It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[Damocles]

havertz fits the false 9 better than anybody we've ever had at city do it, that's his natural position, he can drop in and play and he's got the physical presence and goalscoring ability to replicate a real 9

You rate him a lot higher than I do. He's ok, an easy point of improvement for Arsenal in the future but he fits well for now.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Arteta worked with him a lot at City and was supposedly a big part of his scoring and overall improvement in play, would be a decent move for him/them although doubtful he replaces Saka, and they have Martinelli and Trossard on the left? False 9 option?

Sterling / Havertz / Saka

i guess.

 

[JTBlue1999]

What makes you think we cannot spend big both windows? We bring in as much as anybody and we've made profit last 2 seasons, we aren't in a position where we need to put the brakes on spending, we could easily spend £200m+ today and next summer and the summer after and have zero issues, money isn't a restricting factor for us right now.

Not the person you're responding to but its not about the money. Of course we could spend hundreds of millions right now if want to - we have a sizable war chest built up through prize money and good transfer business.

The problem is that A) the big name targets are currently not available (Musiala, Wirtz, etc.) and B) we don't have much room in the squad to accommodate a signing that would require large playing time.

Say City throw 140 million euros at Bayern right now and they somehow agree to let Musiala leave. He'd be taking minutes off of KDB and Foden, and I don't think either of those 3 players will be happy to sit on the bench in big games. It's the exact same reason Alvarez left a couple weeks ago.

City are wisely waiting until next summer to make a big move and show their hand. There is no rush, we have an incredible squad for this season and I have no doubt we'll make a huge offer for either Wirtz or Musiala next summer (providing they come available).

 

[ninjamonkey]

You rate him a lot higher than I do. He's ok, an easy point of improvement for Arsenal in the future but he fits well for now.

I don't rate him all that highly, I just recognise he fits what arsenal do very well. you can be infinitely more effective than your ability would suggest in a side that you fit into seamlessly.

Same reason why I believe a bang average premier league striker would be more than good enough here as haalands back up.

 

[oldius]

With KDB and Walker and others approaching the end of their time with us, it makes sense to have money in the kitty - the cost of replacing that quality is not peppercorn!

 

[Coatigan]

And I get the feeling this is Pep last season and we will have Alonso as our manager

And I get the feeling the Oasis reunion will relegate us.

Feelings, eh!

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

 

[Ray bloody Purchase]

Sterling to Arsenal could be a thing today

Blimey if that happens, what a dilemma for the Tarquins, didn’t they spend all the games
booing his every touch when he played for us against them……god knows why, even AFTV called them out about it

 

[ninjamonkey]

Not the person you're responding to but its not about the money. Of course we could spend hundreds of millions right now if want to - we have a sizable war chest built up through prize money and good transfer business.

The problem is that A) the big name targets are currently not available (Musiala, Wirtz, etc.) and B) we don't have much room in the squad to accommodate a signing that would require large playing time.

Say City throw 140 million euros at Bayern right now and they somehow agree to let Musiala leave. He'd be taking minutes off of KDB and Foden, and I don't think either of those 3 players will be happy to sit on the bench in big games. It's the exact same reason Alvarez left a couple weeks ago.

City are wisely waiting until next summer to make a big move and show their hand. There is no rush, we have an incredible squad for this season and I have no doubt we'll make a huge offer for either Wirtz or Musiala next summer (providing they come available).

I'm not in disagreement with any of that. That's all fine in the example you're giving of musiala or whoever we target as kdbs eventual replacement, I'm in full agreement that can wait until next summer or perhaps beyond if kdb stays any longer but that's not the only part of the squad to buy for.

99% of us went into the summer saying we need a rodri backup, a large portion were also saying a fullback and then after unexpectedly losing Alvarez an equally large number are saying a striker, there's plenty of areas of the squad we can and many would argue should be improving right now.

My point was potentially lining up a massive bid for a kdb successor next season will have no financial impact on our ability to bolster other parts of the squad this summer, it's not one or the other.

 

[Damocles]

My point was potentially lining up a massive bid for a kdb successor next season will have no financial impact on our ability to bolster other parts of the squad this summer, it's not one or the other.

Yeah I've seen a few suggesting we can't have it both ways and its pretty wrong. Due to how transfer amortisation works, we could probably spend £250m this year and still have another £250m for next season. We have no PSR worries at all (outside the obvious). The money is there to essentially spend whatever we want, whenever we want.