De Bruyne?

[Pam]

And stone him with stones!

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

That's good, have you been made aware Ric if this will be our last signing? That was something Martin Blackburn alluded to me on Twitter.

He picked us to win the league this season, and all Seany.

 

[Proy]

We need De Bruyne. It's pretty simple, really.

The question now is, as far as central midfield goes, we are looking at Delph, Yaya and the 2 Brazilians?

I wanted Pogba as much as anybody, but it's not the worst midfield. With the people around it, Silva/Sterling/De Bruyne/Nasri, I'm not overly concerned.

There will be a place open for one more CM if Kevin is the last one.

Garcia
Lopes
Zuccilini
Pozo

Who do we give it too?

I'd reckon with the type of player that will be needed then it I'd say Zuccilini.

 

[Silva_Spell]

Only adding Delph to what was our weakest link - esp against elite sides in the CL - would be close to criminal.

 

[Bokonon]

We need De Bruyne. It's pretty simple, really.

The question now is, as far as central midfield goes, we are looking at Delph, Yaya and the 2 Brazilians?

I wanted Pogba as much as anybody, but it's not the worst midfield. With the people around it, Silva/Sterling/De Bruyne/Nasri, I'm not overly concerned.

There will be a place open for one more CM if Kevin is the last one.

Garcia
Lopes
Zuccilini
Pozo

Who do we give it too?

I'd reckon with the type of player that will be needed then it I'd say Zuccilini.

We have fernando fernandinho and delph, personally I think our addition needs to be more than just energy or defense, someone who can do yaya's role if and when he needs a rest. Gundo Wilsh Pogba

 

[Proy]

We have fernando fernandinho and delph, personally I think our addition needs to be more than just energy or defense, someone who can do yaya's role if and when he needs a rest. Gundo Wilsh Pogba

Playing in a 4-3-3/4-5-1 is going to help Fernando.

I may be fucking stupid, at the end of the day, but I thought for 20 minutes against Madrid we looked solid enough with a 3 central midfield. In fact, fuck me sideways, we fell apart when Delph went off.

Is that a fair shout? I'm not seeing things am I?

Sterling and De Bruyne are going to have to be very disciplined if we start as follows:

De Bruyne
Spanish Dave
Sterling
Yaya
Fernando
Aguero

And I think they will be. Not having Dzeko wandering around like a slapped arse will be a monkey off ones back. Of that I'm certain

 

[Bokonon]

Only adding Delph to what was our weakest link - esp against elite sides in the CL - would be close to criminal.

It's not like we lacked the quality in midfield tbf, imo it was all down to the formation. We were out-ran and out-manned in the middle, not out-classed. Yaya and Fernandinho, for me, are up there with the best of them. Add one more in the middle and we're fine, though I'm not sure Fernando or Delph is the answer. Fingers crossed we snag someone big before the window shuts, hopefully Pogba.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

The whole midfield issue hangs a lot on Yaya, it seems to me that the club is putting a lot of faith in him having a better season than the last and be our key man there. Only time will tell if he's up to the task with no international games messing up his schedule.

 

[Proy]

It's not like we lacked the quality in midfield tbf, imo it was all down to the formation. We were out-ran and out-manned in the middle, not out-classed. Yaya and Fernandinho, for me, are up there with the best of them. Add one more in the middle and we're fine, though I'm not sure Fernando or Delph is the answer. Fingers crossed we snag someone big before the window shuts, hopefully Pogba.

Fernandinho and Yaya was the best we could ask for if playing a 2. Pair Fernando with one of those and it became an issue.

However, play all 3, with a front 3 false 9 with 2 as wingers, and I think you see a much better Fernando. Only because, he can then do his job and not that of somebody else on top.

Fernandinho made it work with Yaya, and that's because he's a fucking quality footballer.

Fernando needs another body and the change in formation is going to help him.

I'm not saying I rate him all that highly, but we need to find a way to get the best out of him if we are leaving Pogba alone. Playing in a 3 is the answer, but then you have to drop an attacker. One of Sterling/De Bruyne and I'm not overly keen on that idea.

 

[Proy]

The whole midfield issue hangs a lot on Yaya, it seems to me that the club is putting a lot of faith in him having a better season than the last and be our key man there. Only time will tell if he's up to the task with no international games messing up his schedule.

If Yaya was willing to play as an out and out holding midfielder alongside whoever else in a 2, and let the front 4 attack without him, I don't think they would have to put so much reliance on him and a lot of the arguments we are seeing around our CM area wouldn't be happening.

 

[giokingkladze]

Whilst Silva and Sterling are starting to link up nicely, and will be complimented further by Sergio, I see Bony as being the greatest benefactor of KdB's arrival. A couple of the balls he whipped in against Arsenal yesterday were vicious

 

[cmdub]

in a sick and sadistic sort of way i want to see wolfsburg reject our first bid just to see the reaction here

 

[Chevelle]

in a sick and sadistic sort of way i want to see wolfsburg reject our first bid just to see the reaction here

You sick bastard!

 

[thereWasATime]

City launch £40m De Bruyne bid

Manchester City have sent an opening offer of £40 million to Wolfsburg for midfielder Kevin de Bruyne. The Belgian has been earmarked as a key target for Manuel Pellegrini this summer.

Source: Daily Telegraph

 

[avoidconfusion]

How many times have we "launched" this bid now?

 

[Immels_eyebrow]

Wolfsburg have been bracing themselves for this opening bid for quite a while now

 

[Saddleworth2]

If thats true, I doubt we will get him for £40m. Lets hope we dont get into a protracted negotiation with incremental increased bids. We could do with him sooner rather than later.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

Ah, the old preparing a bid bollox. How the fuck do they know we're ' preparing' a bid, and how do you prepare a bid anyway?. Fee probably agreed already I think, and no way will we pay 57m.

TB has been seen at the Superstore cash machine drawing out the Max everyday...

 

[tonea2003]

Wolfsburg have been bracing themselves for this opening bid for quite a while now

must be close now wolfsburg are bracing themselves

 

[MillionDollarDream]

According to a couple of people at work he's been piss poor pre-season. No pace, no defending, nothing to indicate he's a big improvement. This has come from from Blues and rags.
So is it just the usual looking rusty after the summer or do we seem to be looking at a player that won't cope with the higher pace and physical demands of the Prem.
Genuine question; I don't watch much foreign football and haven't seen the friendlies where he's alleged to have been so poor.

The Bundesliga is a league full of pace, counter attacks and physical demands. It's pretty much a league full of lower mid-bottom table PL teams that are looking to scrap for a point or looking to nick all 3 when they are playing against anyone but Bayern. He will be more than prepared to play in the PL(again if you want to call it). He made a few clever runs against Arsenal, picked out some great passes and showed he could help us with corners, he did look a little rusty shooting though.