You need to be careful of what you post, if you give too much information away the club wil know you've got a mole passing information back to you.Why do the two terms have to be mutually exclusive? We had an incredible season and are an exceptionally ran club but that doesn't change the fact that our directors are currently dilly-dallying over signing the best young defender in the world. And I would argue that we are penny-pinching. We are, as per reputable reports, in our strongest ever financial position, and the player is basically on his knees waiting for us to get the deal done.
We use the likes of Koulibaly, Maguire, Pogba, as empirical metrics that our "walk away" policy is infallible, but that's foolish for two reasons:
1.) We were interested in the aforementioned players, and just because they failed at their respective clubs doesn't mean they'd have been fated to fail at City. I personally think Pogba would have been a success here.
2.) It's a policy that will one day backfire. I'll stick my neck on the line and say if we do miss out on Gvardiol, for the sake of an extra £10m, we'll regret it. Who's to say we wouldn't have an extra league or CL title if we'd have bitten the bullet on Van Dijk?
Yes but Mangala and Nastasic did not have ball playing abilities. The new crop and our style is a total match in a profile like Gvardiol’s who can do all the work like Laporte but is also far more physical and aggressive, quicker too. Even in Pep’s first season he was going with Kolarov as our centre half for a reason. Biggest difference is Pep wanting this player, neither of them you’ve mentioned would ever be his choice. I also like the Chelsea lad Levi Colwill a lot, and he’ll be expensive too. But either fit our system and will cost a lot29 is the new 33 it seems. Didnt CB usually start peaking at 28-29. None of our CB's currently are in 30's so no real urgency to refresh or get the squad age down. Will be the best in the future and great potential were the words also said about Mangala and Nastasic who came here with great reputations, not to mention they were also left footed Centre backs.
Pep is ever evolving and is already onto his 5th-6th system. Who is to say is he wont change the system again and would not want a player like Laporte. Stones was nowhere to be seen in 21-22 season but was instrumental for us last season.
Keep Laporte, give this one a miss and save ourselves €70 odd millions in net transfer fees. Had we received £50-60 bid for Laporte, then that would had been a different story.
Fee we are quoated for Gvardiol €100 Mill
Fee we are quoated for Laporte €30 Mill
The differential is just too big.
I think liverpool will pay RBs asking price as a vvd replacement next season. If a player is a future top 5 in his position slight overpay (like 5-10m) isn't the worst thing. people said kdb for 54m was overpay, look how that turned out!Because City are part of a dwindling number of clubs who can pay BIG MONEY for players means other clubs can ask for what they want BUT if City offer a reasonable deal and the club balks at it, then where else are they going to get that kind of money? Barça? Madrid? Rags? Scum? Barcodes? PSG? Bayern? THEN WHO???
If we keep going comparing apples to oranges,Keep Laporte, give this one a miss and save ourselves €70 odd millions in net transfer fees. Had we received £50-60 bid for Laporte, then that would had been a different story.
Fee we are quoated for Gvardiol €100 Mill
Fee we are quoated for Laporte €30 Mill
The differential is just too big.
But then he had his little groin 'surgery' and can't be top fit right now anyway. So we don't lose time right now....
i read about the possibility of this not being over until late in august and i don’t understand why would they do that? i get not paying and walking away, but intending to pay and yet having gvardiol miss the pre-season doesn’t make any sense.
i think people will still hate city so i don’t quite get the obsession with not spending much. just like they’ll hate leipzig in germany no matter what they do.
i also don’t understand why wouldn’t they give the treble winning coach his top priority target and i’m not saying this just because it’s gvardiol.
We will let him go out on loan if no one buys him, anyone thinking Gvardiol might not arrive needs their head testing.Laporte can't defend wide anymore, isn't tenacious like Dias in the centre and can't do what Stones does. He doesnt fit the way Pep is setting us up, which is part of why he had such little game time. It makes sense for both parties if he goes.
It's sad though, he's a brilliant player and single-handedly kept the defence together at the end of 21/22.
ah that’s one of the reasons i want him to leave stupid leipzig, i hate how they handled that, he was injured in that leverkusen game in april when they generally tried to kill him. (they didn’t win a single game after that and i like to believe i’m responsible by starting a new croatian juju lol) they just sent him to our national team injured. still pissed off about that.But then he had his little groin 'surgery' and can't be top fit right now anyway. So we don't lose time right now.
Any updates about his current recovery?
They have to write something every day, doubt meetings and talks hold the same pattern.I don’t think the media is all that dialed in to what is going on. A couple days ago we got reporting that they were working on payment structure and now Romano reports they are still working on the total fee. Neither City of RB are talking to the media it seems.
I sort of don’t buy that they could be negotiating this long and not have agreed to a total fee yet. I think we would have pulled out by now if we couldn’t agree on a top line total fee number. I’ll make a guess and speculate that we are working on payment structure.
he was in belgrade recently and it is not confirmed but everyone believes he went to get treatments from that “miracle worker” woman who made luka modrić able to play after he was supposed to be out for like a month. nothing else atm. i did see a photo of him giving an interview in croatia on twitter but algorithms have failed me so far and it hasn’t surfaced in any of my social media.
Going to disagree,Gvardiol is the Haaland of CBs at 21 he’s the level of Laporte , faster , stronger equal passing range. Been one of the best defenders at the World Cup and euros was in the conversation for player of the tournament in both. 100 million euros is a bargain for the calibre of CB we are getting.
No disrespect to Laporte as he’s been good for us played through injury to help us win titles. But Gvardiols levels above at 21 he’s not even hit his prime yet which is scary to think. Pace strength intelligence passing movement he’s got it all at 21. His ceiling is incredibly high.
Yes he struggled against us at home but he dominated our attack in Leipzig and he’s done that against Vini Jr , Mbappé , Neymar to list a few. Made them look average.
100 million euros is a bargain in the long run.