Is it time for a mini-rebuild?

[acton28.blog]

We have done great things again winning the 4th title on the bounce, probably deserved to go further in the UCL, plus an FA cup final.

However I feel that we may need a refresh with quite a few changes...what do we think is needed?
Open to any ideas, with one exception, Pep must remain

No. Every season we add a little more, and remove a little. Normal in footy. Rebuilding is constant and not wholesale [see Chelsea].

 

[youngbob]

This. No more Nunes/Phillips/Gomez level signings, just get the very best available or stick with the squad as it is.

Personally I feel we need to sign a quick right sided attacker and another top class midfielder.

The Phillips signing made sense on paper. He'd played very well at a high level for both Leeds and England and was exactly the profile of midfielder we needed to ease the strain on Rodri. Don't think we can be blamed for not knowing how badly that shoulder injury was going to destroy him.

Nunes and Gomez I agree on though. Nunes could sort of work, maybe? And he has looked good in fits and starts. But he was fourth choice behind Rice, Bellingham, and Paqueta, and he was clearly signed as a bit of a favour to Jorge Mendes so Wolves could pass PSR and he'll be sold to somewhere in Portugal as another favour to Mendes. Gomez was just a CFG signing that got out of hand after Zinchenko left.

But I think you could make the case that the likes of Phillips and Nunes, in terms of their standing in the game and reputation, were roughly similar to the likes of Akanji, who was signed for next to nothing and was happily let go of by Dortmund. Him becoming borderline indispensable was about as likely as Phillips tanking. It's less about the player and more about how they react to Pep's methods when they're here.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Bernardo has been going to about four years now and he's still here. We're still in a situation where no-one is willing to pay a reasonable price. Barcelona flirting with him every summer but unable to come up with a massively cut-price 60 million. I can honestly see him seeing out his contract and going in the same way that Gundogan did on a free.

 

[BerkshireBlue]

We have done great things again winning the 4th title on the bounce, probably deserved to go further in the UCL, plus an FA cup final.

However I feel that we may need a refresh with quite a few changes...what do we think is needed?
Open to any ideas, with one exception, Pep must remain

I don't think a rebuild is possible anymore with the new rules put in place. Especially as know one knows what they'll be. We could play cautious and keep to normal levels of transfers or we could see it as the last time you can do lots of transfers. It would leave us open for the PL to build the rules to make sure we fail them if we go for it though.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

The Phillips signing made sense on paper. He'd played very well at a high level for both Leeds and England and was exactly the profile of midfielder we needed to ease the strain on Rodri. Don't think we can be blamed for not knowing how badly that shoulder injury was going to destroy him.

I'm not sure that's true. The two seasons before he joined City, Phillips played 29 and 20 league games. So even in his best season, he missed 9 PL games and the season before we bought him, he missed 18. He reminds me of the Jack Rodwell signing back in the day. Who could have thought he'd turn out to be so injury prone? Anyone who looked at his record. Occasionally, you get lucky with one, Gundogan being the obvious example. But that's why we got him for a massively cut price deal. Even back then, 20-odd million for Gundo was a bargain. Phillips wasn't a bargain. When we were first linked, it was mooted at 30 million. It ended up being 45, and I always thought that was too much. For England, Phillips played well, but more as an energetic player, rather than a polished, classy type.

 

[ninjamonkey]

We had one last summer. The age of our squad is very healthy, gvardiol, lewis, foden, bobb, doku, alvarez, haaland all under 24 and still improving. None of our centre backs are wrong side of 30 yet, rodri is hitting prime years. There's only walker and kdb on the downward path. They've been key players and we will have to go down a different route when replacing them as there is no like for like but that's not a rebuild more an adjustment.

kovacic, gvardiol and doku will all be key players for us next season and well beyond in the case of the latter two. We need to buy top quality this summer as they're going to be eventual if not immediate replacements for the best in the business, these signings need to be right otherwise the quality drops.

We've reported a profit the last 2 years, we should have a massive budget this summer so we can go and spend the big money on the very best options out there and I would be shocked if we didn't also buy a bunch of young talent to stick in the academy or loan out to replenish the talent pool from all the academy sales we've made and to ensure we've got a steady income from sales in the future if they don't make it here.

I don't expect the departures the media are already trying to doom monger us into believing. Ederson is critical to our game, he simply cannot leave. He's also got a genuine shot of being brazils number 1 at the next world cup, that dies if he's playing in Saudi, he can go there in half a decade if he wants a payout.

Bernardo may finally go but he's approaching 30 now, he's made it clear he intends on going back to Benfica whilst he's still a capable player and not in his late 30's so if he were to leave here this summer who is going to want to pay up and give him the wages he warrants for him to sign a relatively short contract so that he can return to Benfica on a free after 2-3 years? We don't know with him, this may finally be the year he goes but it lines up pretty well for him to see out his contract here and then go back. Kdb and walker aren't going yet, they're on the decline but they're nowhere near ready to be offloaded, they just have to be managed and not be certain starters every game they're available.

We need to offload the deadwood this summer, phillips and cancelo in particular need to be sold and not loaned out once again, gomez should be moved on either on loan or permanently, he just has no future here.

We only need a new fullback and a midfielder that can play both with and instead of Rodri as the priorities this window and then replace any additional departures. After that, it's just future proofing.

 

[BlueAnorak]

As always it is defensive midfield that is the problem - Rodri can't do it all and pushing a CD up is a bit of a sticking plaster. Kovacic is good but he's not a worldie - he is the essential team player / water carrier every team needs though.
We break the bank for João Neves - essential to give us a threesome of Rodri, Neves and Kovatic. Rodri gets some rest and we get a DM/CM team solution that lasts for 5 years. There are a few other options but for me Neves is essential to maintain our core team strength.

 

[mexico1970]

We don't even know if Pep is staying or going yet, I suspect that if we do have a mini rebuild ( an expensive carry on) then that's a reflection of Peps desire to stay.

If that's the case, we should crack on.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Kdb and walker aren't going yet, they're on the decline but they're nowhere near ready to be offloaded, they just have to be managed and not be certain starters every game they're available.

Walker has been brilliant again this season, but he's 34 tomorrow, and we can't be going into the season with a single 34 year-old full back. If only to think about proper succession planning, we need to bring someone else in too. We definitely relied on Fernandinho for too long and I can see us doing the same with Walker.

 

[youngbob]

I'm not sure that's true. The two seasons before he joined City, Phillips played 29 and 20 league games. So even in his best season, he missed 9 PL games and the season before we bought him, he missed 18. He reminds me of the Jack Rodwell signing back in the day. Who could have thought he'd turn out to be so injury prone? Anyone who looked at his record. Occasionally, you get lucky with one, Gundogan being the obvious example. But that's why we got him for a massively cut price deal. Even back then, 20-odd million for Gundo was a bargain. Phillips wasn't a bargain. When we were first linked, it was mooted at 30 million. It ended up being 45, and I always thought that was too much. For England, Phillips played well, but more as an energetic player, rather than a polished, classy type.

But City could have easily looked at Kalvin's injury record and thought it was a result of him playing too much, and that playing in fits and starts would allow him to get to 35 games (10 starts and 25 sub apps, let's say) without affecting his fitness too much. He missed 16 Leeds' games in the 21/22 season with a hamstring problem but it was the sudden recurrence of his shoulder issue, which came up after we signed him, that really ended things for him the same way it did with Negredo 10 years ago.

Haaland missed 20 games of the same 21/22 season for Dortmund thanks to a range of different injuries and niggles. Since coming to City he's missed 19 games in total across two years. So in two years at City he's been unfit/injured less often than he was in just that one last season at Dortmund. You can see why City thought they might be able to help Phillips out in that regard. If Phillips had only missed 15 games of the last two seasons would that have been such a problem? Instead he was out for five months recovering from surgery, got injured again after he came back, and has returned to us injured from West Ham.

Some things you just can't legislate for.