Transfer Strategy

[Gumzy97]

McAtee, Lavia and Palmer.

I'd love an academy player to take the place just don't see it. The only one right now who broke through was foden. Not many others did. Palmer is getting minutes but he's a winger. Mcatee is a brilliant prospect but will the club put faith in him when a young midfielder pops up for a price abroad etc.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

We will need midfielders soon. Unless Foden is put into midfield. Gundogan is 31 this year, kev is 31 next year, Fernandinho entering his last year here. We need to keep Bernardo hopefully we can convince him to sign a new deal instead of going.

Fucking hell only just realised Kev is 30.

I thought he was like 27!

 

[Bewar3them00n]

Personally, I’m ok now with the “wait and see” scenario we‘re employing, we have raw & and improving talent in Delap and Torres, Sterling looks hungry and very eager to prove himself again, and our defence and midfield are already chipping in with striker-esque finishes.
Where we have suffered, is in the creative spark in the middle when KDB is missing, or marked/taken out of the game completely (Rudiger) so Grealish will hopefully add another headache for defences, and we all know he can win a free kick in dangerous positions.
I’m keen to see how Torres kicks on, and how Delap fares at this level, if Grealish can add to our creative armoury in the middle and chip in with goals too, I’m sure we’ll be there or thereabout at the end of the season.

 

[Gumzy97]

Fucking hell only just realised Kev is 30.

I thought he was like 27!

I know surprised me as well. Our first team midfield is getting old. If Bernardo leaves.

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

I know surprised me as well. Our first team midfield is getting old. If Bernardo leaves.

Ah don’t they grow up so fast these days.

 

[Hart of the Matter]

We will need midfielders soon. Unless Foden is put into midfield. Gundogan is 31 this year, kev is 31 next year, Fernandinho entering his last year here. We need to keep Bernardo hopefully we can convince him to sign a new deal instead of going.

This is why this was the window we needed a striker. Our age profile will catch up with us and the need to refresh in too many positions all at once will mean we get sucked into transition seasons instead of evolving over time.
We needed a left back and striker this time, a DM next and then successors to keV/Mr Whippy and Bernardo if he leaves. Now a long shopping list for next two seasons. Our Academy players are not the answer by the way. They will merely fund the above...

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

I'd love an academy player to take the place just don't see it. The only one right now who broke through was foden. Not many others did. Palmer is getting minutes but he's a winger. Mcatee is a brilliant prospect but will the club put faith in him when a young midfielder pops up for a price abroad etc.

Khaldoon just has to have the balls to say if there's a kid you don't want to loan out or sell because you rate him then we aren't buying in his position. Save the money for left backs we don't have.

 

[Lord Blue]

If we get any injuries which we probaby will we will be in trouble up front. And this is not last season because Chelsea have now got a world class striker as have Utd aswell Liverpool will be there aswell . I honestly don’t get were our transfer budget has gone because most of the grealish money was on player sales as was last years budget aswell surely we earn more than bloody Aston Villa who buy spend more every year . After last season when we nearly won everything we had a chance to really kick on and make a massive statement to the big teans but we have have failed to do so .

By the same token had we gone big on an out and out striker sacrificing one of the 9 to help finance it and then the striker got injured… all ifs and buts, but currently we don’t have all our eggs in one basket. I just love city and love the journey regardless of silvaware.

 

[Manciniera]

Going into the full season without a striker to replace KUN? I don’t understand. I think that shower with the CR7 tactics put me over the edge. Anyway… onward we go and give Torres a good chance.

 

[Eebo]

Personally I'm agree we shouldn't be lambasting anyone because I think it's very hard to get the right player.

That said, it's not just the CL final I'd be referring to when I say a target striker would be a game changer in big games for us. We keep losing 1-0 to top teams because they've figured out that they can stop us scoring by defending deep and packing the box. Burnley can't pull it off but the better players at United, Chelsea, Spurs, Leicester are a different proposition. I think we'll see a few results like that again this season where the option to hit Ronaldo, Kane, Haaland in the box would have seen us break the block.

A World Class goalscorer would be an asset, but it's only in computer games that you can just spend money without consequences. I'm not talking about FFP or Budgets but the real impact on other players in the squad and existing contracts and team work.

In Football Manager or FIFA you simply spend whatever money you can to sign a Megastar (like Ronaldo or Haaland) and pay whatever they ask in wages. Their attributes then add to those you already have and Hey Presto, you win the League and Champions League just like that.

In the real World, egos, relationships and existing salary agreements complicate matters. Imagine KDB when Ronaldo turns up and is paid 2.5 times more than him - is his motivation going up or down?

Other members of the squad will want huge increases when the time comes to negotiate renewals, so it costs you a lot more than just the fees you lay out for the Megastar.

If the Megastar wants to take all the free kicks and expects everyone else to be subservient in his quest for personal glory, this will impact morale and other players efforts. We have spread the goals around the team, which is hard to defend against, but if everything goes through the Megastar forward then others take less responsibility for scoring.

Megastars usually have big egos and can make life difficult for the manager.

So it is not always an additive, there can be knock on effects in the real World that have to be taken into account.

When it comes to making a real World decision for the benefit of my Club then I am happy to put my trust in the owner, the board and manager who have brought us unprecedented success, and who have all the relevant information to make these calls on.