Defensive Midfield Targets/Options

[Mike D]

Was quite impressed with the stance on De Jong

Meanwhile, City backed out of the race to sign De Jong as they weren't willing to break their wage structure for any one player

De Jong joined Barcelona this week, and the report claims City were unwilling to meet the Dutchman’s demand of ‘€16m a year plus easily-obtainable bonuses’.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...nsfer-news/man-city-de-ligt-transfer-15731769

Don't get me wrong would still love to have signed him, but we are running a successful football club and it was the sensible thing to do. No doubt we will have someone else lined up who won't upset the applecart.

 

[Draikin]

I disagee, Yaya should have been replaced in summer 2017. We're pushing our luck too far with Fernandinho, agents and selling clubs will take advantage of it

 

[WallyA]

But we've already got Gundogan, Stones or Delph who can ask play against weaker opposition. Not sure those two you mention are an upgrade tbh

I don't think Stones is suited to the role, and we are looking for players who are most suited for the position to play in lesser games AND take over from Fernandinho in time when he retires. Delph and Gundogan are 29 and 28 respectively so they are also too old to rely on for this, they are fine for now to give Dinho rest, but we are looking long term; hence why all our targets De Jong, Ndombele, and Neves are under 23 years of age.

Aleix is 21, and Douglas is 20. Make them rotate and compete for the number one spot when Dinho leaves, then we have two young players who have experience in that role, and who Pep can groom however he wants. We already know whoever we bring in won't be able to do the role perfectly right away, it was always going to take time, we might as well give it to our players who have shown promise in a top league.

 

[the_tevez_wiggle]

Really liked Garcia when he played in the youth and pre season games. Haven't seen him for corona, is he nowhere near capable or is there a chance?

 

[Larry Stranger]

Really liked Garcia when he played in the youth and pre season games. Haven't seen him for corona, is he nowhere near capable or is there a chance?

Dunno. Playing for a Mexican beer can be difficult.

 

[ojeme]

Well we just refused to pay big money for de Jong. Around 70 mill or so. Plus stupid wages.

I’m happy we are not letting players and clubs take the piss. We need to be spotting the Neves of this world and paying the price the Wolves of this world pay because every time some club pays ridiculous fees the cost of everything goes up.

And from the de Jong reports it seems we really are drawing the line, particularly when it comes to wages.

was this deliberate? Lol

 

[oldius]

What is happening with Matt Smith and his contract?

 

[B3nStr0ng]

With De Jong now wrapped up by Barca....surely signing Rabiot on a pre contract is a no brainier?

 

[simon23]

The simple fact is that we don't have anyone good enough to cover for fern.

Stones and Delph: dont have the passing range (Delph) or first touch (Delphi and stones) to play in Ferna's role...delph was awful midweek and stones hasnt look even remotely convincing the two times he has done it....in an emergency ok but that aint what we are talking about. We need a player to long term replace Ferna. Gundogan is a car crash waiting to happen - ive not seen a player who is worse at tackling than him in a long while. He weakens our team in every aspect no matter where he plays but defensively he is shocking and easily the worst int he squad (closely followed by Mahrez)

We are going to struggle to get someone purely because teams know we are desperate for someone. Ferna cannot go on like he is. We have been amazingly lucky so far that he aint had a long term injury.

Ndombele would be my first choice but Im sure there are others. We just need to make sure we get a player or two in there to cover him as we won't keep getting away with it and it could even come to haunt us this season.

 

[Dobsy]

Agreed that we're going to have to pay through the nose. We've been in market one player at a time for a couple of windows now.

The simple fact is that we don't have anyone good enough to cover for fern.

Stones and Delph: dont have the passing range (Delph) or first touch (Delphi and stones) to play in Ferna's role...delph was awful midweek and stones hasnt look even remotely convincing the two times he has done it....in an emergency ok but that aint what we are talking about. We need a player to long term replace Ferna. Gundogan is a car crash waiting to happen - ive not seen a player who is worse at tackling than him in a long while. He weakens our team in every aspect no matter where he plays but defensively he is shocking and easily the worst int he squad (closely followed by Mahrez)

We are going to struggle to get someone purely because teams know we are desperate for someone. Ferna cannot go on like he is. We have been amazingly lucky so far that he aint had a long term injury.

Ndombele would be my first choice but Im sure there are others. We just need to make sure we get a player or two in there to cover him as we won't keep getting away with it and it could even come to haunt us this season.