Kylian Mbappe

[Chi-town blues]

Just woke up to that news, all I can say is wow if this happens!

What news?
Btw are you related to miss pike?

 

[Nelinho]

Bernardo doesn't play in one of the front three positions.

He does. In a 4-3-3, for example, he can play on the right wing. He could stay wide if ordered, leaving defenders behind him for fun, stretching the play with our RB behind him or cutting in. But that scenario would most probably occur when Guardiola will need another creative midfielder to control possession and unlock packed defences. So when defending it will look like he's a RW pressing high on opposition's LB. But with the ball it will be a completely different story...

If you watched the match last night, Isco was theoretically Madrid's RW. But when they had the ball you would often watch him drop back and organise their game with Modric. There were plays where he and Modric would stay deep opening corridors even for their DM Casemiro (!) who would advance becoming a 2nd SC (check their opportunity 2 minutes after 1-0). A false winger who operated in the same manner in the CL final, he does it regularly for Madrid...

Bernardo is better. Much more mobile and fast, intelligent, quicker in his decision making. He can operate in tight spaces, combining with our attackers, creating space with his fantastic dribbling ability, setting up teammates coming from behind, taking shots outside the box etc etc etc. With the combination David - Kevin - Bernardo (that's 3 world class playmakers), City's creativity becomes unlimited (and unmatched), I mean City will seem totally unpredictable in their game for opponents (even positionally, with Kevin, Bernardo switching on the right, the latter playing between the lines etc) -and very attractive for the fans...

One thing is certain, Bernardo's presence provides Guardiola plenty of options. With the ball, City's midfield is already the best in the planet, capable of applying a variety of ideas in our attacking game. Madrid's (Casemiro - Kroos - Modric) might seem more ballanced perhaps, more effective defensively, but in terms of creativity I can't find a team even close to ours...

 

[flobo]

I'm still in two minds about this, signing a player who's as sought after as this would be a big statement for the club and he would no doubt improve our attack, it may even make an instant impact in terms of trophies. Bragging rights, trophies, success, commercial value(unless his terms eat all that up) all great but how much credit will the club get or the manager, can we really say how much credit we get doesn't matter? Could we even argue we didn't outspend everyone when they tell us we bought success? I wont mind if he goes to Real Madrid personally as long as it's not to a PL rival.

The price will be ridiculous, if his personal terms are astronomical it will hinder how much room we have to manoeuvre in future transfers.

There's also the question who makes way for him? Looks almost as if many blues are ready to ditch Sterling, there's so many similarities to his transfer ironically though... I'm hoping Sterling goes from strength to strength serving that humble pie to the know it alls personally as he did in the first half of last season.

It would mean Sancho and his advisors would be justified in their decision no to sign a new contract and it would also spell the end for Patrick Roberts' chances... doesn't anyone want to see us do a Monaco and produce a world talent we can laud with pride to the rest of the football world? There's always going to be that "one off" player we "must" have by the looks of it, I really enjoyed Foden and Brahim doing us proud in a way no galactico signing could.

It will seem I'm being a "negative nelly" about this but these friendlies especially have had me noticing the buzz the youth we already have is starting to generate even outside of City... they'd all be so much more envious of a Phil Foden or even a Patrick Roberts(to a lesser extent) making it to the top because they'd have nothing to throw at it.

I Agree with you --as long as he doesn't end up at a PL rival.. i am ok with him going to Madrid

I don't think it's worth potentially upsetting Jesus or some of our other young stars

If we pay the money talked about.. transfer fee /wages for Mbappe
that will put Jesus behind Mbappe in the pecking order(from a PR point of view)all the attention and hype will be about Mbappe
no way will Jesus accept this...i think it will cause problems

No doubt Mbappe is a brilliant young player
i don't want us to disturb the harmony we are building with the team/squad

 

[BlueDeadHead]

He does. In a 4-3-3, for example, he can play on the right wing. He could stay wide if ordered, leaving defenders behind him for fun, stretching the play with our RB behind him or cutting in. But that scenario would most probably occur when Guardiola will need another creative midfielder to control possession and unlock packed defences. So when defending it will look like he's a RW pressing high on opposition's LB. But with the ball it will be a completely different story...

If you watched the match last night, Isco was theoretically Madrid's RW. But when they had the ball you would often watch him drop back and organise their game with Modric. There were plays where he and Modric would stay deep opening corridors even for their DM Casemiro (!) who would advance becoming a 2nd SC (check their opportunity 2 minutes after 1-0). A false winger who operated in the same manner in the CL final, he does it regularly for Madrid...

Bernardo is better. Much more mobile and fast, intelligent, quicker in his decision making. He can operate in tight spaces, combining with our attackers, creating space with his fantastic dribbling ability, setting up teammates coming from behind, taking shots outside the box etc etc etc. With the combination David - Kevin - Bernardo (that's 3 world class playmakers), City's creativity becomes unlimited (and unmatched), I mean City will seem totally unpredictable in their game for opponents (even positionally, with Kevin, Bernardo switching on the right, the latter playing between the lines etc) -and very attractive for the fans...

One thing is certain, Bernardo's presence provides Guardiola plenty of options. With the ball, City's midfield is already the best in the planet, capable of applying a variety of ideas in our attacking game. Madrid's (Casemiro - Kroos - Modric) might seem more ballanced perhaps, more effective defensively, but in terms of creativity I can't find a team even close to ours...

I didn't say he couldn't. I said he doesn't. I would be shocked to see him in a serious game in one of those front three positions.

 

[MCFC1993]

If we have an agreement that he wants to come to us, then I think he's the one player we have to bring in over anyone else. I think he's going to be absolutely world class one day, he's already a superb player as it is.

Obviously we don't want the fee to be silly but you have to remember that he's already so good and only turned 18, 8 months ago.

Sane, Jesus, Mbappe, Sterling...We'd be set for the next 8-10 years in those attacking positions.

 

[colesy]

Just buy him.

I certainly wouldn't be happy him going to Madrid, I think we all want to wrestle their grasp on the Champs League, and he would certainly help us, by not reinforcing them. I'd prefer him not to move anywhere, if he will not come to City.

 

[Nelinho]

I didn't say he couldn't. I said he doesn't. I would be shocked to see him in a serious game in those front three positions.

And I said he does. He has already played there for Monaco, as an AM / RW in a 4-4-2. But he did not operate as a typical winger (even though he can do that pretty easy), his role was much more complicated, that's what I'm saying...

 

[BlueDeadHead]

And I said he does. He has already played there for Monaco, as an AM / RW in a 4-4-2. But he did not operate as a typical winger (even though he can do that pretty easy), his role was much more complicated, that's what I'm saying...

I'm saying if we sign Mbappe or Sanchez he is not playing in our front three.

 

[Nelinho]

I'm saying if we sign Mbappe or Sanchez he is not playing in our front three.

And I'm saying whether we sign one of them or not, prepare yourself for Guardiola fielding David, Kevin, and Bernardo. I'm not saying match after match, but it will definitely occur. How? In something like a 4-1-3-2 perhaps. Or in something like a 4-1-4-1. Or even in something that will look like a 4-3-3. In that case, one of these 3 will operate as a false winger. With the ability to stay wide if necessary, but also cutting in, playing between the lines or dropping deeper. We've seen it happening with David, we've seen it happening with Kevin. It's even easier with Bernardo, trust me...

 

[Andrew___K]

I didn't say he couldn't. I said he doesn't. I would be shocked to see him in a serious game in one of those front three positions.

Using a playmaker as one of the wingers is actually typical for Guardiola, so nothing shocking about it. He started his career as a first team coach with a clear plan to use Hleb-Henry-Messi trio (which failed, but that's a different story). And if you watch (almost) any big game from 11-12 Barca, you'd see that main LW is Iniesta. Or you can take the 2011 CWC Final as an extreme example - Thiago-Messi-Alves trio in attack to have as much possession as possible.

So 3 (or even 4) of Silva-KdB-B.Silva-Gundogan in the starting 11 shouldn't surprise you, @Nelinho is right. The basic idea is to have a lot of press-resistant players to dominate the possession. The problem, of course, is the balance between press-resistance and penetration ability, IMO that's why Pep wants to get Sanchez as he combines both traits, like Messi.