I've got no problem with every single player fighting for a first team place. My argument all along has been there are plenty of players we can let go before we start talking about the likes of Silva, Kompany, Zabaleta etc. If they are part of a better all round squad then it can only benefit us.
Nobody but Guardiola knows the answer.Agreed but IF is the word you use when you don't have the answer or are not sure of the answer.
Some big decisions to be made on some big names over the summer , some will turn out for the best some will appear harsh but that's part of the reason we got in Pep.
MP couldn't make the big calls on match day some would have turned sour some would have come off but he and we will never know.
Nobody but Guardiola knows the answer.
Every single one of us are giving our opinion on what we'd do ourselves. I imagine we've all reached the conclusions we have by watching the team over the last 5/6 years. Football being as subjective as it is means we've got different ideas. I'm happy with mine, if the club do different then so be it.
Silva, Kompany and Zabaleta have never expressed a desire to leave - the opposite actually. That's good enough for me, especially when I believe they are all still good enough for us. 12/18 months down the line who knows? They deserve that for their ability as well as the extra that they bring to the club.They will keep those players if they cannot be replaced by better ones.
Every player has a price and some always every year / window express a keen desire to leave for professional and personal reasons.
You have to keep refreshing your squad and ours right now for many reasons need a fairly major overhaul.
Silva, Kompany and Zabaleta have never expressed a desire to leave - the opposite actually. That's good enough for me, especially when I believe they are all still good enough for us. 12/18 months down the line who knows? They deserve that for their ability as well as the extra that they bring to the club.
You look at City through pretty cold eyes when it comes to players. Nothing wrong with that but the same doesn't apply to me. Not saying I'm right but it's the view I hold.
All perfectly fair and valid.I have never inferred they have but things change quickly especially when a new manager comes in and especially if they have a major influence on the targets the club seeks to bring in.
What some players say publicly but desire privately are not always in sync and some don't get a choice either.
As I said it's quite possible some (what some of us maybe yourself included) harsh decisions will be made on players as that's in part what a manager / DOF and agents get paid for.
Personal considerations always have to be taken into account especially given the global nature of football these days.
Loyalty is a wonderful thing and it should always go both ways but the reality of the business is that cannot always be achieved to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Many are disappointed when a favourite and stalwart of the club moves on especially if they feel they can contribute in a definitive fashion to the targets of the club.
They are soon forgotten though outside reminiscing and looking back in history and to glory days as the song goes.
If we were able to bring in players that the club , the manager and others involved knew / believed would be of better value to the side than those you mention are and were likely to have a better injury record over a contractual period at least and it meant letting some all of these players go would you strongly object to the decision made.
There is an old saying but it always holds water and that is you make the call on a player at least 12 months before you look back in 12 months time and say I should have made that call when it first came to mind.
The best managers always release players before the player thinks he has nothing left to contribute on match days or his level is below what is needed.
The pace of the game quickly catches up on players and in particular Zabba , Silva and Kompany are not going to improve their injury records going forward.
I think we have only got 13 starts from Vinny this year in the premiership and maybe we may get 2 more if he recovers from his latest calf tear.
Silva is at the crossroads as such , I would like him to have another season with us but with KVD and Silva and most likely new blood to come in over the summer in his role or can play his role he would be a squad player for the next twelve months and beyond perhaps anddoes he want that now.
Zabba again is in a similar situation , he might want regular football unless he sees his international career coming to an end in the short term.
I think our transfer market activity has become fairly routine. We need the same number of outs to make the squad numbers work and so players in is limited to the number you can move on. That has led to fairly quiet summers with 2 or 3 players every summer and maybe 1 in January. About 4 a year. If we are going to go big this summer we need a clear out.
I would guess that Demi is the only definite out and that frees up 1 space but beyond that it starts to get difficult. Yaya, Kolarov, Fernando, Nasri and Bony are the ones that spring to my mind. That makes 6 foreign player spaces available. Making all these players leave will be very difficult. It would not surprise me if we end up with 4 transfers in again.
I think too many people are fixating on the semantics of evolution/revolution/rebuild/new team etc etc. As I said somewhere else in the thread we bought four players last summer and six the summer that Pellegrini took charge so it's safe to assume we'll be getting 5 or 6 new players just judging by the way we've worked in the past with new managers.
Obviously none of us know what Pep will do, but we can look at his past decision making process at Barca and Bayern and at least be guided a little bit by it. So for example, I've little doubt that Mangala could be in the right set up a fantastic defender. But in a Pep set up where the centre halves have to be able to play like midfielders, where they are expected to deal with having the ball at their feet under pressure and work a way out. I'm not convinced at all.
Personally I also think there's a lot of contradictions floating around at present (as I said yesterday). We've not bought a world class player since 2010/2011 has been a regular refrain on here recently. Txiki's bought badly basically since he came in and the squad is unbalanced certainly in it's age profile. Again something i've read regularly on here. Yet people don't expect Guardiola to want four or five world class additions to the squad immediately? I find that very hard to believe.
Finally there's the nostalgic/sentimentalists who somehow think that Pep's going to perform some kind of magical Benjamin Button trick on the likes of Silva/Zaba/Toure etc and they're suddenly going to be five years younger and five years fitter.
IMO it's far more unrealistic to expect Guardiola to come in under the weight of expectation and pressure and media focus there will be, and not want basically a new spine for the team.
I agree that Guardiola would like 4 or 5 world class additions and that the club would like to give him that new spine. I just question whether its practical for the club to do that in the coming window. And how that would impact on our preparations for the new season.
I just don't see us repeating the 13/14 trick of signing half a dozen players in May/June. Not if we're chasing world class players (which the 13/14 intake weren't). We might get one or two, but most of the deals will follow a similar timeline to the De Bruyne signing. To some extent we've made a rod for our own back with recent signings. No club with any sense will accept a first or second offer from City, no matter how generous. They know that if they wait a few weeks they'll get every penny they want. Until City walk away from deals where clubs hold us to ransom, we're going to find it difficult to do quick deals. Not unless there are special circumstances, like Sterling threatening to go on strike, or Delph having a cheap release clause. That's unlikely to be the case for the world class players Guardiola will want.
Even if we do manage to pull off a few quick signings of world class players, its very likely that those players will be involved in the Euros or Copa America. Late arrivals sitting out most of pre season.
I don't see it as a problem if one or two world class players come in during August, after the season starts, as De Bruyne did. But not 4 or 5 players who are meant to form the spine of the team. It would totally disrupt Guardiola's preparations. Even more so if we have to play two CL qualifiers.
I expect we will chase 5 or 6 world class players but probably only sign a couple. I expect that Guardiola will have been asked to draw up two lists. A list of world class players and a list of players that he really likes but who might not be considered world class and therefore a bit easier to sign. There's going to have to be a compromise between giving Guardiola the very best players and making sure that he has a decent squad to work with in August.
I agree that Guardiola would like 4 or 5 world class additions and that the club would like to give him that new spine. I just question whether its practical for the club to do that in the coming window. And how that would impact on our preparations for the new season.
I just don't see us repeating the 13/14 trick of signing half a dozen players in May/June. Not if we're chasing world class players (which the 13/14 intake weren't). We might get one or two, but most of the deals will follow a similar timeline to the De Bruyne signing. To some extent we've made a rod for our own back with recent signings. No club with any sense will accept a first or second offer from City, no matter how generous. They know that if they wait a few weeks they'll get every penny they want. Until City walk away from deals where clubs hold us to ransom, we're going to find it difficult to do quick deals. Not unless there are special circumstances, like Sterling threatening to go on strike, or Delph having a cheap release clause. That's unlikely to be the case for the world class players Guardiola will want.
Even if we do manage to pull off a few quick signings of world class players, its very likely that those players will be involved in the Euros or Copa America. Late arrivals sitting out most of pre season.
I don't see it as a problem if one or two world class players come in during August, after the season starts, as De Bruyne did. But not 4 or 5 players who are meant to form the spine of the team. It would totally disrupt Guardiola's preparations. Even more so if we have to play two CL qualifiers.
I expect we will chase 5 or 6 world class players but probably only sign a couple. I expect that Guardiola will have been asked to draw up two lists. A list of world class players and a list of players that he really likes but who might not be considered world class and therefore a bit easier to sign. There's going to have to be a compromise between giving Guardiola the very best players and making sure that he has a decent squad to work with in August.
I agree the market has gone absolutely nuts. It seems any decent player is quoted as 50 or 60 million.£35-£50m might just buy a regular starter this summer.
Same.Not everyone thinks it is all Peller's fault.
Why do you think this?I agree the market has gone absolutely nuts. It seems any decent player is quoted as 50 or 60 million.
I have a feeling Pep will say I want this, this and this and Sheik Mansour will say Ok, here you are.
Ffp is finished. I also think City are due to announce a mind boggling sponsorship agreement similar to the rags 750 million Adidas deal.
I also think City are due to announce a mind boggling sponsorship agreement similar to the rags 750 million Adidas deal.