I think the days of the club being played have definitely sailed
How can the club be played? Bellingham stringing us along to get a Liverpool move? If city, a huge business in many ways, with some of the best minds in football can’t see when they are being hoodwinked then I am amazed we have made it so far since Mansour took control -:)
If you are right then the player is not for us anyway.
felix?
I've seen Liverpool fans and their media work themselves into a shoot about signing Mbappe. Which isn't to say there might be things happening, but I'd drown out that noise as best you can.I have to say I’m very confused by this one. @tolmie's hairdoo has obviously heard some positive news but scouse media has gone into overdrive. We’ve seen other clubs getting giddy over players that end up at City but this is something else entirely.
I do wonder if Bellingham has said yes to both clubs because he wants to play in the premier league regardless. Maybe he’s told Liverpool he’ll join if they agree a fee and get champions league. Maybe he said yes to us as a back up, if Liverpool can’t pay he’ll join us.
While I don’t doubt @tolmie's hairdoo and his info I do wonder if the club are being played. It wouldn’t be the first time.
I honestly think if they decided they really wanted him they would have the money to do it without new owners, they may even be forced into it with the press pushing him at Liverpool so much, if they don't sign him their fans will be livid after all the emotion and arrogant bluster they've put into signing him now. They have a very similar income to us and so could put the money together if they wanted without breaking FFP in the same way we can.
The biggest problem they have though is that they also need a massive rebuild of their aging squad over the next couple of seasons. They may go the United route of splashing the cash on a big name player to keep the press and fans happy and then buying a few low cost lower quality players to pad the squad out. The trouble they'll have there though is that since we changed our computer logins they've been pretty poor at sniffing out a bargain like we have been able to with Akanji, Alvarez, etc so that will definitely impact them on the pitch.
I do have some concerns about us buying him for the same reasons though. Will the costs being talked about take up an entire summers transfer budget? I have no idea really but looking at our squad realistically we will have to replace De Bruyne and, particularly, Gundogan sooner rather than later, possibly Bernardo too. We also need a quality full back or two and that's without taking into account Walker's age. Mahrez is also coming to an age where we need to be thinking of a replacement for him so we're looking at a bit of a rebuild ourselves, especially in midfield. With that in mind is it worth spending the touted €150m on one player (who's very talented but seems quite inconsistent at the moment) or should we look at using the same amount of money to bring in 2 or 3 high quality players instead? I have no idea personally and don't really care either way if I'm being honest, Pep and Txiki have an excellent recruitment record so they'll know better than any of us what the plan is.
I only nipped on this thread as the Bellingham to Liverpool stuff is popping up all over the place now and wondered if there was anything going on but it would appear that it's mostly just the press using him to keep Liverpool in the news and it should all be taken with a pinch of salt. I think Tolmie mentioning that Klopp has had a meltdown about us pretty much sorting out signing Bellingham is the most positive thing to say we've got a good chance of Txiki getting his signing jumper out in Dortmund, Klopp certainly had a bit of a breakdown just before the World Cup started and seemed to throw his toys out of the pram in much less subtle way than normal which if it was over them losing out on Bellingham will make it even funnier.
How can the club be played? Bellingham stringing us along to get a Liverpool move? If city, a huge business in many ways, with some of the best minds in football can’t see when they are being hoodwinked then I am amazed we have made it so far since Mansour took control -:)
If you are right then the player is not for us anyway.
Where is he, I've been waiting for him to returnMods we have another who is getting above himself , another Gregory Peckory ?
Jorginho turned out to be a right twat. Maybe Bellingham will end up the same way. It’s never done until he is signed and it would be foolish to think otherwise. Going off what you have posted tolm, seems like we have a great chance. So until he does a Jorginho… -:)Jorginho likes this post!
My info on Bellingham now goes back a few weeks, back to the summer in fact and then his positive response just before the World Cup.
When people are offering information, it depends entirely on when it comes to them.
RTE are so far up the red shite arse to report anything remotely detrimental to their core audience. Pay no attention. It’s all part of the revenue stream. Good v bad, red v blue. Never ending soundbite to keep relevant in an ever changing commercial climate.It’s not that long since Dani Alves screwed us over. Players change their minds, someone’s word isn’t as good as ink on the paper.
I know nothing on transfers but I find it odd how giddy the scousers are, even by their own cultish standards. RTE over here on their analysis of the England Senegal match were talking about Bellingham’s imminent move to Liverpool.