It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[richards30]

What we need is competition & cover for Rodri. We can't keep rinsing him out game after game, season after season.

I'm more than happy to keep faith with Philips, or if he wanted to leave to give Luiz an opportunity, but would Luiz want to come here to be a bit part player at the peak of his career?

Do City buy squad players anymore?

I guess everything will depend on how Phillips feels if a bid for him comes in? City don’t tend to write players off after one season unless they desperately want to go and a valuation is met so the perfect situation is Phillips gets it next season and plays more to give Rodri more of a break

 

[Dribble]

What are you on about? He is contracted until 2026.

So he did... My apologies. Last summer I know Arsenal were interested, but Villa said they wanted him to extend & would rather keep him & allow him to rundown his contract.

I didn't realise he'd signed an extension... )(

 

[Dribble]

I agree about Lavia. To be honest I think he's better off not coming back to us yet as he's hardly going to play anyway.

However, Phillips' quality shouldn't be too hard to replace. Similar to Lavia, I don't think he's ready to step in for Rodri yet and whoever else we bring in would probably also struggle to fill that void. But there are plenty of players out there.

For the same money?

 

[Dribble]

I guess everything will depend on how Phillips feels if a bid for him comes in? City don’t tend to write players off after one season unless they desperately want to go and a valuation is met so the perfect situation is Phillips gets it next season and plays more to give Rodri more of a break

If a bid came in & Philips was interested, that would tell us all we'll need to know.

However having seen the first season difficulties that Grealish had & how Jack's progressed this season, I'd expect Philips to remain & want to prove himself in season two.

He said as much in an interview a few weeks ago.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

It's OK getting £50m for him, but how much would an adequate replacement cost & would that player be better than a fully fit Philips?

I think that is the dilemma.
Will we ever see a fully fit Philips playing regularly.
He's getting so little game time with Rodri playing all the time.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

For the same money?

Wouldn't have the foggiest mate. The bottom line is that I didn't rate the Phillips signing at the time and there's nothing anyone can say to convince me that we couldn't have found more quality for the same price. So if we can get that money back from him I'm not going to complain.

As a disclaimer, I've got nothing against the guy and I'm happy for him to stay and hope he proves me wrong if he does.

But if a club like Villa were to offer around £50m for him then I think it could be beneficial for him and us.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Very well put, my viewpoint to a tee.

 

[decmancity]

Wouldn't have the foggiest mate. The bottom line is that I didn't rate the Phillips signing at the time and there's nothing anyone can say to convince me that we couldn't have found more quality for the same price. So if we can get that money back from him I'm not going to complain.

As a disclaimer, I've got nothing against the guy and I'm happy for him to stay and hope he proves me wrong if he does.

But if a club like Villa were to offer around £50m for him then I think it could be beneficial for him and us.

If there was someone out there with more quality than Phillips we would have signed them.

We may well sell Phillips if someone wants to give us a profit inside 18mths but I'd be very surprised.

 

[richards30]

Is Mac Allister a deeper type CM that could play DM if required? Or Akanji? Stones?

 

[Dribble]

I think that is the dilemma.
Will we ever see a fully fit Philips playing regularly.
He's getting so little game time with Rodri playing all the time.

I've seen a vast improvement from him in his last England appearance to the recent cameos he's made for us.

He seems a lot fitter & a lot more settled. Hopefully a decent end to the season & a good rest & pre-season will give him a fresh start next season.

I'm sure he's got what it takes to make an impact here. If we were looking for replacements, we're looking at Camavinga & Tchouameni levels, & we ain't getting anything near these two for £50m...