Kylian Mbappe

[Rolee]

Well here's one for you.

If we 'need' Sanchez & Mbappe to score goals, is that because Aguero & Jesus aren't good enough ?

I'd say it's because Sterling, Silva and Sane aren't prolific enough.

 

[flb]

I think there has to come a point where every club has a price that they're prepared to pay and if City have decided this one is too much of a stretch then that's fine by me. Let PSG do things their way and we do things ours IMO. I'm finding it difficult to criticise our transfer activity this window as I feel we've done some superb business and vastly upgraded our full-back and goalkeeping positions. We've had far worse windows than this such as the car crash of Summer 2012 when we should've been kicking on from our title win and ended up with a haphazard bunch of signings.

Mbappe is clearly a star in the making and it would be fantastic if we got him but if we don't it's not the end of the world as we already have a great squad, plus we could have our very own star in the shape of Foden in the very near future and I'm very much looking forward to seeing him (and Diaz) develop this season.

Anyway, if these latest reports are true then it might just be that PSG are giving it a swerve as well. Maybe he'll remain at Monaco this season and get sold next summer. Personally, I think with a World Cup coming up that might be the best option for Mbappe.

Totally agree mate, its sits a bit uneasy with me this Mbeppe transfer, last year he was £40m by all accounts and this year its circa £150m, obscene amounts of money and as much as I don't give a fuck about the ethics of today's football and what people say about MCFC it would bring unnecessary pressure on the club and player if he came here-we all know what the weekly headlines would be.

Id much rather us unearth our own gem, if Monaco can find world stars then I'm sure City can, we really do need as a club to start blooding youth players or emerging foreign talent.

 

[mayo31]

I'd say it's because Sterling, Silva and Sane aren't prolific enough.

yet

 

[Marvin]

I agree with this and it's something Pep brought to light early on. That said, there are a number of caveats;

1. Kun is going nowhere and, though our confidence in him has taken a knock, he's going to be played most games.
2. Similarly, I don't see GJ getting benched frequently and having him available from the beginning of the season will make a difference, albeit with question marks over how well he performs with Aguero on the park.
3. Our attacking ability has improved with the introduction of two pacey, forward minded fullbacks and a few new midfield options also.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, our lack of goals let us down last season but that was because key players underwhelmed when it came to scoring. Sergio is a consensus top five striker in the world yet ended up with a remarkably bad conversion rate of 13%, a career low. Even players like KDB were hitting the bar and missing sitters inexplicably.

We have the tools to do better and, though I'd like Mbappe, I do think we have more than enough to get the job done here and abroad as is.

We need Jesus to fulfil his promise because I am not certain that the goal-scoring power is there without him.

 

[Rolee]

yet

True

 

[Neville Kneville]

To put it another way would Mbappe score you more goals than either of them ? I'd still love to see him here mind and he could give us that extra something.

I'd love us to sign him. I don't want Sanchez but Mbappe, Sterling, Sané, Jesus, with Pep, would the the future.

But in order for us to actually 'need' him, it assumes that Aguero & Jssus are going to continue missing loads of chances & that Mbappe, or Sanchez, comes in & fixes it.

It could imo just as easily happen, that Aguero & Jesus start scoring bucketfuls & Sanchez/Mbappe sudddenly start missing everything.

Aguero & Jesus are two world class strikers.

I don't know why it's asssumed they can't get their shit together.

 

[Marvin]

Totally agree mate, its sits a bit uneasy with me this Mbeppe transfer, last year he was £40m by all accounts and this year its circa £150m, obscene amounts of money and as much as I don't give a fuck about the ethics of today's football and what people say about MCFC it would bring unnecessary pressure on the club and player if he came here-we all know what the weekly headlines would be.

Id much rather us unearth our own gem, if Monaco can find world stars then I'm sure City can, we really do need as a club to start blooding youth players or emerging foreign talent.

That is their model. Finding young players and bringing them through but teams like that aren't the norm. They do it for a while and then fade away like Ajax

 

[Andrew___K]

As I said the other day, will be bitterly disappointed in Khaldoon and the board for not sanctioning this move. Shows a lack of vision which is surprising for such forward thinking owners. As for Guardiola, realistically he needs to decide what he's going to do. He doesn't want Sanchez to ask for a transfer or stop training, he wants to do a deal 'amicably' with Arsenal or not at all. Well it's going to be not at all Pep, so what now ?

A transfer window which has shown so much promise and addressed such huge issues in the squad is going to end with us undoing our own good work.

Summed up my feelings perfectly. All great teams had central figures in outstanding attackers, the impact such stars have both on and off the pitch is difficult to overesimate.

City's squad isn't perfect, but very close to perfection (CB+DM problems should be solved). But IMO serious problem is the absence of a huge attacking star to build the team around, like Guardiola did with Messi at Barcelona. The player that would guarantee goals, tactical advantage, fans' amusement and envy of rivals across the world at the same time. Aguero's powers are clearly on the wane now, he needs a replacement.

As for the price, all is relative. Contrary to some beliefs here, Mbappe isn't a 'potential' only, he's already the most clinical forward in Europe stats-wise, on par with Messi, easily in top 5 among strikers. He's the best teenager since Fenomeno and probably the next 'big thing' marketing-wise.
Mbappe's signing would mean a step to a different league, both in terms of performance and expectations.

Did Sheik wait for Pep for so long just to show how 'reasonable' his transfer policy is?

 

[SilverFox2]

Well here's one for you.

If we 'need' Sanchez & Mbappe to score goals, is that because Aguero & Jesus aren't good enough ?

Back to last years problem of many shots on goal but very few within the framework of the goalposts.

Our collective record was season long bad but no idea of who was the worst culprit.
Collectively when shooting on target we convert to goals well.

I think Pep is giving us more chances to shoot with our new attacking fullbacks then wanting better collective conversion of all shots on goal by bringing in new faces, just in case we cannot improve.
If we get more chances to shoot and are more accurate than last season we will score more goals and our defence will not have to be blamed too often if a single mistake results in a goal against.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I'd say it's because Sterling, Silva and Sane aren't prolific enough.

Well we don't know that for next season, but it's still better than just about anyone else has to choose from unless they can rely on 50 goals from Messi or Ronaldo.