Yan Couto who is said to sign after his 18 year old birthday ?I dont think we do, can't think of any players we have bought recently that were reported to be elsewhere before we came in with a better offer.
We identify our targets, negotiate and buy them. We don't get into bidding wars from what I can see.
Hopefully we are lurking in the background. Is the 20% sell on true?
We've just won a domestic treble and double in consecutive seasons ffs, we're in the League Cup final for the third consecutive year, still in the FA Cup and still in the Champions League this season as well. We've had two serious long term injuries to two of our better players to contend with, on top of corrupt officials, an implementation of VAR which is highly suspicious and the last two years of effort and intensity has caught up with us eventually.I don't think it's bullshit at all. We won the trophies we have won from signing very good players, but unfortunately most of our very best past signings are now ageing (Kun), about to leave (Silva), gone (Komps, Zab) or long gone (Yaya, Tevez). We have to find replacements of a similar standard. We shouldn't be content with the kind of players that will only see us battling Leicester and Spurs for top 4 places.
Latest odds on oddschecker as to where the speculation lies on where the lad might be moving to in the summer.
Manchester United - 4/1
Liverpool - 5/1
Chelsea - 8/1
Bayern Munich - 10/1
Spurs - 12/1
Barcelona - 14/1
Real Madrid - 16/1
I am not just saying this as a City fan but any young player going to utd must be a backwards step nowadays , I can understand an older player going for a big pay packet but not a young player who should be thinking of his career not his wage packet
like my dear old dad would say to play for England a utd player just has to be bang average for a City player to play for England he needs to be world class ! hence we have never bothered much with following England !You're right bud, but it's all about the money now and that's killing united because they now have to overpay. What surprises me in all of this is how the media push every young player as the next best thing and clubs and their respective supporters buying into that, it drives the player for shirt sales theory that ability isn't the only thing a player is bought for.
The GPC bought players from all over the world to garner fans from those countries, it's a little more nuanced than that now, Pogba is the prime example of that and to some degree the Messi to City scenario.
like my dear old dad would say to play for England a utd player just has to be bang average for a City player to play for England he needs to be world class ! hence we have never bothered much with following England !