So, that January transfer window…

[CΛL]

Who's that RB, Kabore? if he's 23 surely he could be option for us this season?

He’s not good enough, couldn’t get a kick at Benfica and had his loan terminated, was decent for Luton the year before and most recently he was at Bremen and did ok

 

[jamielowndes]

The January window was highly unusual in that we bought players who were still developing.

I feel like they were players we wanted, but had to put a rush on it due to the absolute disaster that was the first half of the season. We needed fresh legs badly.

I remember a report that we were basically planning to rebuild the squad in the summer window of 2025 and thought the 24/25 team could hold us over, and that the club had waited a year too late on rebuilding. Explains the signings we made.

 

[thegoatsthegoat]

We didn't recruit the summer before so brought forward our targets to January. The problem was we needed players ready to go straight from the off. Marmoush aside it was a crap window for what we needed, that isn't to say none of the younger ones will come good.

 

[Ethan23]

He’s not good enough, couldn’t get a kick at Benfica and had his loan terminated, was decent for Luton the year before and most recently he was at Bremen and did ok

Fair enough, back to the drawing board we go.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Still scratch my head that we spent nearly £200m in that January window.

City can make all the denials they want re Nico - but Marmoush is the only player signed in Jan that has a future at City - and even he won’t be in our best 11.

If we can get anything anywhere near the inflated amounts we paid for Nico and Khusanov they would be gone in the morning. Neither could get a minute during the worst injury crisis in the clubs history - so unless the manager goes they ain’t playing any minutes anytime soon.

 

[Truesilverblue]

I may be wrong but I don't think we bringing in players at the same level Liverpool have done so far. Still think though it's a 3 horse race , City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

 

[phargrave]

Still scratch my head that we spent nearly £200m in that January window.

City can make all the denials they want re Nico - but Marmoush is the only player signed in Jan that has a future at City - and even he won’t be in our best 11.

If we can get anything anywhere near the inflated amounts we paid for Nico and Khusanov they would be gone in the morning. Neither could get a minute during the worst injury crisis in the clubs history - so unless the manager goes they ain’t playing any minutes anytime soon.

How about Pep just giving them a chance…..

 

[TheGhost]

How about Pep just giving them a chance…..

When you’re going for 95+ Premier League points there’s very little room for error and bedding players in who may or may not be good enough.

 

[Bluekiwi]

I may be wrong but I don't think we bringing in players at the same level Liverpool have done so far. Still think though it's a 3 horse race , City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

I'd add Chelsea to those three.

 

[Gorbachev]

Marmoush was a great signing and reminds me of when we signed Edin Dzeko.

However, I seriously question why we spent £65m on two CBs that can barely make the second team at the moment let alone the first when we so desperately needed proper defensive ready to go additions.

One of them, maybe even both will be loaned this summer.

You don't spend £30m on a CB to loan him out in the hope that he turns good.

Juma Bah at £5m I can see doing that, but not Reis and Khusanov.

Nico G was a panic signing, and I am yet to be convinced Pep truly rates him. I think he will be a good squad addition for us, but in no way was he worth the £50m we paid for him.

Summer window has been top drawer though. I think Viana has played a blinder thus far.

 

[Truesilverblue]

Why does he keep playing Akanji and even Aka when his fit. 2 liabilities in defence.

 

[bluetonium]

Generally we overpaid but we have the room to do so given how healthy the club is financially.

Marmoush is the stand out signing and one we would have made in summer but could actually have been more difficult and expensive if we'd waited.

I like Echeverri, I think he has a lot about him and pep can coach him relatively quickly into a very effective squad player, who could make some important contributions.

Reis, Kushanov and Gonzalez are undoubtedly talented, but probably more work to do to get them integrated into our squad, and the issue we have now is squad size. There must have been a plan of succession, surely, so I expect to see that followed. If we could have got Reminders in January then I'm afraid Gonzalez wouldn't have arrived. The bigger issue is defence, two centre backs in and none out. If fact a left back added who is good enough to push Gvardiol inside maybe, increasing our centre back numbers. Stones, Dias, Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Kusa, Reis, Simpson-Pusey, for two positions. Yikes.

But Pep is unlikely to trust so many new faces together, when he has lost much of that core team and leadership already, which he trusted greatly.

There are no flops in our January signings, it just brings forward the issues we were facing in squad age, fitness and rotation. I think in some cases we bought players we were going for anyway, and in others we bought players we were keeping an eye on but probably not ready to move for until another 1-2 years. Maybe we panicked, but the goal was champions league qualification and we got that.

Aside from just having bodies to put out, it is also about high intensity training and quality on the days we don't play, keeping standards high ready for match day, and we just didn't have the bodies to even put out two teams in training at one point.

Summer has just compound that as we've had to let some big names go and they absolutely did need replacing. Now we have a bloated squad and decisions have to be taken. Maybe some of those who just came in will be turned around, I hope now beyond a loan as otherwise it isn't a good look for us and is damaging to the younger ones especially.

You have to hope that all of the will be better for 6 months settling in now, even if it was a bit hectic, but Pep needs to use these next few weeks to finalize his thoughts and we can get loans sorted out for the stragglers.

 

[Marvin.]

Marmoush was a great signing and reminds me of when we signed Edin Dzeko.

However, I seriously question why we spent £65m on two CBs that can barely make the second team at the moment let alone the first when we so desperately needed proper defensive ready to go additions.

One of them, maybe even both will be loaned this summer.

You don't spend £30m on a CB to loan him out in the hope that he turns good.

Juma Bah at £5m I can see doing that, but not Reis and Khusanov.

Nico G was a panic signing, and I am yet to be convinced Pep truly rates him. I think he will be a good squad addition for us, but in no way was he worth the £50m we paid for him.

Summer window has been top drawer though. I think Viana has played a blinder thus far.

City had a chronic central defensive injury crisis immediately prior to the January window such that Simpson-Pusey was given his debut in a Champions League game at Sporting in November. That was a disastrous game for Manchester City in a disastrous period for City that would destroy our chances of retaining the Premier League. The decision to bring in central defenders could be said to have been panicked but City were in a corner. The problem we have now is that our best central defender is Stones, and confidence that he can play regularly in 2025/26 must be low. The injury rehab. of Stones and Rodri is critical but unpredictable.

 

[Bluearmy]

City had a chronic central defensive injury crisis immediately prior to the January window such that Simpson-Pusey was given his debut in a Champions League game at Sporting in November. That was a disastrous game for Manchester City in a disastrous period for City that would destroy our chances of retaining the Premier League. The decision to bring in central defenders could be said to have been panicked but City were in a corner. The problem we have now is that our best central defender is Stones, and confidence that he can play regularly in 2025/26 must be low. The injury rehab. of Stones and Rodri is critical but unpredictable

Gvardiol should have been moved to Centre Half permanently much sooner. Having zero legitimate full backs at the club come January just compounded the shit show.

Stones isn't our best Centre Half currently and shouldn't even be considered due to him being made of glass!! He got on the pitch 4 times (PL) since late November. Totally unreliable now.

 

[Semper aggressus]

Seems like we only needed Marmoush, given how little the rest played even when we had so many injuries. Not sure why we rushed into signing the others as there didn’t seem to be much competition for them.

Maybe they’re just for the future, loan them out or see how they get on in Carabao games perhaps. Personally I’d rather we made low risk signings of ready made proven stars.

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

Marmoush was a great signing and reminds me of when we signed Edin Dzeko.

However, I seriously question why we spent £65m on two CBs that can barely make the second team at the moment let alone the first when we so desperately needed proper defensive ready to go additions.

One of them, maybe even both will be loaned this summer.

You don't spend £30m on a CB to loan him out in the hope that he turns good.

Juma Bah at £5m I can see doing that, but not Reis and Khusanov.

Nico G was a panic signing, and I am yet to be convinced Pep truly rates him. I think he will be a good squad addition for us, but in no way was he worth the £50m we paid for him.

Summer window has been top drawer though. I think Viana has played a blinder thus far.

With the 2 young CB's, I think the club looked at the age, injury record, and who's out of contract in 18 months time out of the current CB's, and took a gamble on them both. Hoping one or both will be first team squad ready in 18 months time. Not saying it's what I'd have done but I see the logic, even if it was expensive.

I'd be amazed if we loan Khusanov because Stones and Ake aren't staying fit even if we get them fit in the first place. Reis could probably do with a loan but I'd prefer if he stayed in this country if possible.