Recruitment issues

[cjn]

I am not happy with Mahrez' overall game no. I just think he gets a lot of flack that in some cases is justified but in some cases it's unjustified and directed to the point where people are using him as a bit of a scapegoat and saying he wasn't a good signing is just that imo. So to clarify my standpoint on Mahrez, do I think he is better than Bernardo overall? No. I just don't think he was a bad or mediocre signing. He was a good signing imo. He may not be what we expected but he was a decent signing. Thats all I'm saying.

If you're not happy with his overall game, and you also think is a "£40m player max" then how is he a good signing when we paid £60m? Genuinely asking.

 

[deano ou812]

But Pep stopped picking him and he didn’t cost 60m. Mahrez, Mendy, Gundogan, Garcia, Rodri Pep has blind spots for the lot of em. Publicly criticised Sane on numerous occasions yet the lad was quality and showed up in big moments. I’d take Leroy over anyone on that list.

Hmmm Garcia refuses to sign an extension all signs are he is off to Barca we continue to play him,sane similar but was used sparingly or from the bench ..

 

[bondsman]

Another thing, he's gone and we have to accept that, but did Sane only want Bayern or did we just not give him the wages he deserved? If we said 'Here's 250k a week, take it or leave it.', I wonder if he'd of stayed.

We don't mind throwing 50mil at players who don't work out, but we want to save a few million quid on one of our genuinely world class players' wages.

I think it was more the constant digs and the fact we went looking at Sanchez and mahrez.
That’s the scary thing. We tried to buy Fred, Maguire, Sanchez and Jorginho. Forgive me if I’m not excited over Dias.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

If you're not happy with his overall game, and you also think is a "£40m player max" then how is he a good signing when we paid £60m? Genuinely asking.

I suppose “good signing” from a purely financial return-on-investment perspective can be looked at differently to “good signing” in terms of a good addition to the squad in a playing sense.

 

[Damanino]

We seem to be scared to spend 75-90m on one player but dont bat an eyelid to spend 2x 55-60m payers who are not as good as the 75-90m players.

And we end up having some 55-60m players on bench who are not good enough to take down a starting place.

Add all those flops into it where we dodged a potential bullet like Alexis, Maguire, Fred, Jorginho. We were very close to them based on transfer news, they might have not flopped here like at Chelsea/United, but I dont see how they would have been so much different here with their skills.

Imagine Maguire for 60m pounds in our high line defence. He struggles in a deeper defensive line with Mctominay/Matic/Fred shielding him.

City did dodge some huge bullets only because our rivals outbid us. imagine Jorginho+Gundogan now, none of them can make a tackle, Jorginho at least Kovacic/Kante doing some hard work next to him.

Scouting is key and we need to do better in recruitment. Liverpool found Mane/Salah/Firmino for a combined fee of of like 90m pounds? Only Salah had top club experience at the time, and he kind of failed at Chelsea. Firmino was at Hoffenheim Mane was at Soton. Were they a risk? surely...

And when they found Robertson for like 6m. LB sorted for next 5 years at least for them.
But when expensive quality was needed they put down like nearly 70m for Allison and 75m for van Dijk.
Both were crucial to deliver them CL and PL titles. (especially after Karius cost them probably the previous CL final.)
Again we can only hope Thiago and Jota wont make them stronger, but one offers better distribution/creativity from midfield which they lacked, other offers much better option from bench in attack and in rotation than Shaqiri.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

How many great buys have we made in the last 3 years. Laporte...

If it goes through, Dias will be good for us. The guy is a bit special - dominant, fearless, aggressive with a similar passing range to Laporte.

 

[Blue Hefner]

Even Walker was a proven top level player and while he’s not perfect, he’s been a lot better than most of the players we’ve taken random punts on such as those listed below. Buying proven works in most cases.

Walker was the last top player we bought, along with Ederson. Not perfect but always available for selection and 7/10 performances

Oops. I forgot about Laporte but I was thinking more of summer signings

 

[RayCTID]

We seem to be scared to spend 75-90m on one player but dont bat an eyelid to spend 2x 55-60m payers who are not as good as the 75-90m players.

And we end up having some 55-60m players on bench who are not good enough to take down a starting place.

Add all those flops into it where we dodged a potential bullet like Alexis, Maguire, Fred, Jorginho. We were very close to them based on transfer news, they might have not flopped here like at Chelsea/United, but I dont see how they would have been so much different here with their skills.

Imagine Maguire for 60m pounds in our high line defence. He struggles in a deeper defensive line with Mctominay/Matic/Fred shielding him.

City did dodge some huge bullets only because our rivals outbid us. imagine Jorginho+Gundogan now, none of them can make a tackle, Jorginho at least Kovacic/Kante doing some hard work next to him.

Scouting is key and we need to do better in recruitment. Liverpool found Mane/Salah/Firmino for a combined fee of of like 90m pounds? Only Salah had top club experience at the time, and he kind of failed at Chelsea. Firmino was at Hoffenheim Mane was at Soton. Were they a risk? surely...

And when they found Robertson for like 6m. LB sorted for next 5 years at least for them.
But when expensive quality was needed they put down like nearly 70m for Allison and 75m for van Dijk.
Both were crucial to deliver them CL and PL titles. (especially after Karius cost them probably the previous CL final.)
Again we can only hope Thiago and Jota wont make them stronger, but one offers better distribution/creativity from midfield which they lacked, other offers much better option from bench in attack and in rotation than Shaqiri.

Leroy Sane (Firminho was the alternative) and Raheem Sterling and don't forget it was Liverpool who hacked our scouting database

 

[Cityzen_89]

Fair play fella. I find myself defending Gündy on similar grounds. Of course he has flaws, pretty major ones, but he has qualities too and not every single issue with the team is his fault.

Exactly mate, there are not many players around for £50m-£60m in today's market or 3 years ago who would accept a squad role he plays and have the qualities he does and be happy. Not who are experienced and know the league anyway. Mahrez serves a purpose in squad depth and he does so while bringing a certain level of quality while accepting a rotating role. I know he doesn't set the world alight but he serves a purpose. That imo is a decent signing.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

It’s like we are following the path of Chelsea when they lost their incredible spine. The likes of Carvalho, Terry, Essien, Lampard, Drogba. What a spine that was. They held onto some too long, didn’t replace others well. We are not immune from finishing outside the top 4 like they did.