Marc Cucurella

[foggy1974]

Yeah, it's unbelievable not to sign an LB, but people would criticize all of us because we have won back-to-back Premier League's.

Injury crisis, Vini Jr. against Fernandinho 1 vs 1 in CL, but we still do not need a full-back. It's only about drawing conclusions.

Fernandinho played at rightback that night because Walker went off injured & Cancelo was suspended

 

[Scottish Cityzen]

I don't think he is worth 1/2 of what we paid, I never got him at Villa and what I witnessed last season did not surprise me.

People on here keep saying he needed 12 months to settle in, we will see, I am not holding my breath for Jackie boy, I hope I am very wrong.

So you value him at the level of a Fred, a Ben White, less than a Pepe, or a Sancho.

I would suggest that his quality, his performances and his status as a top English talent made his ‘true value’ in the region of a £75-80m area. So we did overpay to a degree but the people who matter at City believed it would be worth it. I’m sure he will move up further levels for us this season.

With regards to Cucurella we might value you him in the region of £40m but might end up around the £50m if we really want him. That’s the same ballpark ‘overpayment %’ as Grealish.

We operate at a very difficult area of the market where so few players have the ability to play for us and of them a significant portion are unobtainable - that’s why we will always periodically have to pay a premium.

On the flip side you can’t argue that we have got Haaland, Phillips (and potential Alvarez) in for tremendous value, maybe the club feel that this value will allow them to push the boat out for specific positions such as LB or as in the Grealish signing.

 

[Paul1970]

We have an excellent left back in Cancelo and our backups are comparable with our rivals as it stands.

But we are not moving forward . We need to sign a left back as we are one injury away having ferdy type problem with no one v be ring to play at left. Back . We should never stand still and need to keep evolving .

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

I don't think he is worth 1/2 of what we paid, I never got him at Villa and what I witnessed last season did not surprise me.

People on here keep saying he needed 12 months to settle in, we will see, I am not holding my breath for Jackie boy, I hope I am very wrong.

You've fucked up now, haven't you?

@Lavinda Past @DATOIA get at him!

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Fernandinho played at rightback that night because Walker went off injured & Cancelo was suspended

It was one step above that. Stones was rushed back from injury to play at Right Back, but got re-injured just before their first goal and was replaced by Fernandinho.

 

[Dribble]

Again, one that is more a question of extent than the point, but that is a bit of an embelishment.

After the 17-18 season, when he was first tried at LB to get us to the end of the season, Zinchenko has played more games at LB than any other of our LBs in each of the following 3 seasons, up until the last season when Cancelo had a worldy on both sides of the pitch.

In 2 of those seasons he played as many and/or more games than the next 2 put together.

He is no doubt a squad player, I use that term myself, he shares that role with with others and is often not first choice. But he also often is, and has been more than just a back-up, for at least 3 of his 4 seasons as a LB.

We only had perma-injured Mendy as a LB, unless I've missed someone?

 

[Coatigan]

This post is a breath of fresh air here on bluemoon! I am not sure why most posters just wouldn't admit that we pay waaaay over his actual value.

What is his actual value?

We paid well under Haaland's actual value, so lets call it evened out. And probably bang on Rodri's. That's release clauses I guess, win some lose some.

 

[taconinja]

I get ya. From what I've seen of him he's more a classic central midfield all-rounder. He's not a specialist CDM or CAM, nor box to box.

He's adept at doing both without being world beating at either (similar to Gundog) but that versatility makes FDJ an invaluable conduit like Gundog, as he can competently do the lot to a very high standard, without being a specialist at any.

For the right price & wages, I'd have him as a Gundog replacement without worry. We were balls deep in for him until Barça blew everyone out of the water in terms of the fee & wages to get him.

To show that level of interest in him, there's something Pep & Txiki have seen which must fit into our playing ethos, & I don't think that was purely down to him being a possible replacement for Fernandinho either.

All fair points, and I can see that working yeah. I think if we hadn't gone for Phillips, it would be more likely.

 

[Dribble]

Pep can work wonders with players, so I'd never say no absolutely not. Everything I've seen of him makes me believe de Jong would be superb in a double pivot, which we could play and might benefit us in certain games, but I don't see us modifying our system to fit him when we've got Phillips to play a more advanced midfield role like Gundogan.

That's only my opinion, though. I've not watched a lot of him at Ajax and Barca has been all over the map tactically since he's been there.

I get ya. From what I've seen of him he's more a classic central midfield all-rounder. He's not a specialist CDM or CAM, nor box to box.

He's adept at doing both without being world beating at either (similar to Gundog) but that versatility makes FDJ an invaluable conduit like Gundog, as he can competently do the lot to a very high standard, without being a specialist at any.

For the right price & wages, I'd have him as a Gundog replacement without worry. We were balls deep in for him until Barça blew everyone out of the water in terms of the fee & wages to get him.

To show that level of interest in him, there's something Pep & Txiki have seen which must fit into our playing ethos, & I don't think that was purely down to him being a possible replacement for Fernandinho either.

 

[Coatigan]

We only had perma-injured Mendy as a LB, unless I've missed someone?

I was including anyone that occupied that that position at any point during the same time. laporte, ake, delph, angelino, etc.