mrksdawn19
Well-Known Member
ono said:The difference between an on form Rooney and an on form Tevez is probably very little. But Tevez is on form. Rooney is nowhere near. So not sure what sort of point he is making there...
Now for the Champions League argument that pundits have been going on about ever since we were taken over...
Which players could we sign only if we were to get into the Champions League, and how would they improve us?
Let's look at the Ballon d'Or nomination list...
World Player of the Year nominees:
Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).
Straight away you will realise that a number of those players already play for the top teams in Europe.
Barcelona and Real Madrid players are untouchable even if we did qualify for the Champions League so that leaves us with...
Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil),Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland).
Inter Milan are the current European champions. We can safely rule out them selling any of their best players to us. Arsenal and Chelsea are direct rivals so that rules out them selling important players to us, unless there is a reason for it.
So that leaves....
Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Thomas Muller (Germany), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany),
Bayern Munich are one of the most well run clubs in the world. They were only a game away from winning the treble themselves, losing in the Champions League final to Inter. Considering they don't need the money, would they sell Robben, Schweinsteiger, Lahm or Muller, unless said player really pushed for a move? What reason have any of their players got for pushing for a move? None really.
So that leaves...
Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Miroslav Klose (Germany),
We could sign Forlan now if we really wanted him. Same for Klose. Gyan has just gone to Sunderland. Forlan was poor in England and is in his 30's. He's been great in Spain, but would an English club take a punt on him? Probably not. So that leaves Klose, the 32 year old striker who scored 6 goals in 38 games last season, and who has 0 in 3 this season. Not really an improvement.
We can also pretty much rule out any player from United (aswell as Chelsea and Arsenal). So, so far we have excluded...
United
Arsenal
Chelsea
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Inter
Bayern
That'll never change unless we reach a point where we are dominating Europe, and recent history suggests that this isn't likely, given that no team has successfully defended the Champions League
The next tier down brings in teams like Juventus, Milan, Roma, Valencia, Villareal, Sevilla, Spurs, Liverpool, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Auxerre, Schalke, Bremen, Hamburg, Porto, Benfica etc...
I look at those teams, and i don't see really any players who improve us, but would only join City if we were in the Champions League. Juventus, Porto Sevilla, Liverpool, Bordeaux and Hamburg aren't in the Champions League anyway, so playing in the Champions League is hardly a deal breaker for any of their players. In any case there's only a handful of players there who could possibly improve us.
AC Milan and Roma are rife with players who are suited to Italy, and as such, probably wouldn't move to England. Totti, Pirlo, Nesta, Pizarro, De Rossi etc. All very good players, but the majority are pushing into their 30's, and as a said earlier, suited to Italy.
We've proven that we can take the very best players from Valencia, by signing David Silva, despite there being Champions League interest in him. With that in mind, i find it hard to believe that we couldn't do the same to Sevilla or Villareal, regardless of the fact they are in safer financial situations than Valencia.
Closer to home there is Liverpool and Spurs who both possess some good - very good players. Bale, Modric (VDV has just moved so i can't include him), Torres, Gerrard. Is Torres better than Tevez? If on form, it's close. On current
form, he's nowhere near, and he doesn't look like getting there again. Would Gerrard leave Liverpool? It's possible, but he had the chance to move to a Champions League team in Chelsea, but backed at out the last minute. The only thing that has changed is the fact that Liverpool seem to be sinking, but if this is the case, a lack of a Champions League berth probably wouldn't prevent him from joining us. As for Bale and Modric. Good players, but i don't really see Champions League participation stopping us from blowing 'Arry out of the water if we really needed them (not that we do).
After that you are looking at players from outside the top 3 (supposed) leagues. Would not qualifying for the Champions League stop us from buying players from Benfica, Porto, Hamburg, Schalke, Bremen, Lyon etc? Probably not. Even if there was the odd player, what are the chances that he would drastically improve us? Does Hansen know who these players are? Or is he just repeating a cliche without ever giving it any thought?
City being successful will not rely on us getting into the Champions League and the buying all the best players. If anyone thinks that's the case, they will be in for a shock, especially with the Financial Fair Play regulations. City being successful will rely on timing. The likes of Silva, Balotelli, Boateng, Kolarov, Kompany, Hart and whoever else we sign, will be reaching their peaks at a time where the likes of Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, Berbatov, Ferdinand, Scholes, Giggs etc will be close to retiring if they haven't done so already.
We're set up for a period of domination that will last years upon years. It's really not that far away. Let the pundits continue with their rabble and cliches. The Bluemoon is rising. It's just that we can see it much clearer than anybody else. The next decade is ours. It's not far away.
Take a bow son, take a bow