Neymar

[Dribble]

Vs Angenino and Cancelo. i.e LB isn't any more a neglected position than RB.

Angelino was ours anyway & returned from a loan spell. He spent a season, hardly played & was loaned out again with an obligation to buy.

My point is this... I don't think it's an unreasonable ask to think we need 8 senior defenders at a club of our size.

Why does 4 full backs & 4 central defenders to provide competition & cover over a 60+ game season seem to trouble some of our fans?

 

[Coatigan]

Angelino was ours anyway & returned from a loan spell. He spent a season, hardly played & was loaned out again with an obligation to buy.

My point is this... I don't think it's an unreasonable ask to think we need 8 senior defenders at a club of our size.

Why does 4 full backs & 4 central defenders to provide competition & cover over a 60+ game season seem to trouble some of our fans?

He wasn't. The club sold him outright, with a buy-back. Which we activated and gave him a long term contract. He then got loaned out as he got angsty about rotation, which was then made permanent by RB.

Totally agree with the rest.

 

[Dribble]

Think it is as much a question of luck as it is effort.

We got lucky that Walker worked out as expected and has stayed injury free. We got unlucky with Mendy. Danilo did his bit, at times on both sides. Cancelo has worked out well on bith sides, for the best part. Angelino may have been brought in as a low risk to flip a profit yet again, perhaps. But I do think the club thought he would replace Mendy with a bit of time. The kid was inpatient and Pep wasn't having it. That's it for me.

Cucurella hopefully changes things this year, and hopefully equally strong on both sides.

My point is why does having 8 senior defenders, 4 full backs & 4 centre backs providing competition & cover over a 60+ game season sound so unreasonable & unachievable. I just don't get it. \0/

 

[Dribble]

Didn't know he had gone or about to, tad gutted can't see us signing 2 left backs. We need the Brighton lad big time.

Yeh, Guardiola confirmed they had a goodbye dinner yesterday & he's on his way to hook up with Arsenal in Orlando for a medical & to sign. So as it stands we only have 2 CB's & a RB as LB cover. :-|

 

[Coatigan]

My point is why does having 8 senior defenders, 4 full backs & 4 centre backs providing competition & cover over a 60+ game season sound so unreasonable & unachievable. I just don't get it. \0/

But we Have always had 8, sometimes even more. Apart from 2017 and last year when Mendy was taken out the equation.

Agree, we Should have 4FBs and 4CBs, been saying so on these threads myself consistently.

 

[Cobwebcat]

My point has been totally missed. I'm not one of City's scouts. It's their job to find these solutions to these problems, but what I'm saying is are any of the aforementioned players any worse than Mendy or Zinchenko? \0/

You have a point that going into a crazy season why would we start with 3 full backs and cover rather than 4.

In terms of signing a full back after Cuc I do wonder what is going on. Possible solutions (excluding out of position cover) are;

1. There is a full back in the Academy (left or fight) ready to come into the squad.
2. We are waiting on the result of the Mendy trial (hard to believe but possible)

In terms of finding a 4th full back I’d actually say it’s even harder to find a good right back than left.

Not every player has to be World Class and I would think we could improve on Zin without breaking the bank.

The window closes on 1st September so as long as we sign Cucurella I think we will be OK until then by which time the picture may have changed.

If City still have just 3 when the window closes then I think it’s a gamble but one which City must be happy to take.

Right now I’d be relieved with one left back but Brighton will of course be very interested to see Zin on his way and I wish we had signed Cuc before we did that deal.

 

[Cobwebcat]

Angelino was ours anyway & returned from a loan spell. He spent a season, hardly played & was loaned out again with an obligation to buy.

My point is this... I don't think it's an unreasonable ask to think we need 8 senior defenders at a club of our size.

Why does 4 full backs & 4 central defenders to provide competition & cover over a 60+ game season seem to trouble some of our fans?

It’s that they think cover will do. They might be correct. If we don’t have the depth of other squads (numbers not quality) and get injuries we will suffer more than most. Pep telling us last season how little fit players he had but the club not, as yet, increasing the numbers is a weird one for me.

I get we need to keep players involved but I don’t like too much rotation in defence (as in a non full back playing FB). It doesn’t seem to matter as much in midfield and attack.

I Cancelo gets injured that’s like losing 2 full backs at once.

 

[Dirty Harry]

I’ve only seen him the one game so only going off that, but he looked very good , the Wilson Esbrand lad, he not up to moving up just yet or would he be a possibility as cover for left back ?

Obviously just asking and there will be people in a better position to give a more educated view.

Edit : sorry just seen this is the Neymar thread.

 

[prealish_stan]

Name a couple world class full-backs we could have signed in recent seasons?

Defensively sound ones at that?

Only to name a couple :
- Lucas Digne (would've been a fantastic addition to the squad and Villa got him for 25 mil)
- Theo Hernandez ( he recently penned a new contract. However city could've got him for ~60 mil if they really tried )

The aforementioned players have the potential to go on and become one of the best out there. Pep improves every player that wants to be better.

 

[jrb]

Lock the thread.

Pep has said City have no interest in Neymar.

But Guardiola dismissed the claims, saying: "I'm so sorry for Le Parisien but it's not true. I'm sorry for them because the information they were leaked was false.

"Neymar is an incredible player and, with the information I have, an incredibly nice guy. So leave him calm, let him express the huge talent he has in Paris alongside [Lionel] Messi and all the big stars they have.

"But I would say Manchester City every season bought 150 players. It looks like we are interested in all players around the world. You know that is not true. I'm sorry for Neymar, of course!"