It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[WallyA]

Even if its not Bruno and Zubimendi, we need strong running midfielders and defenders.

It would be nice if the scouting department could actually find players that arent so obvious and give us a surprise.

Like say we bring in like 5 players (unheard of) for average of 30m each (cheap in this market), with them saying "These are players we think Pep can mold into the first team and give us energy and start a rebuild".

Scout all over, french, portugese, turkish, south american leagues.

Im sure the talent is there.

 

[Keith Moon]

Thanks for sharing. That is reassuring to hear, although it was pretty disappointing to see us already ruling out Guimaraes and Zubimendi. Hope they can pull a surprise or two out of the bag, because it feels like everyone needs a lift right now.

If I was an agent i would not advise my player to join City in January, team has imploded, Pep might resign, club may be relegated. So top targets will be hard to get.

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

If I was an agent i would not advise my player to join City in January, team has imploded, Pep might resign, club may be relegated. So top targets will be hard to get.

most agents don't seem to give a fuck about what's best for the player though, just how much they can make from the deal.

 

[simon23]

Thanks for sharing. That is reassuring to hear, although it was pretty disappointing to see us already ruling out Guimaraes and Zubimendi. Hope they can pull a surprise or two out of the bag, because it feels like everyone needs a lift right now.

Im more than happy if we miss out on Guimaraes - he is newcaslte level at best, doesnt have a great attitude and is slow and not a 6 which is what we desperately need....is he better than waht we have at present - YES but that is very short term thinking....
Is he better or even as good as any of the players we have had who have got us to the top in the last 10 years.....In my mind he isnt even close to the likes of Ferna, Gareth Barry, KDB, Bernardo, David Silva, Gundo - he is steps below in both physical ability and temprament.

Hopefully we dont go anywhere near him

 

[Shazza458]

If I was an agent i would not advise my player to join City in January, team has imploded, Pep might resign, club may be relegated. So top targets will be hard to get.

Fucking hell we might aswell all end it

 

[simon23]

If it’s true we can’t get Bruno G or Zubimendi in January that’s pretty worrying. Any other semi-available midfielder is a big downgrade to those two

Bruno G is a big downgrade as well.....

 

[simon23]

Zubi - I don’t even care about. Clearly he loves Bilbao and Spain weather. Nothing wrong in not looking for new pastures.

My point is more to do with City’s stance of not paying fees because it’s not what they think the player is worth for.
Simple business tells us it’s the seller that decide what is a particular player worth for.

They need to overpay to stop the bleeding and my outside view tells me Newcastle need to sell to buy and they are okay with selling Bruno rather than Isak or Gordon.
Isak scored a hattrick for them today. They would want some cash to make sure they are in a condition to say no to offers that may come for Isak come this summer.

Bruno G and Dani Almo present good opportunities to buy and i would hate for City to take the ethical high road of not paying when conditions clearly demand the same.

We paid 110 million for Mendy and Walker - a record total for fullbacks because we were clearly purging the old Pellegrini squad.
It brought dividends.
We need to show the same ambition now unless it’s the charges.
Then I am okay for Mcatee and Reilly being our main midfield in League 1.

fuck me - are we still talking about Danny Olmo - ----what a come down that would be from the likes of KDB and David Silva......

 

[MarsLlama]

His twitter bio is literally "Occasionally right, occasionally wrong, occasionally 'informed' opinion and Blue."

He IS a journalist. His track record IS proof that he has got nuggets of "Inside info" pretty consistently over the years. Like any other journalist he knows only what he is told.

His track record also shows that he is pretty far away from being the most reliable in getting fed info on how far along transfers are. But it is completely relatable that a City fan with connections gets giddy if he hears good news. His threads on here over the years has been great fun, and will hopefully continue. But people should be smart enough to seek out what they are 100% confident in themselves.

I just can’t possibly agree with the sentiment that you just stated which is essentially “yeah he’s lying to the fanbase but if you can’t understand and accept that then you’re the idiot and he’s not to blame at all”.

Yeah, maybe your attitude to his posts is ‘oh it’s all just a bit of fun, we shouldn’t worry about it.’ But this now - by his own choosing - goes way further and way deeper than just the long-timers on here who ‘know not to take him too seriously’


People trust him partly because this forum persecutes anyone who dares to question his non-existent track record of actually delivering on his promises.

 

[Delphinho]

Even if its not Bruno and Zubimendi, we need strong running midfielders and defenders.

It would be nice if the scouting department could actually find players that arent so obvious and give us a surprise.

Like say we bring in like 5 players (unheard of) for average of 30m each (cheap in this market), with them saying "These are players we think Pep can mold into the first team and give us energy and start a rebuild".

Scout all over, french, portugese, turkish, south american leagues.

Im sure the talent is there.

It’s pretty obvious that having PL experience is a HUGE plus to the recruitment team. I think there’s no way we would sign Grealish, Nunes or Phillips if they were playing in Serie A, Ligue 1 etc. Been linked with a lot of subpar PL players lately as well, like Ait-Nouri, Robinson, Guehi, Eze and Wharton. I really hope Viana brings some new ideas in terms of recruitment. Looking at out most successful signings in the last 12 years most of them came from abroad. Aguero, Kompany, Yaya, Silva, Fernandinho, Sane, De Bruyne, Haaland, Dias, Bernardo, Gundogan etc

For me personally, I would like to see:

GK - Chevalier. One of the best ball playing goalkeepers in the world and a great shot stopper. Best of both worlds, just turned 23

CB - Diomande or Schlotterbeck. The latter is world class already, Diomande would probably be an easier deal to do with the Sporting-Viana link. Both are far better players than Branthwaite, and less risk in terms of injuries. Wouldn’t surprise me if they would be cheaper as well

CM/DM - Lamine Camara. African young POTY two years in a row. Shades of Caicedo/Lavia. Quick, good in tight spaces, defensively strong, good passer and can play both DM and CM

CF - Cucho Hernandez or Jonathan David for an outright striker. 37 G&A in 35 and 22 in 26 respectively. Proven goalscorers, although in clearly inferior leagues. Jonathan David is leaving on a free in the summer as well

For a CF/LW hybrid: Omar Marmoush. Only 25 yo, and would reportedly cost €50-60m. Has 30 G&A in 18 apps already this season (Bundesliga and Europa League). I can’t really see us selling a winger in the summer, it would therefore make sense to sign a more versatile attacker that can cover multiple positions

I can totally see why we’re linked with Bruno G. For the RB position I would also prefer Livramento. Unless we can’t get the top drawer from the PL we should look abroad IMO

 

[Gorbachev]

most agents don't seem to give a fuck about what's best for the player though, just how much they can make from the deal.

If we get relegated though, players wages will go down. This will affect agent bonuses and percentages.