Most players performance levels drop as a tournament progresses. It happens even more with older players like Kroos and Gundogan who may have to play a lot of matches along with travel in a short period of time.
The Squad planning thread
- Thread starter HaalandEffect
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christened at st marks
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Mancini’s Pastilles
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By the sounds of things, KDB Gundo Bernardo are staying on for another season. Echeverri will be loaned, id also wager Reis will be loaned. So what exactly are we planning on improving from this disaster season? Not much room for new players along with no pre season due to CWC, cant see much change
We already have in effect 5 'new' players for next season compared with the start of this season.
Gonzalez, Marmoush, Khusanov plus the return of Rodri and Bobb.
I'd expect at a minimum a first team goalkeeper, right-back and midfielder will come in the Summer.
It's quite a big change if you think about it, reconstructing teams can take a bit of time.
richards30
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Chevilier
Branthwaite (If we need a LCB)
Cambiaso
Wharton
Wirtz
Branthwaite (If we need a LCB)
Cambiaso
Wharton
Wirtz
Not to be sniffed at, not sure what departures would facilitate that list though.
richards30
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Bluemoon has risen
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Swap Wharton for Camavinga and that's a great list.
richards30
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Wouldnt be upset about that mate but i really think that Wharton is going to be special and i`d love that to be here.
I think the squad size is now as big as Pep would want so any signings would probably be on the basis of one in one out. Given that only a couple of players are out of contract the question then is which players will be prepared to move. I think that City would be happy to move on Grealish, Walker, Philips, Nunes and Kovetic. We might consider selling Bernardo but only if we receive a generous bid and he makes it clear he wants to go. And I think Pep has lost patience with Stones and Ake’s injury records.
But which of them will be prepared to move? And what sort of interest will we receive given that we wouldn’t want to make a big loss on the likes of Grealish or Nunes? It’s a World Cup year so presumably some of the fringe players will want to move to guarantee playing time. But they’ll still want to maintain their earnings.
Obviously the decisions on De Bruyne and Gundogan aren’t entirely within City’s control. But Pep won’t want to lose all of his senior players. We don’t want to end up with a leadership group comprising solely of Dias and Rodri.
All of which makes me think it’s unlikely that we’ll bring in many players early in the window. We might have to wait until some of the outgoings have been agreed
But which of them will be prepared to move? And what sort of interest will we receive given that we wouldn’t want to make a big loss on the likes of Grealish or Nunes? It’s a World Cup year so presumably some of the fringe players will want to move to guarantee playing time. But they’ll still want to maintain their earnings.
Obviously the decisions on De Bruyne and Gundogan aren’t entirely within City’s control. But Pep won’t want to lose all of his senior players. We don’t want to end up with a leadership group comprising solely of Dias and Rodri.
All of which makes me think it’s unlikely that we’ll bring in many players early in the window. We might have to wait until some of the outgoings have been agreed
strudelslol
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Call me mad but add Harvey Barnes in for rotation on the wings. Guy slams goals everywhere he plays and would be perfect for a rotational role in my opinion. Let Grealish go the other way.
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang
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Barnes is a good one
Another guy who is often injured? Would be perfect
Not a first choice for Newcastle, surely we need to be aiming better? Especially considering we already have a tonne of wide options that flatter to deceive. He has 5 goals in the league, 3 of those back in September and none in 2025 doesnt exactly scream slamming goals. Gordon the player who keeps Barnes out of the newcastle team is who we should be targeting and even with him its arguable whether he is much better than what we have.
We need to aim for the best in class or potential best in class if we want to get back to where we were.
strudelslol
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I did state rotational. I don't think we should take too much time away from Savinho and Doku, or even Bobb but adding someone who - as I stated - would be a rotational option that has an eye for goal, ticks the homegrown quota, takes a little bit of stress away from the wingers who in fairness aren't setting the world on fire with goals.
Seems a far better option me than the rumored Trincao.
We have plenty of young talent already at the club that could do the rotation.
simon23
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NO guarantee Rodri returns the player he was....we all hope he does but there is nothing certin with the injury he has had
Bobb - awful lot of expectation being placed on him and he has hardly ever played...I agree he looks very good and ready to make the step up but again there are no guarantees...its like he has become world class without playing which is very strange
Marmoush looks decent but will need to add consistency
If we keep Gundo and KDB that is a huge mistake....financially it will affect our ability to bring in new players and both those 2 are way way past their best....
We also need to let go one of Ake or Stones...we can maybe afford to have one injury prone player but not two.
Kova also needs to go...not at the level required...decent but not world class
Sell Grealish
Walker is obviously gone.
Rico Lewis - Im sorry I know he is a local lad but he aint good enough for either fullback or midfield.
We need at least 2 new midifleders - the central area of midfield HAS to be a priority - if not I comfortably predict another season like this one.
I always thought KDB would be a top player well into his late 30’s. Just because he’s so skilful. I assumed that when his legs went he’d modify his game, play a bit deeper and dictate games in a Modric way. I still find it difficult to believe that he can’t do that.