Ross Barkley

[bluechampion7891]

From what I have seen Pogba looks more like a box to box midfielder where as Yaya is predominantly the man who dictates play. He tends to be the pivot point who receives the ball and then creates space to distribute the ball and creates attacks. He is also able to produce the long range pass or killer through ball. On top of that he is then able to go on barn storming runs while out muscling the opposition and has the end product either inside or outside the box.
From what I have seen of Pogba he is nothing like that, he seems to be a player more in the Fernandinho mould but with added quality.

Which is exactly what we need as a replacement.

Move Silva centrally and let him dictate the game and add a top class winger which will hopefully be on the agenda regardless of whether Yaya stays.

----------- Pogba ----------- Fernandinho ------------
Navas ------------- Silva ------------------ Sterling/ Nasri
----------------------- Kun ------------------------------------

That is much more balanced than a side with Barkley in.

I don't see why we couldn't aim to sign Pogba, Barkley, Draxler and Koke;
--------------Barkley----Pogba----------
Koke-----------silva-------------Draxler
----------------------Aguero----------------
A lot of our width comes from the fullbacks anyway so it makes sense to me, also Koke plays more as a wide attacking mid for athletico.

true, but Koke is a proper CM. his wide role is similar to nasri;s or silva's but he has the work rate and defensive nous to play as a CM. further, he plays as a CM for spain.

Pogba for all his qualities there are a few factors that make me think we would pursue Koke more:
1) price
2) Serie A - all our recent imports from series havent really been a success. Koke also has better experience winning a better league while not being in a dominant team and going to the CL final
3) he is more box to box than a controlling CM, and once Yaya leaves the latter is a greater need which Koke fulfills better
4) ego

Draxler isnt starting 11 quality neither is Barkley at the moment.

 

[g180aj]

Which is exactly what we need as a replacement.

Move Silva centrally and let him dictate the game and add a top class winger which will hopefully be on the agenda regardless of whether Yaya stays.

----------- Pogba ----------- Fernandinho ------------
Navas ------------- Silva ------------------ Sterling/ Nasri
----------------------- Kun ------------------------------------

That is much more balanced than a side with Barkley in.

I don't see why we couldn't aim to sign Pogba, Barkley, Draxler and Koke;
--------------Barkley----Pogba----------
Koke-----------silva-------------Draxler
----------------------Aguero----------------
A lot of our width comes from the fullbacks anyway so it makes sense to me, also Koke plays more as a wide attacking mid for athletico.

true, but Koke is a proper CM. his wide role is similar to nasri;s or silva's but he has the work rate and defensive nous to play as a CM. further, he plays as a CM for spain.

Pogba for all his qualities there are a few factors that make me think we would pursue Koke more:
1) price
2) Serie A - all our recent imports from series havent really been a success. Koke also has better experience winning a better league while not being in a dominant team and going to the CL final
3) he is more box to box than a controlling CM, and once Yaya leaves the latter is a greater need which Koke fulfills better
4) ego

Draxler isnt starting 11 quality neither is Barkley at the moment.

He is a standout player for a team who play in the champions league year after year and he isn't far away from the German first team, so realistically in a better team than schalke he should be able to flourish.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

Isco, Sanchez, Reus.

top names, difficult to prise, but maybe possible with the right amount of cash and/or conditions (arsenal just in top 4 or out, Madrid with too many attacking players for Isco to have sufficient time)

Sterling, Depay, Shaqiri would be second tier names

You think Arsenal would sell Sanchez after just one season (and a fantastic one so far)?

you think if sanchez wants to leave arsenal will be able to keep him?

Yeah...I expect this will depend on how Arsenal finish. Not looking good right now.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

I don't see why we couldn't aim to sign Pogba, Barkley, Draxler and Koke;
--------------Barkley----Pogba----------
Koke-----------silva-------------Draxler
----------------------Aguero----------------
A lot of our width comes from the fullbacks anyway so it makes sense to me, also Koke plays more as a wide attacking mid for athletico.

Christ that is a lot of money. The days of 150 million pound windows are over.

Pogba - 50
Barkley - 40
Draxler - 25
Koke - 40

 

[Bill]

CM and winger definitely should be top of our priorities..

Add LB into that list!

Clichy has done well for me.

stop it. we are manchester city, neither clichy or kolorov have done enough this season. this needs adressing more than any other position.
barkley would be nice, a winger would be nice, a new striker great but a left back is essential.

 

[Balti]

barklay far too expensive at that price and fuck giving neverton anywhere near that amount of cash ever again the bitters lol

 

[LoveCity]

I don't get it. I watched him again tonight and again all I saw was lots of running, some skill, but zero intelligence or end product. He lost the ball twice to set up dangerous West Ham counter attacks. He's worth no more than maybe £10m-£15m because he's all raw talent and one of our most promising young attacking midfielders probably produce similar end product (Barkley has 1 goal and 1 assist this season). He looks dangerous but isn't actually that dangerous most of the time because he isn't sure how to proceed once he's done all the fancy stuff. Yes I know he'll probably have a stormer against us now I've said this, but I've watched him quite a lot and don't see anything *close* to a £40m player.

 

[Sergi0 Na5r1]

Didn't have another good game tonight. Decent player for us, maybe... Worth 45 mill +, no fkin way..

 

[nobody can eat fifty eggs]

I don't get it. I watched him again tonight and again all I saw was lots of running, some skill, but zero intelligence or end product. He lost the ball twice to set up dangerous West Ham counter attacks. He's worth no more than maybe £10m-£15m because he's all raw talent and one of our most promising young attacking midfielders probably produce similar end product (Barkley has 1 goal and 1 assist this season). He looks dangerous but isn't actually that dangerous most of the time because he isn't sure how to proceed once he's done all the fancy stuff. Yes I know he'll probably have a stormer against us now I've said this, but I've watched him quite a lot and don't see anything *close* to a £40m player.

He's still unproven in a lot of ways but to pass up on him would be a mistake and it's these sort of players we need to be investing in for the future.

He ticks all the boxes in where our future lies as a club.

 

[LoveCity]

I don't get it. I watched him again tonight and again all I saw was lots of running, some skill, but zero intelligence or end product. He lost the ball twice to set up dangerous West Ham counter attacks. He's worth no more than maybe £10m-£15m because he's all raw talent and one of our most promising young attacking midfielders probably produce similar end product (Barkley has 1 goal and 1 assist this season). He looks dangerous but isn't actually that dangerous most of the time because he isn't sure how to proceed once he's done all the fancy stuff. Yes I know he'll probably have a stormer against us now I've said this, but I've watched him quite a lot and don't see anything *close* to a £40m player.

He's still unproven in a lot of ways but to pass up on him would be a mistake and it's these sort of players we need to be investing in for the future.

He ticks all the boxes in where our future lies as a club.

Why would it be a mistake when I think our academy is producing players just as good? I think Marcos Lopes can be better than Barkley given a couple of years more development. He may not stand out as much but he has a footballing brain and could correspond to our style of football a lot more than Barkley appears to. Barkley's passing is OK, some nice long passes especially, but clumsy and every game he seems to put his team in danger with wayward passes when they're pushed up the pitch.

If I was throwing out £40m I'd much rather it go on Sterling than Barkley. Sterling delivers far more and has already shown signs of handling high pressure situations, like when they played us. But I think we can produce footballers a lot more suited to our style than Barkley, who seems to lack some basic footballing intelligence that is so vital if you want to play for City.