Blue Mooner
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Daz_Blue said:Proelia said:Faptastic
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PANTILLIMON, MICAH, RODWELL, MILNER, NASRI, NEGREDO, DZEKO
One word.... WOW!
Stevan Jovetic (part 3)
- Thread starter Juddaman83
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One word.... WOW!
blue city199
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Slick Manchester City enjoying the quiet revolution
19 Jul 2013 09:01
Rooney, Moyes and Mourinho have overshadowed an efficient overhaul at the Etihad that could top £90m.
Manuel Pellegrini welcomes Fernandinho.
The summer sports headlines have screamed about Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and the return of Chelsea’s prodigal son Jose Mourinho.
And, as the pundits talk of a tug of war for Rooney, and a United v Chelsea battle for the title, over at City, there is a quiet revolution going on.
Manuel Pellegrini will be grateful for the timing.
He has slipped in to the manager’s seat at City with barely a ripple, while every move of Mourinho and David Moyes has been scrutinised.
And even in the transfer market, where the Blues last night agreed to sign Stevan Jovetic to take their spending in this window to £90million, there has been nothing like the glare of publicity which has accompanied previous summertime sprees.
City have acted early and they have acted shrewdly, trimming their wage bill and refining a squad with players who have a reputation for being as low-key off the field as they are excellent on it.
City have not gone into the market hunting for a superstar – all talk of them going for a Ronaldo, a Gareth Bale, or even a Rooney, has quickly been dismissed.
Executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have worked quickly, secured targets, off-loaded some big earners off and have refused to spend money simply because it was burning a hole in their pocket.
With Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, and Alvaro Negredo already in the bag, and Jovetic all but there, the summer business done by Pellegrini and his suited colleagues has been more about team-building than galactico-gathering.
In the past, City have paid big money for big-name players who also came with big egos and often a baggage train of troubles.
Carlos Tevez was a great signing and, perhaps more than any other single player, transformed City from wannabes to contenders for major honours.
Unfortunately, he came at a hefty price, both in terms of a wage packet worth up to £17m a year, and in the bad publicity and disruption which surrounded his public feud with Roberto Mancini and others at the club.
Mario Balotelli was also undoubtedly a supreme talent, but in the end his off-field antics distracted both the media and the player himself, from his own football worth, and it was always going to end in tears.
In getting rid of those two in the past six months, City have shed something like £25m off their wage budget, and – if Jovetic completes – will have brought in four players whose total wages come to around half of that figure.
When you consider that the Blues have also removed big earners Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Toure, Maicon – who signed for Roma yesterday – and Wayne Bridge from the books, possibly saving another £20m,their summer trading has been both financially satisfying and intriguing from a football point of view.
Neither Negredo nor Jovetic have proved they are in the same class as Tevez, but they will be going all out to do so net season.
Negredo was only bettered in the La Liga goalscoring stakes last season by Lionel Messi, Ronaldo and Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao. The first two are unobtainable, and Falcao has just cost Monaco around £52m.
Negredo, who played in a lesser team than Falcao, scored 25 league goals, just three less than Falcao – and his initial fee of around £16.4m, which could rise to around £20m, is a third of the asking price for Falcao, and for original summer target Edinson Cavani.
All four signings have huge respect in the clubs and leagues from which they have come, but none is a household name in this country – and that is part of the attraction for Soriano, Begiristain and Pellegrini.
The term ‘holistic’ has been applied to the philosophy of drawing the youth system closer to the first team, but it also applies to a healthy vision of a club with great players, but no great egos.
That is one of Barcelona’s great strengths.
Even with football geniuses like Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, there is no evidence that the superstars are placed on pedestals – there is a real club ethos and City’s scramble to the top of the football heap has lost a little of that ethos in the last few years.
None of the new signings is on a six-figure wage each week, although they have all got substantial pay rises by moving to City.
Money is clearly one motivation, but all four are also ambitious and have been starved of success by playing at clubs which had little chance of challenging for major honours – apart from Fernandinho, who has won plenty of domestic honours with Shakhtar Donetsk, but has his eyes on the glamour of success in the Premier League and Champions League.
The signings of Robinho, Balotelli, Emmanuel Adebayor and Tevez clearly had football merit and made everyone sit up and take notice, but the commitment of those players to the club was questionable, at best.
With signings like these, you have a better chance of blending them into the club, in the way that players such as Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany have become City men through and through.
It is smart, it makes sound financial sense in an era of Uefa scrutiny, and it promises a squad which will be in contention for the prizes next season.
19 Jul 2013 09:01
Rooney, Moyes and Mourinho have overshadowed an efficient overhaul at the Etihad that could top £90m.
Manuel Pellegrini welcomes Fernandinho.
The summer sports headlines have screamed about Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and the return of Chelsea’s prodigal son Jose Mourinho.
And, as the pundits talk of a tug of war for Rooney, and a United v Chelsea battle for the title, over at City, there is a quiet revolution going on.
Manuel Pellegrini will be grateful for the timing.
He has slipped in to the manager’s seat at City with barely a ripple, while every move of Mourinho and David Moyes has been scrutinised.
And even in the transfer market, where the Blues last night agreed to sign Stevan Jovetic to take their spending in this window to £90million, there has been nothing like the glare of publicity which has accompanied previous summertime sprees.
City have acted early and they have acted shrewdly, trimming their wage bill and refining a squad with players who have a reputation for being as low-key off the field as they are excellent on it.
City have not gone into the market hunting for a superstar – all talk of them going for a Ronaldo, a Gareth Bale, or even a Rooney, has quickly been dismissed.
Executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have worked quickly, secured targets, off-loaded some big earners off and have refused to spend money simply because it was burning a hole in their pocket.
With Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, and Alvaro Negredo already in the bag, and Jovetic all but there, the summer business done by Pellegrini and his suited colleagues has been more about team-building than galactico-gathering.
In the past, City have paid big money for big-name players who also came with big egos and often a baggage train of troubles.
Carlos Tevez was a great signing and, perhaps more than any other single player, transformed City from wannabes to contenders for major honours.
Unfortunately, he came at a hefty price, both in terms of a wage packet worth up to £17m a year, and in the bad publicity and disruption which surrounded his public feud with Roberto Mancini and others at the club.
Mario Balotelli was also undoubtedly a supreme talent, but in the end his off-field antics distracted both the media and the player himself, from his own football worth, and it was always going to end in tears.
In getting rid of those two in the past six months, City have shed something like £25m off their wage budget, and – if Jovetic completes – will have brought in four players whose total wages come to around half of that figure.
When you consider that the Blues have also removed big earners Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Toure, Maicon – who signed for Roma yesterday – and Wayne Bridge from the books, possibly saving another £20m,their summer trading has been both financially satisfying and intriguing from a football point of view.
Neither Negredo nor Jovetic have proved they are in the same class as Tevez, but they will be going all out to do so net season.
Negredo was only bettered in the La Liga goalscoring stakes last season by Lionel Messi, Ronaldo and Atletico Madrid’s Radamel Falcao. The first two are unobtainable, and Falcao has just cost Monaco around £52m.
Negredo, who played in a lesser team than Falcao, scored 25 league goals, just three less than Falcao – and his initial fee of around £16.4m, which could rise to around £20m, is a third of the asking price for Falcao, and for original summer target Edinson Cavani.
All four signings have huge respect in the clubs and leagues from which they have come, but none is a household name in this country – and that is part of the attraction for Soriano, Begiristain and Pellegrini.
The term ‘holistic’ has been applied to the philosophy of drawing the youth system closer to the first team, but it also applies to a healthy vision of a club with great players, but no great egos.
That is one of Barcelona’s great strengths.
Even with football geniuses like Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, there is no evidence that the superstars are placed on pedestals – there is a real club ethos and City’s scramble to the top of the football heap has lost a little of that ethos in the last few years.
None of the new signings is on a six-figure wage each week, although they have all got substantial pay rises by moving to City.
Money is clearly one motivation, but all four are also ambitious and have been starved of success by playing at clubs which had little chance of challenging for major honours – apart from Fernandinho, who has won plenty of domestic honours with Shakhtar Donetsk, but has his eyes on the glamour of success in the Premier League and Champions League.
The signings of Robinho, Balotelli, Emmanuel Adebayor and Tevez clearly had football merit and made everyone sit up and take notice, but the commitment of those players to the club was questionable, at best.
With signings like these, you have a better chance of blending them into the club, in the way that players such as Pablo Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany have become City men through and through.
It is smart, it makes sound financial sense in an era of Uefa scrutiny, and it promises a squad which will be in contention for the prizes next season.
citytill1die84
Well-Known Member
Madsen said:
Marquinhos joined PSG.
Glauber Berti
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Madsen said:
Hasn't Marquinhos gone to PSG?
southstandblue27
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- 3 Aug 2010
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Madsen said:
Salvio and Zuculini
Tricky_Trev
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Not sure how i'd arrange the team yet, but i think i'd want Negredo to be in there somehow when Navas is playing. No point having width if we've got nobody to get the tap-ins and headers. Navas knows exactly the kind of runs Negredo will make, and Negredo knows exactly where Navas will cross it!Proelia said:Faptastic
And, I can vouch for 'larderland', though his arse was a little loose, was still worth it.larderland said:bored at work said:McFcMiKe7 said:ABORT SIGNING, ABORT SIGNING!
tbf, he's in a brothel there and that is the international sign language for requesting anal!
i can vouch for the above statement
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