Summer transfer window

[Gordyola]

Ok, very well, first of all, what's with the 'We are City' in the thread title? This makes no sense in its current form.

Secondly, do we know Rice was attainable? Do you know he wanted to leave London to come to City? If you have any information which would show that Rice's heart was set on Arsenal any less than Bellingham's was on Real then let's have it. It's clear to me that City didn't want to enter into a bidding war with Arsenal and have David Sullivan as the puppet master.

Thirdly, so you're quite happy for the human trafficking of Kalvin Phillips to West Ham - a club he evidently did not want to join for a deal significantly less than he's on at City? How could we force him to go for less money when he's got four years left on his deal at City? Are you proposing that we undo all of the hard work of the last 10 years by just lobbing millions of pounds at Phillips to get him off the books? Thus in reality making the Rice deal somewhere around £140m? What message would that send to players, agents and other clubs? That Ferran Soriano is really Peter Ridsdale or Ed Woodward?

Fourthly, what evidence is there to suggest that we operate in a way so as to not upset others? We made Jack Grealish the first £100m player that this country has ever seen, taking him from his boyhood club where he'd earned hero status. Do you think that was popular? How about trying to buy Harry Kane in the same summer, another club legend and the best striker this country has seen for many a year?

I'm as disappointed as anyone that we're performing as we are, and I am underwhelmed by our signings up to this point. That said, I think it's wrong to accuse anyone at the club of not acting in its best interests. Our strategy in the market whilst Pep has been here has been an overwhelming success with only a few notable exceptions. Experience has taught us that not every signing works out immediately but some go on to be excellent. We need to be patient, accept that it might not be our year after three blockbuster campaigns, and not be so entitled as to think we can 'put people back in their box'. This is a tough league and nobody has a divine right to win it. That's what makes our achievements so impressive and our board/management so trustworthy.

There is plenty of evidence that City pontificate far too much. pussy foot around and you can't deny that

The " We are City" = Champions of Europe of England x 3, FAC winners, the most successful club in England for the last decade it's time to show a bit of arrogance instead of worrying what others think
Khaldoon promised we would in his end of season address.

The club management didn't deliver for the team management regardless of "if players become good" We lost three significant squad member, senior established internationals including the club captain, who himself has said the club left it too late even though the manager want him to stay Pep's words. We need significant signings ready made replacements we didn't get one. Still no back up for Rodri and evidence is in the results as to how much we needed one.
Of course we don't know ultimately if Rice would have travelled to the frozen north to ply his trade but, we made it far too easy for Arsenal, a club we have helped rebuild and become a rival. Thats what i mean "putting them back in their box" Telling West Ham that we were prepared to pay what it took, more than any other, would have either got our man or forced Arsenal to pay a hell of a lot more, than they wanted and depleted their kitty. It would also have sent a message to Rice how much we wanted him, that he would have been a regular starter instead we made one bid then dropped out.

What message you say would it send to others if we had paid £140M for Rice? Well, what message did it send when we paid £100m for Jack? What message do you suggest we are sending when we end up with the players we got this season? Its not the one that Khaldoon was sending Its not about entitlement it's about winning off the field as much as on it Frankly its because Pep is such a genius that we have got away with the off field dealings and that "he always finds away" Maybe this time he wont?

Jack had a release clause yet, we still tried to force Villa to accept less
Kane how long did we spend messing around with that? In the end kane himself got sick of the uncertainty and ruled himself out. Levy had a price, he was never going to accept less especially from City If he is " the best striker this country has seen for many a year" then surely he is worth more than the £70m which is what it appears was as high as we got too? Bayern paid £82 with add on to £100m and he's another year older.

 

[richards30]

I wonder if summer targets may be brought forward for January? We are fucking up another history milestone by not killing everyone to be the first to get 4 premier league titles in a row?!

 

[Fordyboy46]

I wonder if summer targets may be brought forward for January? We are fucking up another history milestone by not killing everyone to be the first to get 4 premier league titles in a row?!

I'd be amazed if that happens mate, we never panic buy in January unless we have an injury crisis in a certain department. The only thing I see happening in January is Phillip's going on loan and we sign that Barcolo from Argentina then loan him straight out

 

[John Wayne]

There is plenty of evidence that City pontificate far too much. pussy foot around and you can't deny that

The " We are City" = Champions of Europe of England x 3, FAC winners, the most successful club in England for the last decade it's time to show a bit of arrogance instead of worrying what others think
Khaldoon promised we would in his end of season address.

The club management didn't deliver for the team management regardless of "if players become good" We lost three significant squad member, senior established internationals including the club captain, who himself has said the club left it too late even though the manager want him to stay Pep's words. We need significant signings ready made replacements we didn't get one. Still no back up for Rodri and evidence is in the results as to how much we needed one.
Of course we don't know ultimately if Rice would have travelled to the frozen north to ply his trade but, we made it far too easy for Arsenal, a club we have helped rebuild and become a rival. Thats what i mean "putting them back in their box" Telling West Ham that we were prepared to pay what it took, more than any other, would have either got our man or forced Arsenal to pay a hell of a lot more, than they wanted and depleted their kitty. It would also have sent a message to Rice how much we wanted him, that he would have been a regular starter instead we made one bid then dropped out.

What message you say would it send to others if we had paid £140M for Rice? Well, what message did it send when we paid £100m for Jack? What message do you suggest we are sending when we end up with the players we got this season? Its not the one that Khaldoon was sending Its not about entitlement it's about winning off the field as much as on it Frankly its because Pep is such a genius that we have got away with the off field dealings and that "he always finds away" Maybe this time he wont?

Jack had a release clause yet, we still tried to force Villa to accept less
Kane how long did we spend messing around with that? In the end kane himself got sick of the uncertainty and ruled himself out. Levy had a price, he was never going to accept less especially from City If he is " the best striker this country has seen for many a year" then surely he is worth more than the £70m which is what it appears was as high as we got too? Bayern paid £82 with add on to £100m and he's another year older.

I don't think we should be arrogant for the sake of it. We should continue to operate in the same frugal manner that brought about our success. We would have made a big statement by signing Bellingham and the club did not mess around with the fee for Dortmund, but he didn't want to come. There was no pussying around on City's part.

You also assume that City really wanted Rice. I'm sure we'd have liked him in the fold but not to the extent that we wanted to pay more than £90m for him. On the evidence I've seen, I'm not even sure he's worth any more than that. To think that City should have spent £140m on him for the sake of making a statement or winning off the field is something with which I simply cannot agree. Our £712m revenue is evidence that we're winning off the field.

I'd have liked our new signings to have hit the ground running but it doesn't always work out that way. In what way were any of them responsible for yesterday's debacle? The problems are with the established players as much as the new boys. Ilkay was always going to be difficult to replace and to lose Stones and KDB too is a hammer blow. You sometimes cannot legislate for losing three key components of a Treble winning midfield. Incidentally, when Kovacic and Rodri start together, we've won every game.

On the topic of Grealish, we still landed the target. On the topic of Kane, I can guarantee you than we offered more than £70m. Daniel Levy would not take our calls when we were offering £120m. We were right to walk away.

The club and the fans need to keep calm. This is a bad run of form but they have turned it round before. We need everyone to step up, not just the new signings. Beating our chests and changing how we operate in the transfer market is not the way to go about it.

 

[jamesha]

The window was poor as much for the departures as the arrivals. If we had managed to persuade Gundogan to stay then things would have been different this season yet we did not seem to make significant efforts to do that like we did for Walker.

Nowadays I don't expect any signing to become a first choice straight away and those that do - like Dias - are a nice surprise. My concern is that I cannot see either Kovacic or Nunes becoming first choice midfielders of the quality we require to stay at the level we have reached over the past few years.

We all know that KdB and Stones tend to struggle with injuries so succession planning should be in place for them.

Rice would have been a great option for the Stones hybrid role. A replacement for KdB is harder but Szoboszlai at Liverpool looks good. As treble winners those are the calibre of players we should have been signing and I am sure we could have done so with enough determination from the senior management.

One thing I do know is that our management take a long view so maybe they are happy to accept a transitional season with the hope that the likes of Lewis, Bobb, Doku and Gvardiol can mature and become top players over the next few years.

 

[robbieh]

Real Madrid were in my eyes humiliated by us twice in the last 2 semi finals. Ok we lost the first one due to poor finishing in both legs.

What did they do? Bought an already World class player.

We did the same the year before with ERL. And it won us the treble.

This summer we bought a couple of decent midfielders neither of whom would get in Madrid's team. Nor Arsenal's, nor Liverpool's.

I think Doku was a good buy and has a bright future with us.

 

[Dr Jacoby]

Nunes although having that injury hasn’t been given a run of games or decent game time has he? Playing lesser teams or dead rubbers has looked good driving forward but lacking in the final execution department, maybe trying too hard?

Yeah, you could be right.

He’s had some promising moments but his end product has been lacking and he often tries things that have very little chance of coming off. As you say it could be from trying too hard but I expected his game to be more polished at this stage in his career.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Summer 2023 was the last chance we had to attract proper elite players ( in the near future ) and fucked it up royally.

Ffs we were treble winners with Pep still there for 2 years - never have a better opportunity yet end up spending £60m on Nunes on the last day of the window.

Kova Gvardial and Nunes have all made the squad worse. Doku has done well but not suited to a Pep team.

When you add this to the players we let go will never understand how we could fuck things up so badly.

Summer 24 is the start of the final year of Pep - probably 90% of the coaching staff and of Txiki. Also the year that might see us hit with potential relegation. No elite player is going to join in those circumstances.

If we all believe the nonsense about it taking a year for players to get Peps way of playing - then any players signing in Summer 24 - Pep and all his staff will have left before the the player ‘gets it’ !!

 

[richards30]

Yeah, you could be right.

He’s had some promising moments but his end product has been lacking and he often tries things that have very little chance of coming off. As you say it could be from trying too hard but I expected his game to be more polished at this stage in his career.

Needs to play though mate? Looked good against forest earlier in the season and needs a chance?

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

we wont sign anyone next month