Fordyboy46
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I personally don't think there will be many if any suitors for Walker, Grealish, Stones, Phillip's, Ake. Mcatee the only one who i think will have a few clubs chasing him
The Squad planning thread
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vicblueman
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Viana has to be ruthless & get rid of Gundo & players who are past their best or injury prone .
Make way for the new blood .
If Pg doesn't like the situation then he will have a choice to make .
No one is bigger than our club .
himalayan_blues
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Its beacause we have more than 30 players (not including the academy players) and we need at least 10-14 players out to even things up. Because 18/19 first team players with few added academy players are good enough for a season specially given the circumstances that pep wants a smaller squad.
himalayan_blues
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I doubt club will be ready to increase his salary specially he has not been that good enough.
blueparrot
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Don't need 10 /14 out. We need 4 NHG out, then Walker,Phillips, Grealish,possibly Stones. So 7/8 at most takes us to about,24/25 including clubtrained and U21s
himalayan_blues
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I doubt pep will want that much. May be 20/21 is what pep wants and addition to that some academy graduates ike mbeumo and co are ready for the first team. We have to give space to them as well.
I read somewhere he wants 19/20 + academy players. So yes it might need 10-14 players to leave.
You also forgot McAtee. I can seriously see Akanji + Stones leaving. The CB Position too stacked for no reason
If we were to take Pep's words at face value then we have to assume that the Club World Cup was going to be used in part as our pre season and preparation for next season. Therefor it seems we could look at the minutes played to get an idea of which players Pep sees as the ones he want to rely on for next season. Now there will be some caveats Rico Lewis being suspended for example but it should give us an idea.
Now what really stands out is that Khusanov and Nico Gonzalez just dont seem to be wanted by Pep. 61 minutes each is ridiculous for two players we signed back in January. What is also interesting is that if you believe the transfer rumour mill then the players most likely to leave are also some of the players we used the most.
This is what i find most confusing at the moment the players tipped to leave whether we agree or not appear to be the ones Pep wants to keep and the players the club want us to build our future team with are the ones Pep will not play. Surely it is more beneficial to give game time to Khusanov over Akanji if the intention is to get rid of Akanji.
it just all seems a bit counter productive at the moment.
Now what really stands out is that Khusanov and Nico Gonzalez just dont seem to be wanted by Pep. 61 minutes each is ridiculous for two players we signed back in January. What is also interesting is that if you believe the transfer rumour mill then the players most likely to leave are also some of the players we used the most.
This is what i find most confusing at the moment the players tipped to leave whether we agree or not appear to be the ones Pep wants to keep and the players the club want us to build our future team with are the ones Pep will not play. Surely it is more beneficial to give game time to Khusanov over Akanji if the intention is to get rid of Akanji.
it just all seems a bit counter productive at the moment.
SpeaksForItself
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If you discount academy players and the likes of Bah who have never been part of the first team squad at any time, we have the 27 that went to the CWC and 5 others (Kovacic, Grealish, McAtee, Walker and least-as-well-as-last Phillips). That's 32 in total.
Go back to the treble year, we had a core group of 16 outfield players (one of whom was Lewis) + Palmer, Gomez, Phillips (used in extremis) and Cancelo who left in January.
So that equates to 17 non-acad + 2 acad + 3 goalkeepers = 22 players in total.
So yes, in Pep's world we do need to lose 10 players plus the likes of Wilson-Esbrand/Bah/Perrone/Kabore if they are still here.
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If we were to utilise a bigger squad, I believe the 27 CWC squad could all be used in the PL due to it's generous under-21 rule, but 3 would have to sit out the CL squad. But I'd have thought that the club would be looking for smaller numbers to reduce the wage bill.
We shall wait and see who departs. We definitely don't need to be signing anyone else until we've got players out the door. (Possibly with the exception of a goalkeeper if one of Eddie/Ortega have a change on heart and advise the club they're leaving.)
blueparrot
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Don't think it's true Pep doesn'tv want Gonzales or Khusonov. Think they'll play more next season and over the comong years . He just doesn't think they are ready yet,especially Nico as a loan 6 in Ppes system is very difficult to learn.Even Rosri had to be taken aside and taught the position while we still had Fernandinho.
Semper aggressus
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I hope over this season we see more of Bobb, Echeverri, O’Reilly, Marmoush and the three new signings and far, far less of Lewis, Gundogan and Bernardo.
I agree with all your points but when you look back at the players who took a bit of time to settle, Rodri, Bernardo, etc they were still getting game time from memory. Doesn’t feel like that is happening with some of these January signings.
Vitor Reis, Khusanov, and Nico just because of the number of players who are ahead of them in the pecking order at the moment I don’t see where they are going to get game time to improve the areas Pep must see deficiencies.
In another thread I mentioned Reis leaving first team football at Palmeirais to come and sit on the bench. I’m not even sure Reis even played for the U23s. That can’t be beneficial for his development, he needs to play.
Gonzales and Khusanov will play but only if several of the old guard are gone prior to the start of the season.
Pep has to make sure the newer players are ready for next season start up.
Can’t learn a position if you don’t play. Excuses. He rather starts playing reijnders who excels as an 8 as a 6 so Nico Gonzalez doesn’t play. Says it all.
blueparrot
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Rodri did, in fact Lilo took him out of the group to help teach him to play and understand the position and what was needed.
Well you can probably tick the first one off that list
LeonardoDaVnci
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You've have smashed the nail on the head ! If we are supposed to be in the middle of a squad transition we are going about it in a very strange way. The other thing that grates with me re transfers is the way Pep implies the squad build happens to him. Its as if the first time he knows about a new player is when he sees them appear in a training session. Previously I assumed he just he said this to deflect annoying questions in press conferences about transfer rumours. I would like to think that Pep, Viana, maybe Sorano, Khaldoon plus player data people meet say monthly and have ultra professional, strategic squad planning meetings so that as a club we do everything possible to avoid Kalvin Phillips type blunders. Given the treatment of Reiss, Khusanov and Gonzalez maybe I was wrong and the squad does just happens to Pep. And of course he made that irrational statement about quitting if the squad is too big for his personal preference. The whole process just seems a bit haphazard and unprofessional at times.
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Cobwebcat
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Scott Carson stands out as he isn’t a city player. Our current squad is here….
Manchester City - Club profile
All information about Man City (Premier League) ➤ current squad with market values ➤ transfers ➤ rumours ➤ player stats ➤ fixtures ➤ news
Keepingthefaithsince1976
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Footballs weird sometimes. There is a youtube video of Stones champions league game...it is an absolutely fantastic performance. Stones has been injured so it's a gamble to keep players who cannot play for 6 months like Kdb. Ake was being heralded as player of the season 18 months or so ago. Grealish has dropped off sure but hasn't played enough for match fitness imo. Maybe the break will do City good for the next 3 weeks & everyone will come back champing at the bit and hungry to lead from the front instead of being lethargic.
One left back and no right back.