Kylian Mbappe

[goalmole]

You have Pep Guardiola and he's earlier in his tenure while also having the image of being the biggest (second now) money club and that is never going to change yet you won't pull the trigger on the biggest prospect since Neymar for image/value reasons? FOH.

What the hell are you doing Khaldoon? Worried about value? How much value would winning the CL have?

Would we be guaranteed to win the CL if we had Mbappe, moreso than say ,Sanchez. Personally, I don't think so. I think Sanchez would make a bigger immediate impact than Mbappe, although Mbappe would be the long term choice. Another thing that makes me a bit wary about Mbappe is his impact on dressing room harmony if he comes on big wages aged 18, it would obviously depend on his character as a person, but if it turns out that he's the Billy big bollocks type, it could sow discord. Other than that I'm not fussed either way.

 

[Marvin]

Funny how we have to hope for exactly this in connection with Alexis Sanchez, but with Mbappe we have to hope that Monaco behaves like Arsenal and refuse to sell to a domestic competitor and instead sell cheaper to a foreign club. One would think one of the 2 deals will come off, if logic plays any role :-)

PSG are not in for him. I think we are the only club who are in for him, but Barca worry me. He's not priority 1 for them, but they may work down their list and come to him. Coutinho put in a transfer request but that doesn't mean he will go.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

You are on form!

I know TH seemed to think we were never in for VVD but it does seem a bit odd that we weren't / aren't.

I'm a bit torn on this because I accept that our owner is entitled to want value for money on what he spends and the accountant in me applauds such things. However, the City supporter in me wants a huge statement made and wants Pep to have the best possible set of players so that we can blow a hole the like of which has been seen since dinosaurs became extinct in the Premier League and have a great chance of tearing through (most of) the UCL like a T.Rex dining on a tethered goat.

Does seem harsh though to criticise our club for being principled and disciplined.

I feel exactly the same. In some respects I'd almost welcome a bit of prudence, just to undermine the boring accusation that we alone apparently are attempting to buy success. On the other hand though, I want to utterly destroy this league like never before and leave Mourinho and Wenger 25 points adrift, and to then rub it in the faces of Charlie Nicholas, Jeff Stelling, big nose Thompson, Rob Beasley, Jamie Jackson, Cascarino, and all the other utterly bitter and thick media cnuts who never stop sniping at us. Mbappe and VVD would give us an unbelievable squad and guard against the extreme likelihood of Vinnie (and to a lesser extent Kun) missing half the season through injury. Starting a campaign of this magnitude with just 3 centre halves (and one of them with an appalling injury record) and 2 strikers, would be a ludicrous and unnecessary gamble

 

[Neville Kneville]

More than but both cant cope with the demands of 4 competitions plus internationals as well as go both injury and suspension free.

But how many clubs can boast more than two world class goalscorers & also have players like Sané, Sterling, Bernardo Silva ? Also KDB & D Silva who have played in a front 2 ?

What City already have in attack, is imo, is beyond anything that's ever been seen at club level. Then we have kids to bring in to rest players when required.

We really shouldn't 'need' another. If we fancy having one, that's a different matter, but any manager should be able to provide a world class attacking unit for about 100 games out of that lot imo.

Most managers at any club would 'manage' with that lot.

 

[kimbanor]

I feel exactly the same. In some respects I'd almost welcome a bit of prudence, just to undermine the boring accusation that we alone apparently are attempting to buy success. On the other hand though, I want to utterly destroy this league like never before and leave Mourinho and Wenger 25 points adrift, and to then rub it in the faces of Charlie Nicholas, Jeff Stelling, big nose Thompson, Rob Beasley, Jamie Jackson, Cascarino, and all the other utterly bitter and thick media cnuts who never stop sniping at us. Mbappe and VVD would give us an unbelievable squad and guard against the extreme likelihood of Vinnie (and to a lesser extent Kun) missing half the season through injury. Starting a campaign of this magnitude with just 3 centre halves (and one of them with an appalling injury record) and 2 strikers, would be a ludicrous and unnecessary gamble

I think a lot us city suporter feel the same. Nothing would make me more happy the and end of the season having blown the league with 20-25points, but if we were VVD Mbappe, the media would still say that we have "bought" the league.

I feel much more confident that with our team this season, that we will win PL and possibly CL (if margjns and little bit of luck on our side)

As long as we get PL and one more (FA or EFL) most of the media, will eas up on there Biase, and should we able to Win The CL the "Elit" (Barca, RM, Bayern and Juve) will acccept us a Major contenter. and PEP I dont belive will be Trule happy and feel he have fufild his desire at city before he gets both in one season.

Me at end of the season, EPL and one more...hehe

 

[Marvin]

But how many clubs can boast more than two world class goalscorers & also have players like Sané, Sterling, Bernardo Silva ? Also KDB & D Silva who have played in a front 2 ?

What City already have in attack, is imo, is beyond anything that's ever been seen at club level. Then we have kids to bring in to rest players when required.

We really shouldn't 'need' another. If we fancy having one, that's a different matter, but any manager should be able to provide a world class attacking unit for about 100 games out of that lot imo.

Most managers at any club would 'manage' with that lot.

When Toure and Aguero were in their prime. City failed to make much impression in the Champions League. Mbappe is not a golden bullet. He is a young player but I am not sure about Aguero or Sanchez. Both look on their way down to me, and City's forward line was stultified last season until Jesus played.

We can't possibly address every single weakness in one transfer window. We've gone a very long way though.

I agree with comments above that ideally City need a forward and a central defender but given the sums involved these are probably dreams and hopes rather than realistic ambitions. Mbappe is moving into realistic territory at the moment for the moment, but as someone said yesterday the pendulum will swing many times.

 

[CityStu]

But how many clubs can boast more than two world class goalscorers & also have players like Sané, Sterling, Bernardo Silva ? Also KDB & D Silva who have played in a front 2 ?

What City already have in attack, is imo, is beyond anything that's ever been seen at club level. Then we have kids to bring in to rest players when required.

We really shouldn't 'need' another. If we fancy having one, that's a different matter, but any manager should be able to provide a world class attacking unit for about 100 games out of that lot imo.

Most managers at any club would 'manage' with that lot.

I think that what we're missing, now that Kelechi has been sold, is any pressure on those front two. I don't think that pressure necessarily needs to come in a £150m package like Mbappe, or even Sanchez, but if either Aguero or Jesus start to lose form they know that the only pressure on their positions will come from players out of position (like Sterling) or youth players.

Difficult to find those players who aren't pointless fillers (like Rodwell or Delph), are happy to play a back up role primarily though. Someone like Javier Hernandez would have been perfect, but it seems he's gone to West Ham to be the main man.

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

I think that what we're missing, now that Kelechi has been sold, is any pressure on those front two. I don't think that pressure necessarily needs to come in a £150m package like Mbappe, or even Sanchez, but if either Aguero or Jesus start to lose form they know that the only pressure on their positions will come from players out of position (like Sterling) or youth players.

Difficult to find those players who aren't pointless fillers (like Rodwell or Delph), are happy to play a back up role primarily though. Someone like Javier Hernandez would have been perfect, but it seems he's gone to West Ham to be the main man.

May as well kept kelechi in that case.

 

[CityStu]

May as well kept kelechi in that case.

I disagree. Kelechi's at a stage where he needs very regular football to see if he can push on into that elite striker bracket. Somewhere like Leicester should be great for that and we have the buy back clause if he does really start to perform.

We'd want either an established player who would be happy to play second fiddle or a youth player who'd be happy with occasional game time to try and prove himself (like Kelechi 2 years ago).

 

[Neville Kneville]

I think that what we're missing, now that Kelechi has been sold, is any pressure on those front two. I don't think that pressure necessarily needs to come in a £150m package like Mbappe, or even Sanchez, but if either Aguero or Jesus start to lose form they know that the only pressure on their positions will come from players out of position (like Sterling) or youth players.

Difficult to find those players who aren't pointless fillers (like Rodwell or Delph), are happy to play a back up role primarily though. Someone like Javier Hernandez would have been perfect, but it seems he's gone to West Ham to be the main man.

Really though, the pressure should be from Sané Sterling & Bernardo Silva.

It should not just be Jesus plus Aguero taking two places it should also be Jesus vs Aguero, fighting for one place whilst Sane Sterling Silva DeBruyne Silva Foden Diaz & imo Pat Roberts are all considered for the other attacking places.

Also, we are judging all this in context of Pepball rather than football.

If we really wanted another option up front to best give us a chance of winning trophies, it wouldn't be Mbappe or Sanchez, it would be Diego Costa.

Then we can play any style. We have the players to feed & play off a traditional centre forward, like we've never had before.

If we truly wanted to cover all the bases, we'd buy a proper cf not another tricky shortarse.