It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[John Wayne]

If we had the budget and they were available, I'd like to see us go for the likes of:

Kudus (play on the right)
Bruno G / Ederson
Zubimendi / Barella
Livramento

All of the above would immediately improve us and are capable of being in a top team.

I like all six of those players that you have mentioned. Whilst I feel we'll only get two in January, those four options could easily win us the CL (assuming we make the top 24!).

 

[John Wayne]

The club surely aren’t waiting until January to make offers for players are they? It would be massive for the fanbase if the club briefed that bids had gone in, which is why I’m starting to worry that they’re sitting on their hands again

You can be sure the background work goes on before January. Agents are busy in December. You can imagine that City have been offered all kinds of players in the last month or so.

 

[Gumzy97]

Start with the most urgent issue which is midfield , build the midfield in January, part of it so get a 8 and a 6. Maybe try for a RB, if we cant get one in , address that first in the summer.

 

[brian the blue]

I just wish we’d stop trying to buy players already playing in the premier league. Our last good signing from within this league was Mahrez in 2018.

Since then we’ve done:
Ake - £40mil
Grealish - £100mil
Phillips - £45mil
Kovacic - £26mil
Nunes - £50mil?

That is absolutely shocking business.

Long gone are the days of being able to sign big players from “big 6” rivals. I know we bought Kovacic but he was transfer listed by Chelsea as part of a their rebuild.

The worrying thing is, if we’d had our way, we’d have also added Paqueta at £80mil, Rice at £100mil or Bruno G at £90mil. All of which are shocking value.

It’s not hard to see why we’ve dropped off, stop shopping in the bottom half/relegated sides of this league, and still paying top whack in the process.

There’s always plenty of value in Europe, surely we’re paying people good money to go and find them.

 

[chiswick blue]

Start with the most urgent issue which is midfield , build the midfield in January, part of it so get a 8 and a 6. Maybe try for a RB, if we cant get one in , address that first in the summer.

As many have stated there are glaring issues at RB, LB and central midfield. Currently we just don't have the players that we need and recruitment is vital in January. Realistically it's going to be a challenge but not impossible to recruit the players that can continue to be at a City squad standard for the next few years

 

[Benarbia’s Backheel]

You can be sure the background work goes on before January. Agents are busy in December. You can imagine that City have been offered all kinds of players in the last month or so.

Yes, but surely our work isn’t done that way and we don’t wait to see what players get offered to us. We have a list of main targets and backup targets whom we may have been watching for years, so it’s more a case of us offering a fee for a player, no?

 

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

Yes, but surely our work isn’t done that way and we don’t wait to see what players get offered to us. We have a list of main targets and backup targets whom we may have been watching for years, so it’s more a case of us offering a fee for a player, no?

It'll be all of the above.

Planned targets
Reactive targets
Offered Options

 

[chiswick blue]

I just wish we’d stop trying to buy players already playing in the premier league. Our last good signing from within this league was Mahrez in 2018.

Since then we’ve done:
Ake - £40mil
Grealish - £100mil
Phillips - £45mil
Kovacic - £26mil
Nunes - £50mil?

That is absolutely shocking business.

Long gone are the days of being able to sign big players from “big 6” rivals. I know we bought Kovacic but he was transfer listed by Chelsea as part of a their rebuild.

The worrying thing is, if we’d had our way, we’d have also added Paqueta at £80mil, Rice at £100mil or Bruno G at £90mil. All of which are shocking value.

It’s not hard to see why we’ve dropped off, stop shopping in the bottom half/relegated sides of this league, and still paying top whack in the process.

There’s always plenty of value in Europe, surely we’re paying people good money to go and find them.

Value is a subjective concept, KDB wasn't thought of as value at the time but what a great buy he's been, the same can be said regarding Walker who has been a great player for us (alas no longer). I think there are good players to be bought in the prem and outside but very good players are nearly always expensive and to prize them away from top clubs there is a premium to be paid

 

[blueparrot]

The club surely aren’t waiting until January to make offers for players are they? It would be massive for the fanbase if the club briefed that bids had gone in, which is why I’m starting to worry that they’re sitting on their hands again

Why would they do things they've never done before.We have never briefed our targets, only expecting 1 maybe 2 in,in January anyway. Most of our targets won't be available until the summer.

 

[brian the blue]

Value is a subjective concept, KDB wasn't thought of as value at the time but what a great buy he's been, the same can be said regarding Walker who has been a great player for us (alas no longer). I think there are good players to be bought in the prem and outside but very good players are nearly always expensive and to prize them away from top clubs there is a premium to be paid

I know De Bruyne played for Chelsea, but we bought him from Wolfsburg on the back of him delivering a Bundesliga player of the season standard performance in the season prior. Had he done what he did for Wolfsburg for Chelsea, they’d simply never have sold him to us.

I know we bought Walker and Sterling from Spurs and Liverpool and both were great signings, but my point is that our relationship with those clubs is so bad that they simply refuse to speak to us anymore (see Harry Kane)

This leaves players from mid table sides at best. Christ we bought Phillips from a near relegated Leeds and he was so bad we never even bothered putting him on the pitch.

We paid top whack for De Bruyne at the time, and our press slagged it off because they just thought he was shit at Chelsea and hadn’t watched him in Germany. For context, that would be like us signing Florian Wirtz last summer.. we are miles off pulling off transfers like that anymore. The ambition in the market from us has dropped substantially.