squad.