Mehdi Benatia

[Centurions]

http://www.prosport.ro/fotbal-extern/stranieri/chiriches-devine-jucatorul-romei-tottenham-si-a-dat-acordul-pentru-transfer-romanul-il-va-inlocui-pe-marocanul-benatia-13132982

His first coach says he's happy with his move to Roma. I think we signed him, why would Georgescu speak otherwise?

Strong move by the club, now Bayern is either raising their bid to at least 35 or Benatia is in trouble, 4 years without playing is a long time.

Of course I can't deny we're going to miss him if he doesn't play, but the iron hand is what we need right now.

United fans on twitter crowing that they are meeting with his reps. Can't find any "legitimate" reports.

You don't count twitter as a legitimate source?

 

[Ric]

Done deal to Bayern, according to Di Marzio.

 

[afhald]

Done deal to Bayern, according to Di Marzio.

Yes, 26m € + 4 bonus.

 

[Claytop]

Done deal to Bayern, according to Di Marzio.

Yes, 26m € + 4 bonus.

I thought they wanted 40m off us?

 

[ianw16]

Done deal to Bayern, according to Di Marzio.

Yes, 26m € + 4 bonus.

I thought they wanted 40m off us?

Nah, seem to remember £27m being talked about at the time.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Yes, 26m € + 4 bonus.

I thought they wanted 40m off us?

Nah, seem to remember £27m being talked about at the time.

Other chap is right, they wanted 40mil euros off us.

 

[SebastianBlue]

I thought they wanted 40m off us?

Nah, seem to remember £27m being talked about at the time.

Other chap is right, they wanted 40mil euros off us.

Those were the reports which could have been...

A) Completely true to all parties.
B) An attempt by the media to sensationalise the transfer (why would they do that with City, you may ask).
C) An attempt by Roma to drive up the price as a City premium with a lower amount actually in mind (common negotiation tactic).

 

[B3nStr0ng]

And Roma want Nastatic as he replacement. We should offer then the 'city premium' price.

 

[Mancitybluemoon1]

Done deal to Bayern, according to Di Marzio.

Yes, 26m € + 4 bonus.

I thought they wanted 40m off us?

That's what the rumours said.....He's now selling to Bayern for 10mil euros less than we paid for Mangala! Hope we made the right choice.....It clearly shows that is wasn't about money tho.....Mangala was 1st choice all the way...... ;)

 

[BayernMan]

Hopefully Benatia comes good, Dante doesnt look to be half the player he used to be.

 

[teddykgb]

And Roma want Nastatic as he replacement. We should offer then the 'city premium' price.

Nasty's left foot alone is worth 15m

 

[SebastianBlue]

And Roma want Nastatic as he replacement. We should offer then the 'city premium' price.

Nasty's left foot alone is worth 15m

Unfortunately his right has considerable debt, though.

 

[teddykgb]

And Roma want Nastatic as he replacement. We should offer then the 'city premium' price.

Nasty's left foot alone is worth 15m

Unfortunately his right has considerable debt, though.

Shhh, you're doing it wrong!

 

[aguero93:20]

Hopefully Benatia comes good, Dante doesnt look to be half the player he used to be.

Dante has always been a good passer but a useless defender, nothing has changed, he's just not getting away with it any more.

 

[bluechampion7891]

I remeber the roma boy here saying that Roma already have a lot of left sided defenders in their squad making nastasic unlikely. They are currently targeting le arse target manolas

 

[GoMancini7]

Roma jsut got Manolas, Arsenal was scouting him too, so it closes the door for a possible Nastasic-Roma move.

Btw For around 20m pounds Benatia is a real good deal for Bayern. Can play in a 3 man defence and also 4 man defence, Guardiola sometimes these days try po turn everyone into midfielder well fullbacks at least, so they will play with 3 CB's or 2 CB's + 1 deeper midfielder to help out. And with 7 midfielders.:)

For Nastasic now I only can see Juve as an option if not than its a loan to somewhere.

 

[sgerlat]

We didn't want to sell, Sabatini tryed to rehabilitate him in the famous conference despite being mad at him. If you read it carefully you may have noticed he defended Medhi attacking his agent, he wanted him to stay,

But then something drastic happened, Benatia went bananas demanding unreasonable wages, he declined the new offer (2.5+bonus) razing the festive atmosphere surrounding the team, which is pivotal here in Rome to succeed and as a consequence the air became unbreathable, the journalists certainly didn't help too.
He had to go but we coudn't ask for €40 anymore, Bayern knew it and offered €18m. On the other plane Sabatini knew Bayern needed a CB badly and still managed to get 30, which is btw a fair price and a capital gain of €15m, nothing alarming, nice deal considering the circumstances.

The best solution would have been of course to get Manolas and ruin Benatia's career, 4 years on the bench and let's see who'll offer you more, but it was to much for our pockets, we're not Real Madrid and we already spent €30m, furthermore we didn't want to diminish our chances to win the Serie A, so we accepted Bayern's offer.

Manolas (€13m) brought fresh air, enthusiasm and wil ease into the squad with Torosidis' help. I'd rather have 25% less on the sale and a closely knit group than destroying Benatia and not winning the scudetto.

If we get Chiriches from Spurs and maybe Adnan as left back we're looking good despite Benny's departure.

Castan-Manolas-Chiriches-Astori is probably too much to ask, the equilibrium would be ephemeral since there's no one clearly better than the others.

P.s. Back in the days, from what I've heard, City hadn't offered more than €22m. Mangala was clearly your target.

 

[bluechampion7891]

Southampton lost a CB, RB, AM and a striker. Why not give them all 4 for the price of 1 (shaw - 30 million).

 

[LoveCity]

Officially joined Bayern.

Glad he's joined them, everyone would have been comparing Mangala to Benatia had he joined Chelsea or United.

 

[sgerlat]

Benatia-Boateng combo should be quite scary.