The Squad planning thread

Dribble said:
There's more than 4 who can be culled.

Out:
KDB (done)
Philips
Walker
Stones
Gundog
Nunes (reprieved)
Grealish
McAtee
Kovacic

In:
Livramento
Gibbs-white

Job done.
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Nunes isn't going anywhere.Don't think Stones will go, but Akanji might,doubt we'll buy Gibbs White,and think Livramento will be unavailable.
 
Dribble said:
It's not been lost on me that Stones is yet to see a second of this tournament so far. It seems City may want to keep him fit, ready for a potential free or nominal fee transfer.
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If he’s going to make an appearance, the next game might be his best opportunity. If he doesn’t play at all, then it’s hard to see him remaining.
 
Gabriel said:
With the singular omission of Grealish, we’ve shown that we can be ruthless, but the future of a number of players is at best opaque. I just want the best players for season 2025-26, but I’ve a suspicion that some of the January signings are going to have to bide their time.
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It depends what you mean by bide their time. If we're playing at home against a bottom of the division, relegation threatened team, or lower league opposition in the domestic cups, that is their opportunity to learn, grow & impress.

It's up to them to grasp these opportunities when they present themselves. They'll also have the opportunity of substitute appearances in games we're comfortably ahead in.

With a deeper squad, there'll be opportunities for all, but also adequate rest periods too. This is what Captain Bernie was saying the squad wanted last night. I hope this heralds then end of the small elite squad nonsense, where we rinse out our players.
 
Dribble said:
It's not been lost on me that Stones is yet to see a second of this tournament so far. It seems City may want to keep him fit, ready for a potential free or nominal fee transfer.
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I just don't see how he can stay, he is barely fit, and he is on big wages. He should be first one to leave from center backs.
 
The best thing by all respect for these club is if Viana somehow gets „ rid“ of Stones, Akanji, Gundogan and Kovacic. That opens up space in both positions where we are absolutely stacked. Doubt Viana wants to be seen as someone who bought 2 talents for 70M to loan them out half a year later. Same with Nico Gonzalez. Don’t see him getting sold or loaned out.

If the club look a PSG that’s the best way to compete. The club has nothing to lose next season and someone like Akanji is not going to change our outcome. Let alone an injured Stones that barely plays anyways.
 
Gabriel said:
Someone wiser than me will know for sure, but for all of the newer additions to remain, I think you would have to wave goodbye to all 4.
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Any 3 from this list.
Ederson
Ortega
Nuñes
Dias
Akanji
Khusanov
Reis
Gvardiol
Alt Nouri
Rodri
Reinjders
Kovacic
Gonzalez
Cherki
Gundogan
Echeverri
Cherki
Doku
Savinho
Bernardo

We have been in this situation before and wile it might be easy to suggest who you think we should move on in practice players can just say no and want to stay and fight for there place (take the money as per the contract).

Contract length is a factor so its worth flagging players with 1 year left (some here HG so ignore them):-

Gundogan
Ortega
Ederson
Stones
Silva
Mcatee

2 years left:-

Kovacic
Ake
Greaslish
Dias
Akanji
Rodri
Foden
 
robbieh said:
Sorry was replying to MrHJ
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Ha! Yeah I was thinking it's about squad balance and managing game time in my comment. Nathan is one of those that come into the not available enough and taking up a space rather than being on the foreign list. I still think it will be a mix of about 6 or 7 that have to leave.

Hugo has the advantage of not being the guy who convinced some to come so that will help. I actually can see Nathan staying and a surprise exit - plus it will tough to sell Kovacic given his long term injury - one thing for sure it will be very interesting - for now I'm just enjoying the new dynamic brought by the latest signings - we have a much younger hungrier squad now which is a great.
 
Dribble said:
It depends what you mean by bide their time. If we're playing at home against a bottom of the division, relegation threatened team, or lower league opposition in the domestic cups, that is their opportunity to learn, grow & impress.

It's up to them to grasp these opportunities when they present themselves. They'll also have the opportunity of substitute appearances in games we're comfortably ahead in.

With a deeper squad, there'll be opportunities for all, but also adequate rest periods too. This is what Captain Bernie was saying the squad wanted last night. I hope this heralds then end of the small elite squad nonsense, where we rinse out our players.
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The problem is that the opportunities do not present themselves, they are presented by Guardiola. If we continue to spurn chances, more often than not Haaland, we just won’t get to the three-goal cushion that Guardiola feels he needs before he can make ‘riskier’ substitutions; he also invariably waits until the opponent has made substitutions before using his and rarely ever uses all five. Put that together and that means restricted, meaningful game time and precious few opportunities to shine for fringe players. That, of course, doesn’t stop everyone on here piling on when a player hasn’t been the man of the match in his first start in six weeks!

As things stand, if we cannot shift certain players, I’d much rather see more recent additions loaned out so that they can come back next year when more spaces are available. That, as I say, is entirely conditional on not being able to shift others.
 
King Jay said:
The best thing by all respect for these club is if Viana somehow gets „ rid“ of Stones, Akanji, Gundogan and Kovacic. That opens up space in both positions where we are absolutely stacked. Doubt Viana wants to be seen as someone who bought 2 talents for 70M to loan them out half a year later. Same with Nico Gonzalez. Don’t see him getting sold or loaned out.

If the club look a PSG that’s the best way to compete. The club has nothing to lose next season and someone like Akanji is not going to change our outcome. Let alone an injured Stones that barely plays anyways.
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Agreed apart from Akanji. There are also others who we'd massively benefit by moving them on too.
 
Gabriel said:
The problem is that the opportunities do not present themselves, they are presented by Guardiola. If we continue to spurn chances, more often than not Haaland, we just won’t get to the three-goal cushion that Guardiola feels he needs before he can make ‘riskier’ substitutions; he also invariably waits until the opponent has made substitutions before using his and rarely ever uses all five. Put that together and that means restricted, meaningful game time and precious few opportunities to shine for fringe players. That, of course, doesn’t stop everyone on here piling on when a player hasn’t been the man of the match in his first start in six weeks!

As things stand, if we cannot shift certain players, I’d much rather see more recent additions loaned out so that they can come back next year when more spaces are available. That, as I say, is entirely conditional on not being able to shift others.
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I fully get what you're saying, but listening to reports, reading between the lines & more importantly Captain Bernie coming out & saying what he did about the players preferring a deeper squad with more options, & opportunities to rest & rotate, I hope this means Guardiola is being influenced by all the new voices surrounding him.

So far, Pep's rotated & rested during the CWC. However, I think we'll learn more about his intentions if we progress deeper into the competition. Hopefully, it's a fresh start for him too.

One thing I can say though, is the squad & coaching staff look way more happy & less stressed than they did last season. It's not just me, but everyone looking on seems to sense there's something special brewing at Manchester City. It's a long time since I've seen us look & play the way we did last night.
 
Gabriel said:
Does losing Gundogan and Kovacic reduce the ‘foreign’ list to the necessary 17?
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Dunno mate, but it'll certainly help. There's others with no future at City too, not to mention Philips, Walker, Grealish & McAtee none of whom are at the CWC. There's Stones too who hasn't played a second of the tournament, presumably because the club know he'll break the moment he crosses the chalk line.
 
Dribble said:
I fully get what you're saying, but listening to reports, reading between the lines & more importantly Captain Bernie coming out & saying what he did about the players preferring a deeper squad with more options, & opportunities to rest & rotate, I hope this means Guardiola is being influenced by all the new voices surrounding him.

So far, Pep's rotated & rested during the CWC. However, I think we'll learn more about his intentions if we progress deeper into the competition. Hopefully, it's a fresh start for him too.

One thing I can say though, is the squad & coaching staff look way more happy & less stressed than they did last season. It's not just me, but everyone looking on seems to sense there's something special brewing at Manchester City. It's a long time since I've seen us look & play the way we did last night.
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I think there has to be a ‘bigger’ squad of players on which to call, simply because we also need to be mindful of potential injuries to players that did so much last season. In that regard, I’m hoping that the new coaching staff will be far more assertive in monitoring players during games and calling for earlier substitutions. The sooner it starts and the more it happens, to everyone, the faster it will be accepted as part of the culture. It’s our best hope of arriving in the spring with a squad fit enough to compete on both main fronts.
 
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