ESPN Rumour Mill

[scenecreamer]

Kolo Toure was NOT a bad signing.

 

[remember arthur mann]

Agent Hughes was a disgrace, he put City back two years.

 

[Ray78]

Agent Hughes was a disgrace, he put City back two years.

Another one to blame was the former Portsmouth owner. If he didn't start shooting his mouth off when we were first taken over then we wouldn't of been taken for the ride as well.

 

[Maurizio nicked my Porsche]

Hughes signed Vinny, Zabba & NDJ as well so not all bad signings!

 

[iamdamienl]

Meh 60 mill couldn't buy you two Hazards...

Eh? :D

 

[kabuverdimcfc]

5m ----> good winger
35m ---> world class central midfield
20m ---> world class central back

 

[Bluemooner33]

5m ----> good winger
35m ---> world class central midfield
20m ---> world class central back

We need all of the above. a decent backup striker would be good too like Ba or Cisse. sell Dzeko or Balotelli

 

[xbuddyx]

The strategy behind the first signings after Mansour took over is pretty simple. Players who are above decent just so the club would be able to sign world class later. The Adebayors, kolos and such was really needed for the club to eventually sign players like David Silva and Kun Aguero. The only thing City could compete with was money so ofcause the contracts are horribly overpayed. But it was needed for the club to grow into Mansours ambition.

On another note. Selling Balotelli would simply put be a horrible move. Do not underestimate the amount of supporters Mario brings to the club. He is worth every penny.

 

[lionheart]

On another note. Selling Balotelli would simply put be a horrible move. Do not underestimate the amount of supporters Mario brings to the club. He is worth every penny.

My view is that, after his good showing at Euro 2012, we could possibly get 50 million for him right now. Given his personality traits, I still fear that his career could spiral downhill quite dramatically. In a year's time he might be worth bugger all. Not because of his footballing skills but his off-field antics. He is a car crash waiting to happen.

 

[SamTheGuru]

Is Hughes picking the transfers again?

In fairness to Hughes(and I never thought I would start a reply with those words!)his spending happened at a time when the project was just starting, there was clearly much more "risk" in his signings because top draw players without issues aren't going to join a project.

No there is no excuse for a lot of Hughes signings. Bridge, Kolo Toure, Jo and Santa Cruz were very expensive, very poor signings. Cruz had serious knee injuries and Kolo and Bridge had come purely for the money. To be fair to Kolo when Yaya returned it revitalised him and put more effort it. Jo just was not very good and either was Ben Haim.

Then signing Lescott for 22 million was awful busines. Bellamy and Adebayor were trouble makers, but he can control Bellamy and was not a decent deal for him. Adebayor had world class potential, but seems to have a terrible attitude.
To be fair to Hughes I think that Tevez and Robinho were board signings.

Overall Hughes did terrible with his signings and had no idea of the style he wanted to play and the formation he wanted to fit them in. Board signings like Robinho did not help matters.

- Bridge and Kolo were exactly what we needed at the time.
- Jo was hardly anything to do with Hughes
- You fail to mention Zab and Kompany.

The only daft thing going on was the length and size of the contracts going on. But how else were we supposed to attract the players to boost us?