De Bruyne?

[sam-caddick]

Ogden suggests it's the price tag we won't pay but Bayern will (£45m). So again it'd be a refusal to go the extra mile costing us a target. I'm sure people will back the club saying "He's not worth it!", but people were saying this with others. And I think in this inflated market where Di Maria goes for £60m and clubs are pocketing double the TV money, £45m wouldn't be that bad.

I find it amazing that a lot of people in the media and footballing people in general think we won't have a bean to spend in the summer because of FFP.

 

[bluechampion7891]

Ogden suggests it's the price tag we won't pay but Bayern will (£45m). So again it'd be a refusal to go the extra mile costing us a target. I'm sure people will back the club saying "He's not worth it!", but people were saying this with others. And I think in this inflated market where Di Maria goes for £60m and clubs are pocketing double the TV money, £45m wouldn't be that bad.

that is still a 50% premium on Bayern's record transfer.

for 60m euro I would rather get Koke and play Silva out wide

 

[LoveCity]

for 60m euro I would rather get Koke and play Silva out wide

Shouldn't be either/or IMO. If we have this king-sized budget we've been promised on here, Koke could be signed for central midfield and De Bruyne for attacking midfield. De Bruyne can play in any three areas behind a striker (left and central he has played for Wolfsburg, right he has played for Belgium with Hazard on the left). The way it has been reported is KdB has been made a priority - so to not get him would mean the club are missing out on their priority again and will go for Plan B instead. And personally I'm a bit tired of that happening. Maybe Plan B will turn out even better but more likely not as good or else he'd be Plan A. :/

 

[sam-caddick]

Ogden suggests it's the price tag we won't pay but Bayern will (£45m). So again it'd be a refusal to go the extra mile costing us a target. I'm sure people will back the club saying "He's not worth it!", but people were saying this with others. And I think in this inflated market where Di Maria goes for £60m and clubs are pocketing double the TV money, £45m wouldn't be that bad.

that is still a 50% premium on Bayern's record transfer.

for 60m euro I would rather get Koke and play Silva out wide

Koke won't leave Atletico.

They have Chinese investment coming in this year so Simeone can build another strong team, they are his boyhood club as well so unless Atletico are desperate to sell I can't see him wanting to leave when they could be on the verge of something great once again.

 

[bluechampion7891]

Ogden suggests it's the price tag we won't pay but Bayern will (£45m). So again it'd be a refusal to go the extra mile costing us a target. I'm sure people will back the club saying "He's not worth it!", but people were saying this with others. And I think in this inflated market where Di Maria goes for £60m and clubs are pocketing double the TV money, £45m wouldn't be that bad.

that is still a 50% premium on Bayern's record transfer.

for 60m euro I would rather get Koke and play Silva out wide

Koke won't leave Atletico.

They have Chinese investment coming in this year so Simeone can build another strong team, they are his boyhood club as well so unless Atletico are desperate to sell I can't see him wanting to leave when they could be on the verge of something great once again.

couple of things (i may still be wrong)

unless FFP gets thrown out, that investment won't help them a lot

second, we should be able to offer Koke thrice his current wages and still not fall afoul of our new contract policy. Money talks

of course, if he really believes in the project and is satisfied playing thug football, then sure, he can stay

 

[BlueDeadHead]

Ogden suggests it's the price tag we won't pay but Bayern will (£45m). So again it'd be a refusal to go the extra mile costing us a target. I'm sure people will back the club saying "He's not worth it!", but people were saying this with others. And I think in this inflated market where Di Maria goes for £60m and clubs are pocketing double the TV money, £45m wouldn't be that bad.

That values De Bruyne at 60+ million Euros. Have Bayern ever spent 62 million on a player? There is no way he is going for that much imo. The only way is if there is another English team that wants to go into a bidding war.

 

[pavelsrnicek]

If it's a Mark Ogden story I'll reserve judgement. Vindictive rag who adores sticking the boot into City.

 

[bluechampion7891]

for 60m euro I would rather get Koke and play Silva out wide

Shouldn't be either/or IMO. If we have this king-sized budget we've been promised on here, Koke could be signed for central midfield and De Bruyne for attacking midfield. De Bruyne can play in any three areas behind a striker (left and central he has played for Wolfsburg, right he has played for Belgium with Hazard on the left). The way it has been reported is KdB has been made a priority - so to not get him would mean the club are missing out on their priority again and will go for Plan B instead. And personally I'm a bit tired of that happening. Maybe Plan B will turn out even better but more likely not as good or else he'd be Plan A. :/

we should not settle for Plan B. it has been really bad these last two three windows and hurt us in both short and long term

what we should have is a pool of A-list candidates, and be willing to adapt our needs/formation depending on it. The way I see it, we can have SIlva, Aguero and Fernandinho as nailed on starters for the front 6 next season . We can then either add 2 CMs and a winger, or a CM and two wingers, as long as we can get A list players. Whichever of KdB, Koke, Bale, Sterling, Reus, Pogba, Modric, Isco, Gundogan we can get our hands on.

I do feel though that we operate a bit rigidly. I mean last season's buys (I do appreciate that we were hampered by FFP) were nearly all reported by January, and even though top players became available we were never really linked with them (again, I appreciate that we would have run into FFP problems and otherwise the club may have shown flexibility otherwise).

 

[City_Sean]

If we refuse to pay £45m I'd be quite concerned, he's been the best playmaker in Europe at a relatively cheap price. Our Plan B target won't be as good.

 

[blueheart84]

Really good counter-attacking playmaker but I don't know if he'll automatically be as effective in our heavy posession/high line style.

If we got Klopp, Bale and De Bruyne in the summer (sorry I know this is a bit fantasy manager here!) and kept Aguero up top playing a Klopp style of transition/counter attacking football we would be a nightmare to face. As it stands currently though, the powers at the club want to play with a certain style and it may be better to target Isco and Koke who are proven in more high possession setups.