It's Quiet the £250m return

Tugay One Cup said:
Nobody ever said Matheus Nunes isn't good enough in possession to play right back. The issue with him is that he is prone to making brain-dead decisions on the defensive end.
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And those who get into the whataboutery of Gvardiol's brain farts fail to consider he's also a victim of Guardiola's obsession with fitting square pegs in round holes. He was bought as the world's most promising CB, but until we were desperate, he was played out of position as a LB.

We bought Nunes as a midfielder, & he failed to impress. We've used him as an emergency RB when we were in crisis, & several times it's cost us.

However, I must admit he's markedly improved as a RB over the last 2-3 months, but not withstanding that I'd still prefer a young specialist RB at the club. Livramento being HG ticks near enough every box in that respect.

I'm not averse to going into the season with both Livramento & Nunes as our RB pairing, with Lewis & Akanji there if needed. Hopefully Pep's new backroom team will impress the importance of playing specialists in their preferred position & deepening the squad to provide adequate cover & for rotation.
 
Dribble said:
And those who get into the whataboutery of Gvardiol's brain farts fail to consider he's also a victim of Guardiola's obsession with fitting square pegs in round holes. He was bought as the world's most promising CB, but until we were desperate, he was played out of position as a LB.

We bought Nunes as a midfielder, & he failed to impress. We've used him as an emergency RB when we were in crisis, & several times it's cost us.

However, I must admit he's markedly improved as a RB over the last 2-3 months, but not withstanding that I'd still prefer a young specialist RB at the club. Livramento being HG ticks near enough every box in that respect.

I'm not averse to going into the season with both Livramento & Nunes as our RB pairing, with Lewis & Akanji there if needed. Hopefully Pep's new backroom team will impress the importance of playing specialists in their preferred position & deepening the squad to provide adequate cover & for rotation.
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I thought you wanted Nunes sold ?
 
Cobwebcat said:
So we are ok for the PL but have to lose 4 for the CL?
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Think so, but not completely checked, in previous years we've very rarely had players in the squad not eligible for the CL.
Last year Reis and Echeverri were not when they joined.
 
Tugay One Cup said:
Possibly but I honestly couldn't tell you the last time he was seriously tested defensively.
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If Ruben got Zinny to massively improve defensively.. I think we can give him a chance with Nunes.

And I say that knowing Zinny cost us the CL final by losing his man defensively.. (the 1 mistake we made in that game).
 
Blue_Lightsaber said:
If Ruben got Zinny to massively improve defensively.. I think we can give him a chance with Nunes.

And I say that knowing Zinny cost us the CL final by losing his man defensively.. (the 1 mistake we made in that game).
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I can’t help think that Ruben’s form last season was partly down to worrying too much about that right side?
 
richards30 said:
I can’t help think that Ruben’s form last season was partly down to worrying too much about that right side?
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I have 3 things I noticed about Ruben last season.

1. He was good at the beginning of last season
2. When he came back from injury.. he was different.
3. And he was always struggling for pace after that injury.

Some people are going overboard with he's finished.. but I think he desperately needs like 2-3 months off to fully recover and has been playing injured.

But with Pep's.. We'll rest when we're dead.. I don't think he's likely to be rested anytime soon.. but I did enjoy Ake and Reis together.. I would like to see more of Gvardiol and Khusanov together at the back so Ruben is rested!
 
wattle said:
Not for a long time though. Massively improved in that area.
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He can improve vastly, the issue we’ll have is you eventually run into Salah or kvartshelia or Rodrigo.

We can have him play at his best level for 90% of the teams we’ll face.


Those rare few games will be the problem.
 
Withnail said:
I thought you wanted Nunes sold ?
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I did. However, I'm big enough to admit he's shown enough improvement over the last 2-3 months to be given a season to rotate with a specialist RB, preferably Livramento who also ticks the HG box.

I'm not gonna lie. I still get the willie's thinking about him vs Vini Jnr, Mbappé or players of that ilk. I still fear that's where he'll be cruelly exposed, but he's shown enough recently to be given a chance to prove himself at the highest level.

Thankfully, I'm not one of those to stubbornly hold onto my view for fear of being proven wrong. I'm a decades long City fan & only want the very best for my team.

Let's get Livramento in & give Matheus the chance to succeed or fail. We can always fuck him off next summer if he crumbles ;-)
 
Dribble said:
I did. However, I'm big enough to admit he's shown enough improvement over the last 2-3 months to be given a season to rotate with a specialist RB, preferably Livramento who also ticks the HG box.

I'm not gonna lie. I still get the willie's thinking about him vs Vini Jnr, Mbappé or players of that ilk. I still fear that's where he'll be cruelly exposed, but he's shown enough recently to be given a chance to prove himself at the highest level.

Thankfully, I'm not one of those to stubbornly hold onto my view for fear of being proven wrong. I'm a decades long City fan & only want the very best for my team.

Let's get Livramento in & give Matheus the chance to succeed or fail. We can always fuck him off next summer if he crumbles ;-)
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He's far from perfect, but when you consider he is not playing in his natural position, he has got his head down and put in some very good performances. Like yourself I still have concerns about his ability to cope against a real pacey top quality winger and if there is chance we can sign Livramento at not an extortionate fee then we should take it.
 
Withnail said:
He's far from perfect, but when you consider he is not playing in his natural position, he has got his head down and put in some very good performances. Like yourself I still have concerns about his ability to cope against a real pacey top quality winger and if there is chance we can sign Livramento at not an extortionate fee then we should take it.
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I see the fee for Livramento like the fees for KDB, Walker & Stones. Everyone scoffed & said we were being rinsed, but the three of them cost us roughly £15m per season over roughly 10 years.

That's the kind of long-term view we need to take on the £70m Livramento, MGW or Ezé. Plus all three tick the all important HG box.

As for Nunes, post improvement, he's yet to be properly tested in an important, high pressure, top level game. I suppose we won't know how he'll fare until he plays in a few. Only then can we properly judge him.

If only we could transplant Rico's brain into Nunes' body, we'd have a hybrid to be reckoned with!
 
Dribble said:
I see the fee for Livramento like the fees for KDB, Walker & Stones. Everyone scoffed & said we were being rinsed, but the three of them cost us roughly £15m per season over roughly 10 years.

That's the kind of long-term view we need to take on the £70m Livramento, MGW or Ezé. Plus all three tick the all important HG box.
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We bought KdB thinking he was elite. Walker was first choice English full back.
Stones had that potential.
My own feeling is that Eze and MGW are both decent players who I wouldn't reject but they have already reached mid 20's and remain peripheral internationals. We haven't an obvious need for players in that position.
Personally I wouldn't pay over the odds.
Livramento is a bit different as he is both a bit younger and plays in the position where we most obviously lack quality.
A larger fee is far more explicable for him than the other two.
 
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