Pecking Order and Transfer Policy

In the media, we were linked with de Ligt in February 2018 and with Ndombele from June 2018. There may have been earlier mentions, I don't know, but looking at the respective threads here and links posted therein, those seem to be approximate dates. Presuming that we don't sign either this window, but signed both this summer, that would be roughly 18 months and 12-13 months after we had first been publicly connected with an interest in either player; of course, we may have had an unknown interest even earlier.

Given what Guardiola said about our needing to be quicker and more efficient in identifying and signing potential players, is that time frame (12-18 months) the norm now for top players? Or, is it too long? Does there come a stage when the public exposure pushes the player's market value so high that he simply becomes unattainable?

As a point of interest, the de Jong thread was created in November 2017 with our interest noted in the 5 million (yes, teleprinter time FIVE million) pound rated player. :-)
 
Given what Guardiola said about our needing to be quicker and more efficient in identifying and signing potential players, is that time frame (12-18 months) the norm now for top players? Or, is it too long? Does there come a stage when the public exposure pushes the player's market value so high that he simply becomes unattainable?

I think, no matter how unknown the player may be before we become involved, as soon as we express any interest the agent and the club see pound signs and it becomes an auction. They only have to approach the rags and say "City are interested" and in they steam with huge gobs of money. See Sanchez and Fred.

Another factor I'm interested in is at what fee does the player become bigger than the club ? Take Pogba. He cannot be dropped unless the manager is committing career suicide because they paid £120m for him. He can do what he wants. Neymar at PSG, I reckon is detrimental to their team but very marketable and undroppable.

I never want City to be in that position.
 
I think, no matter how unknown the player may be before we become involved, as soon as we express any interest the agent and the club see pound signs and it becomes an auction. They only have to approach the rags and say "City are interested" and in they steam with huge gobs of money. See Sanchez and Fred.

Another factor I'm interested in is at what fee does the player become bigger than the club ? Take Pogba. He cannot be dropped unless the manager is committing career suicide because they paid £120m for him. He can do what he wants. Neymar at PSG, I reckon is detrimental to their team but very marketable and undroppable.

I never want City to be in that position.

I agree with the first point. I think that the two players I mentioned, de Ligt and Ndombele, may have already been priced beyond the threshold that we deem acceptable. That's why I find the timespan of interest such an interesting aspect. For what it's worth, I think 'that lot' and Barcelona will go after de Ligt and Ndombele may end up in Turin. If we were unprepared to go higher for de Jong, I don't see us reformulating our policy to buy those two players.

On the second point, I agree but would qualify it by saying that I'd never want us to be in that position 'again'. One could plausibly argue that Tevez became a little too big for his golf shoes, indeed the club, and, subsequently, the latter has steered well clear of such characters.
 
It's a bit more complicated than which team is the biggest draw. It depends on all sorts of factors. For Jadon Sancho, Dortmund are a bigger draw than us, but for Kevin De Bruyne, it's the opposite. It can come down to how well a player feels they'll fit into the style of play and how much competition there is. If all things were equal, then Barcelona and Real Madrid would probably have the edge on us. But one telling fact is that since the takeover, we've had numerous world class players, and yet neither of these teams have been able to take any of our most important players in the same way that they have with Liverpool, Spurs, the rags, Arsenal, and if Hazard goes, Chelsea. Maybe they weren't interested, but I find it hard to believe that neither of them would have wanted Silva or Aguero in particular, not to mention Kompany.
 
If we pulled out for de jong because if the wage situation then I’m beginning to be abit concerned what we are gonna do because in today’s climate £65 mill is not big money and £300 grand a week is soon gonna be normal and if we can’t or won’t pay near that then we will get left behind by the so called giants of Europe such as Barca Real Madrid juve etc. As for de jong I’m not too fussed as his heart was for Barca but in terms of going forward the Lyon lad will cost £60 mill plus and neves £60 plus we have no chance . We are trying to be one of the giants of world football let’s go out and get the players we need .
 
I'd say there are tiers to attractiveness of a club for a player. But there are so many factors anything can swing it: Money, city, weather, language, league, who else in the team, the manager, club trajectory, chance of success, extent of success, what position you'll play in, what kind of competition is there for the role, how much effort the club's made to sign you, what your family wants, fondness of the club in your youth, club history, is your mate at the club, did your mate recommend the club, whether Ferguson's pulled up in van etc.

But if I had to guess the top two tiers (no order within the tiers)

Tier 1
Barcelona
Real Madrid

Tier 2
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Manchester City
Manchester United
PSG
Chelsea (maybe)

It probably becomes a bit muddled after that. But even still these tiers aren't definitive. Gabriel Jesus chose us for example over most top teams in Europe. Mbappe chose PSG over Madrid. Most (but not all before you post about Sané) Germans would always choose Bayern. There's a lot of variables.
 
It's pretty obvious to me that ever since Pep arrive our structure has changed. We will not sign big name players ala Pogba who want big money. Instead we have gone the route of Sane and Jesus who have more potential and will be on smaller wages. If they prove themselves they will get improved contracts. We may lose out on more players because of it and it may be a little arrogant of Pep, but he really only wants players who will play for him and this team. He'll make the player great instead of the other way around.
 

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