Kyle Walker

[Dipsis_LTU_MC]

We'll get him anyway. Don't worry too much.

 

[MeatHunterrr]

According to The Times Levy wants £50m. City's opening bid will be around £40m.

 

[worsleyweb]

According to The Times Levy wants £50m. City's opening bid will be around £40m.

Pay £50 and never sell anything to Levy

 

[hihosilva]

MCRJON said last week this was 100% done so that's good enough for me

 

[Plain Speaking]

MCRJON said last week this was 100% done so that's good enough for me

He just said it was "done" but didn't define what was done. It could have been an agreement with player and agent or a medical?

We are close rivals to Spurs and Levy will look to hinder our progress as much as he can. Have we got a plan B?

From his past transfer dealings we know how difficult he is to deal with. IMO this could be every bit as tricky as the Sanchez transfer.

 

[Kamran Shirinzade]

I still can't get how he will suit to Pep's philosophy. His passing is awful and he has almost nothing common with tiki-taka and posession game. He is also arrogant and fightee as a character. As a personality he is not different of Zlatan, Hart, Ribery and others which had problems with Pep. I think Pep must reconsider this signing. I will not be surprised if Kyle and Pep will have problems on personal basis in future.

 

[Jacob Smith]

Obviously it wouldn't happen, but pinching both Trippier & Walker would be ideal

 

[Andrew___K]

I still can't get how he will suit to Pep's philosophy. His passing is awful and he has almost nothing common with tiki-taka and posession game. He is also arrogant and fightee as a character. As a personality he is not different of Zlatan, Hart, Ribery and others which had problems with Pep. I think Pep must reconsider this signing. I will not be surprised if Kyle and Pep will have problems on personal basis in future.

I agree that he's far from ideal. He's an athletic runner and good provider of width, but that's all, his technique is pretty average. He'll be pretty useless cutting inside, so I presume our main tactics will be fairly rigid 433 with Walker running up and down the flank and the remaining trio (Mendy+2CBs) playing from the back with 2 or 3 players spread wide, we're already using this approach quite often. The upside is that it will allow our RW to move inside freely, be it Raz, KdB or B.Silva.

But I disagree that Pep should reconsider this deal, I see the logic behind it: Walker is one of the most suitable players with a British passport (others are obviously Gibson, Keane, Bertrand, maybe Barkley), there's simply no one else to choose from, Dier and Alli don't fit our football. Don't forget that we're buying a squad player coupled with a free foreign spot. His age also suits us fine, if we'll manage to sign a rising star like Henrichs in 1-2 years, we'll already have a good backup option. It's a compromise transfer, but it's worth it IMO. I also hope we'll get Bertrand or Berchiche for the same reasons.

 

[rollingnakedinmoney]

He'll be pretty useless cutting inside, so I presume our main tactics will be fairly rigid 433 with Walker running up and down the flank and the remaining trio (Mendy+2CBs) playing from the back with 2 or 3 players spread wide, we're already using this approach quite often. The upside is that it will allow our RW to move inside freely, be it Raz, KdB or B.Silva.

That's how he did it at Barcelona with Dani Alves. Why is everyone so obsessed like Pep only has one tactic, he's not a one trick pony.

He said it himself after which game I can't remember that he can't use the full backs run up and down because they're in their 30s and can't run like that the whole match.

 

[Andrew___K]

That's how he did it at Barcelona with Dani Alves. Why is everyone so obsessed like Pep only has one tactic, he's not a one trick pony.

He said it himself after which game I can't remember that he can't use the full backs run up and down because they're in their 30s and can't run like that the whole match.

Walker is very one-dimensional, that's the problem. He doesn't suit the idea of a makeshift 5 with fullbacks used all across the pitch which I find very cool and perspective. Using Walker would probably mean less possibilities of in-game switches, that's why I supposed the same simple asymmetric setup as at 2008-2011 Barca. With Henrichs as RB we would do some crazy (and effective) shifts, you need truly versatile players for it.