Ousmane Dembélé

[ADegenerate]

Not really. It just shows how stupid buying Martial for 58 million was when they could have gotten Dembele for 15.

I think he chose Dortmund bc of guarteed minutes. It wasn't a case of he'd go anywhere. (iirc, pretty sure that's how it went down)

 

[domalino]

Not really. It just shows how stupid buying Martial for 58 million was when they could have gotten Dembele for 15.

No.

Because they couldn't get Dembele for 15m.

And neither could we last year, Because we tried, and failed, because Tuchel convinced the kids mother that Dortmund was the place to go. Tuchel got in with the family and convinced them that Dortmund was the place to be. And that was a great move apart from the fact he now wants to leave after Tuchel got fired and Dortmund will lose their player.

The fact he got 15m last year means fuck all really. Iheanacho has gone from free to £25m in 2 years, Unal from 2m to 15m in the same time. We made 10m off Mooy in a year.

Do you think clubs should refuse to pay those prices on principle too?

This is how the transfer market works. Players can gain or lose value very quickly, just signing a new contract (Dembele cost 15m because he had 12 months on his contract) can make their value treble. So Dortmund make 70m profit in a year. Good for them, stings us a bit, but if it were up to you we wouldn't be getting Ederson, Mendy, Walker or Sanchez either.

 

[kun]

De Bruyne Silva
Dembele Jesus Alexis

Gündogan Bernardo
Sterling Agüero Sané

We'd have the best attacking depth in Europe

 

[Tugay One Cup]

No.

Because they couldn't get Dembele for 15m.

And neither could we last year, Because we tried, and failed, because Tuchel convinced the kids mother that Dortmund was the place to go. Tuchel got in with the family and convinced them that Dortmund was the place to be. And that was a great move apart from the fact he now wants to leave after Tuchel got fired and Dortmund will lose their player.

The fact he got 15m last year means fuck all really. Iheanacho has gone from free to £25m in 2 years, Unal from 2m to 15m in the same time. We made 10m off Mooy in a year.

Do you think clubs should refuse to pay those prices on principle too?

This is how the transfer market works. Players can gain or lose value very quickly, just signing a new contract (Dembele cost 15m because he had 12 months on his contract) can make their value treble. So Dortmund make 70m profit in a year. Good for them, stings us a bit, but if it were up to you we wouldn't be getting Ederson, Mendy, Walker or Sanchez either.

This entirely.

I'm sick of the "we could have got him earlier for a fraction of that price" arguments when we're linked with an expensive player. As you said, Dembele wanted Dortmund and I wouldn't at all be surprised if we had left a similar offer on the table at the time. However, we're not the only club in Europe who can entice players.

 

[TRUE BLUE NO1]

Afternoon all.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is where I first gave an explanation of City’s complex transfer dealings, and how there are five priority targets, plus others who will be bought depending on several different factors.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/tran...n-citys-top-centre-back-target-but-move-could

It was a couple of days later - on June 5 - when I first thought the easiest way to explain it would be to say there are two ‘lists’. Here’s the Facebook post. As you can see, it does not say ‘edited’ at the top, so it's been untouched for three weeks.



Since then I have continued saying City effectively have two lists. I don’t know if there are physically two lists pinned to Txiki’s notice board, but it is the best way I could think of to explain how their business is laid out this summer (according to my information, anyway).

In any case, I have no idea which media this information has been “plastered all over”. There are many good accounts of City’s transfer targets and plans this summer (either from journalists or people on here or Twitter), and some of them will be right and I will be wrong, or we will all be right, or all be wrong. People will beat me to City’s specific targets - regularly - but I don’t recall anybody talking about two lists, or City wanting four full-backs on the day it was claimed Bertrand was an alternative to Mendy.

Now after all that I must say it’s not the accusation of being a fraud that bothers me. It’s the reasoning behind it.

The relevant people know who they are and I wanted to come on here and put across the other side, so everybody knows what they need to.

For those few people who insist I am a blagger, you would have to ask yourself why I’ve not ripped off rumours about Carvalho, Bonucci, Laporte, Semedo, Grimaldo, Fabinho, Aurier, Bellerin, Rulli, Martinez etc etc etc. In fact, I have been confident in saying ALL of those players, and others, will not be signed - a very risky move, but I trust my sources.

I may turn out to be wrong, but they will be honest mistakes. I believe I was doing well enough in terms of popularity among City fans without writing too much about transfers, so I would not stake the following I have earned by guessing at transfer rumours which could blow up in my face within days. I write for one fan base, it makes no sense to alienate you. And as most of you know who I support, I don't need to be giving you any excuses.

Since I started this job in October 2015 I wanted to be open with people, because I realised that many fans felt they could not have conversations with journalists. This is why I reply to sensible tweets (and some mad ones) and pretty much all DMs, even when most of them are asking for updates on Mendy or Alexis. I also do unmoderated Facebook lives, and genuinely enjoy them.

I have talked extensively about how I obtain the bulk of my information on many occasions, including on lengthy 9320 Podcasts. It’s all there for public consumption.

I also vowed not to look on this very forum, not because I don't value the opinions or information that's on here, but because if the day came that I would ever be accused of taking stories from here, I could honestly say I don’t use it. Today is that day! Since my run-in with Stan Collymore at Villa Park (when I was told to check out BM by a colleague) until about two or three weeks ago, I did not pay a single visit. Recently people have been DMing me on Twitter trying to confirm transfer hints that they have seen on here, and there have also been other posts that have been brought to my attention, which I now want to confront.

I appreciate this may come across as unseemly, and I’ve been told most of you guys appreciate my efforts, so firstly apologies for this post but also thank you.

As many of you know, I sometimes say more than I should, and I probably should have let this lie but I wanted to get it off my chest. If you don't believe my stories that's fine, but do it for the right reasons.

If anybody has any issues with this post, or me, you know where you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, as I don't think I'll post too many times on here again - but you never know!

Cheers

Cheers mate....got to be honest, I didnt even know there was an issue. Enjoy your coverage of City and it hasnt even crossed my mind to question what you report. You always seem a open and honest bloke and much respect for being a "rag" and following the blues in the way you do!;)

Keep up the good work mate!

 

[pang]

We must buy him if we have any chance. He is real one.

 

[Gooner667]

I could actually see you guys going for dembele, but would you rather spend 50-60m on sanchez or just go straight big and pay the 70-80 for dembele? Dembele is a fucking immense talent, future B'allon d'or winner easily, kid just needs the right environment to play at.

 

[lancs blue]

I could actually see you guys going for dembele, but would you rather spend 50-60m on sanchez or just go straight big and pay the 70-80 for dembele? Dembele is a fucking immense talent, future B'allon d'or winner easily, kid just needs the right environment to play at.

Personally I would prefer it if we signed Dembele and left an unhappy Sanchez stinking out the Emirates for a season. ;-)

 

[Kompany is King]

Maybe wrong but my impression is that we are going for Sanchez, and another forward.

Mbappe if we can get him, or Dembele.

 

[i8rags]

I could actually see you guys going for dembele, but would you rather spend 50-60m on sanchez or just go straight big and pay the 70-80 for dembele? Dembele is a fucking immense talent, future B'allon d'or winner easily, kid just needs the right environment to play at.

We'll buy both