Manuel Akanji | City close to £15m agreement, 5 year contract

[Tugay One Cup]

I know and I agree with that. Our standards are exceptional high. Most of them won’t make it at the very top.

It’s just that if we have 4 CBs and a youngster training with the 1st team will be used as a 5th back up, do you really need another CB and on a 5 year contract they say?
It’s all guessing as I’m sure Txiki and Pep will know best for these youngsters.

I guess it's sort of necessary because of how many injuries our CBs pick up. Ake and Stones are pretty injury prone and Laporte is no stranger to a lengthy layoff either.

Then you've got to factor in that Ake would have been off to Chelsea this summer if they didn't pull the plug on the deal. I think it's fair enough for us to start planning without him or anyone else who might want to leave.

And I agree about having an academy player as fifth choice but, in all likelihood, in the event of an injury crisis Pep would just play a senior player out of position to cover there like he has done in the past.

This deal makes sense purely because of the low fee. As much as I love out of the blue signings, I'm not particularly excited about Akanji. He's got speed and a decent passing range but he's not got the aerial presence of Stones and he's about as far from Dias and Kompany in terms of last ditch, putting your body on the line defending as is possible.

If he develops under Pep to what he could have been a few seasons ago, we've got one of the bargains of the summer and even if he stays at the level he's at then we've got a decent squad option at a more than reasonable price.

 

[alexmcity]

I know and I agree with that. Our standards are exceptional high. Most of them won’t make it at the very top.

It’s just that if we have 4 CBs and a youngster training with the 1st team will be used as a 5th back up, do you really need another CB and on a 5 year contract they say?
It’s all guessing as I’m sure Txiki and Pep will know best for these youngsters.

All CBs had injuries last season and Laporte is still injured. We don't know whether Laporte will be able to hit top form over the next 2-3 months. Given that Stones and Ake miss many games through injury, it would be too risky to rely on Laporte's ability to regain form quickly. Also, Akanji can play at FB which may help us a lot.

I was sceptical a month ago that we'd go for another CB, because I thought Laporte was going to return in August. His injury turned out to be more serious, though, so it makes a lot of sense to sign another CB, especially one capable of playing at FB.

 

[manimanc]

Don’t tell me he has Asthma as well…

And a fear of witches.

 

[AirbagsOptionalTheReturn]

I know and I agree with that. Our standards are exceptional high. Most of them won’t make it at the very top.

It’s just that if we have 4 CBs and a youngster training with the 1st team will be used as a 5th back up, do you really need another CB and on a 5 year contract they say?
It’s all guessing as I’m sure Txiki and Pep will know best for these youngsters.

I guess the 5 year contract is really an accounting thing, 15 mil over 5 years is only 3 mil per year so hardly a dent on any future budgets. It protects the investment as well if it doesn't work out we can resell and with a long contract should be able to demand more. Re the kids it seems to me we protect the kids and don't chuck them in an emergency, we integrate, but at the back that's probably the hardest position to do so other than keeper as any mistakes can lead to goals that lead to defeats - 10 mins for a centre back at the end of a game when its 4-0 to us does not really benefit anyone unlike say in mid or the wing where there is more chance of seeing the ball and being able to shine. Its a tough one as we all want to see the kids more but we also want to try and win as much as possible - Pep will not be here for ever and this will be our truly golden age and won't last for ever

 

[Dobsy]

I know and I agree with that. Our standards are exceptional high. Most of them won’t make it at the very top.

It’s just that if we have 4 CBs and a youngster training with the 1st team will be used as a 5th back up, do you really need another CB and on a 5 year contract they say?
It’s all guessing as I’m sure Txiki and Pep will know best for these youngsters.

If I had to guess we're gonna start playing 3 at the back

 

[i8rags]

Our business is always good.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Could be an actual deadline day signing after all

 

[TonyM]

Have any itks confirmed?

 

[threespires]

The club have signed him to appease the knicker wetters on here… no intention of actually playing him.

Made me laugh. I now have visions that in their meetings Txiki regularly throws up a Powerpoint slide with the title 'BM Knicker Wetters - Actions Planned'

Or maybe he doesn't do death by Powerpoint so he just throws up a picture of a box of fanny wipes and talks around the subject.

 

[OccupiedPalestineBlues]

Have any itks confirmed?

As in ‘has an actual respected football reporter written on the topic with a named source’ or as in ‘has someone on the forum tried to embellish their reputation by posting an obscure pop video that could be construed to suggest absolutely anything after the fact?’
;-)