Neymar

[prealish_stan]

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.

Tony Bloom is the prototype of Dan Levy and he'll do everything to make our lives difficult.

 

[halfcenturyup]

Leave the thread open for next year!

;)

 

[Cricket Blue]

I think reading Pep's comments these rumours were not true.
Where did the information come from, do people just take a guess at these on here?

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

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.

Yep I've been banking on about Lucas Digne for years. We should have got him before he went to Everton.

 

[malg]

So, I'm still none the wiser. Can Neymar play left back??

 

[mattcity5]

Which world class left-backs?

Real Madrid held on to Marcelo for a decade for a reason.

Give me four our five that were either available or not at an elite club already.

I'm not disputing left back is an issue for us, just that the world class solutions haven't been there.

This is an interesting read i saw a while back, that i was reminded of by these discussions. Maybe in some ways we need to stop talking about missing an orthodox left back, because our leftbacks dont play that way. Or didnt, maybe Cucurella will be more 'traditional' in that respect.

 

[Dribble]

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.

That we can agree on. We're not that far off reaching that goal, so I'm at a loss why some on here are looking at having 8 senior defenders as being profligate & living in the world of fantasy football.

It's defenders we're talking about here, not a request for Mbappé, Messi, Ronaldo & Neymar. Defenders are the foundations of any decent team & I just want us to solidify that problematic LB position.

 

[Dribble]

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.

Agreed 8 senior defenders over a 60+ game season to me just seems sensible.

I stopped watching football on telly outside of City 10 years ago. I had the full Sky package, an IPTV set top box & an Astra dish & found that no matter the time of day or time of the year, there's always a football match to watch & I realised I was watching my spare time away, so stopped! Lol :-)

Many of the footballing prospects I hear mentioned on BM are new to me. If any sound really promising I'll have a butchers, but that's about it. I just find it hard to believe that with our extensive scouting team we can't find two decent & available Left Backs! \0/

 

[wolviedinho]

That we can agree on. We're not that far off reaching that goal, so I'm at a loss why some on here are looking at having 8 senior defenders as being profligate & living in the world of fantasy football.

It's defenders we're talking about here, not a request for Mbappé, Messi, Ronaldo & Neymar. Defenders are the foundations of any decent team & I just want us to solidify that problematic LB position.

We bought Mendy not so long ago. He was crap on the field and off it. This need to create a false narrative around 1 position is crazy. Cancelo can play both sides, Zin was effective to a degree, throw Ake into the mix aswell.

Posters are determined to find any flaw in our recruitment policy. We will buy another Lb this summer. How many players do you want to stockpile? It won’t be long before they will want to move if not getting adequate game time. See the 3 outgoings this summer in Sterling, Jesus and Zin.

We have 1 fantastic Rb in Walker and a very good player in Cancelo to cover both positions throw in another £50m defender and that is as good as it gets imo.

Maybe it’s the off season that has melted posters brains in this particular topic. It’s not black and white. Just like with out forwards interchanging roles and positions we expect our defenders to do the same.

 

[DATOIA]

It's not about 8 fullbacks and central defenders, it's about Pep, who 2-3 months ago said, that he would love to work with the smaller squad, like 16-17 players and 5-6 academy players who are playing at a top level and can be used throughout the season..

According to Pep, this kind of squad is easier to motivate, manage and also - you build nice cycle from academy to the first-team, where every department is involved and has idea, about the future.. And TBF I like this as well..

Why you should sign some shitty CB as a fourth choice to play 10 fucking games at max a season, when you can give those minutes to Mbete and therefore contribute to the development of academy product.

Same applies to attackers and midfielders.. Those 10 games can be played by Palmer and Macatee and I also thought that young fullback If I am correct -> Egan Riley - was ready to step up and play this year, but he went to Burnley instead.. (But that's OK, Vinny will make him even stronger..). Same applies to Bazunu..

But Palmer-Macatee-Mbete-Kayky I think are the top talents and need time.. If Riley and Bazunu had stayed, this would make 6, like Pep predicted..

Ederson Ortega - (Bazunu)
Walker Cancelo Cucurella - (Riley)
Stones Laporte Ruben Ake + (Mbete)
Rodri Phillips - (Lavia)
KDB Bernardo Gundogan + (Macatee)
Foden Grealish Mahrez + (Palmer / Kayky)
Haaland Alvarez - (Delap)

19 players, if we had sold Ake and Bazunu stayed as N2 - it would make 17 + 6

So, no need of this 4-th shitty / average players, when you can help academy talent and grow players like Foden & Palmer..

Hopefully, year-by-year - we will come closer to Pep's formula..