Declan Rice

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Who do West Ham want as his replacement? And will his price have increased because that players club know they have the money? Interesting.

 

[Blu3m00n91]

@tolmie's hairdoo IF Bernardo stays, City sign Gvardiol and then we’re done? Can’t see is buying an extra player for the sake of it.

 

[bmfc95]

One thing nobody is talking about is how he’ll deal with the pressure of going to Arsenal as a 100 mil player.

It’s completely different to rocking into the Etihad as another one, surrounded by his mates who are all serial winners.

Going to Arsenal he’s “the missing piece” and will have to justify the price tag with every kick until it leads to a title and anything less will be a failure to their fans.

Big difference. Players have buckled under less pressure.

Agree with this- we know first hand what a 100m price tag can do to a player's confidence/mentality/pressure

 

[Kamaro011]

I know it goes against everything that’s been reported in the last couple of days, but I’ve always been told that this wasn’t ever close.

I honestly don’t think Rice is a player who we need.

In my opinion we need to keep Bernardo, bring Phillips up to speed, trust Foden more in a central role, and strengthen the right wing. Kovacic will just slot in like he’s been here for 5 years

I still have faith in Philips hopefully some of people in here like so many example in the past will eat their words.

 

[supercity88]

So we're not going to match Arsenal's bid, although that's still not been accepted. Presumably that's due to the payment profile again. I wonder if we're going to monitor and see if we can convince West Ham with more money up front, or we're happy to walk away.

Either way, we can't question the club's approach. We wanted Bellingham who would have been cheaper in terms of the initial outlay. We've looked at Rice who is proving too expensive. And undoubtedly we'll have other options to turn to or we'll wait a year and go with what we've got. With Pep's mastery he can turn Kovacic into something very special. Phillips might, from nowhere, emerge as a useful cover for Rodri. Perrone might impress and become a real option in the middle. Foden, Bernardo all still high quality talent at the club and able to play a role in the centre.

Where will we turn to now?!

As an aside I note how Arsenal's bid has been labelled as equal to our initial sum for Grealish, rather than the world record because of the add-ons and potential overall purchase price. You know if it was City's it would be "premier league record".

 

[Trickyblues]

Philips has shit mentality, so I hope he go

What evidence do you have of that?

 

[Superace]

I never expected this deal to happen, the only thing that surprised me is we bid in the first place.

 

[meeesh]

Makes us look quite sensible this now,but will other fans see it that way,like fair play to City for walking away,will they fuck.

It's not the first time and won't be the last we walk away,upto now it has worked a dream,don't see any different this time neither to be honest.

Now then Pep,what about this Kimmich fella you like so much

 

[Cityinmud]

Squad refresh = Gvardiol and Kovacic :O (but yes)

Transfer window is long and you don't have a complete picture. i think it's common knowledge city are very secretive about transfers. We signed dias out of no where. Calm down imo!

 

[lionheart]

Rice is worth no more than £62.5m according to this article and has several weaknesses...

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