The biggest issue in the next few years will be finding a replacement for Pep, history tells you this. He is the best chance we have of signing the top players so I say try to get them before he goes.
Kane? lololololololololololol,you have given away youself away right there,do a txiki thread
Can you name any other striker that could replace Aguero?
Only Mbappe and Kane I can think of. They both cost in excess of 200m.
As I have stated previously, I wouldn't breach the wage structure unless that meant offering key players new deals as well. Keeping the harmony of the squad is the main thing.
As for those were the days, if I remember correctly we couldn't afford to sign Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona because of the high wages and due to FFP. We are in a much better financial position now than we was back in 2012, 2013.
Players like João Felix, Koulibaly, Aouar, Ziyech, Nicolas Pepe, Kai Havertz etc won't be on mega, mega wages. You are probably looking at 130k max if these types of players joined City and that's pretty reasonable considering Ashley Young is on about the same. Some of these players might cost between 70-100m for example, but that is where I don't honestly care. As I've said over and over again, the market has already been shattered, if City were to pay a big transfer fee on a particular player, it makes absolutely no difference to the market, NONE whatsoever. The way deals are structured anyway, it would be spread across months and years in installments (amortisation).
I think the biggest dilemma we will have in the next two seasons is finding a perfect replacement for Aguero. If we aren't willing to loosen the pursestrings and be more flexible regarding transfers, then we will never get a player close to his kind of quality. Jesus is good but he's never going to be good enough to replace Aguero. What if Kane is the answer for us? Will City spend the money necessary to acquire him as a replacement for Aguero? What if Mbappe is on the transfer list, will we ever fight to acquire him as a replacement for Aguero?
This is where I want to see City being ruthless, when it is needed.
Can you name any other striker that could replace Aguero?
Only Mbappe and Kane I can think of. They both cost in excess of 200m.
Jesus will come of age this coming season. He is a lot better than many give him credit for.
Just needs regular game time now.
You say you don't want to break the wage structure, but then a few posts before bemoan the fact that we missed out on De Jong and should have gone all out for him, however in doing so we would have had to smash the wage structure as Barca, according to reports, have offered him 200-300k a week. We give De Jong that - where does that leave our other players? We'd be in exactly the same situation as United are with Sanchez. They've made a rod for their own back and are now paying the price.
You also say that a player like Felix would 'only' cost 130k - what sort of message does this send to Foden, who probably is on less than half of that?
Don't forget that one of the Premier League FFP rules limits the amounts that a club can raise wages year by year. It is not as simple as just paying these players what they want, without considering the impact on the harmony of the rest of the squad, and the commensurate wage increases the rest of the squad would reasonably demand.
We`ve seen the problems that stupid high wages brings to some clubs.Look no further afield than Old Trafford.Mangala, Bony and Rodwell were in the days when we could afford to chuck big money at them. Nowadays we operate in a different climate, an FFP one. Huge wages? Not going to happen.
João Felix would probably be on 100K if he arrived. Isn't Foden on about 50-60k? Bearing in mind that João Felix has played far more games than Foden so it's only fair that he is on higher wages, same goes for Sancho.
We don't necessarily know how much De Jong is on at Ajax, but a fee of around 65m seems rather cheap to me. He will be worth 150m in a years time.
As long as we aren't paying astronomical amounts on wages then that would be fine. As mentioned I don't know what FDJ will be on at Barca, but he would have definitely been well worth around 170k a week in my eyes. Special talent.