The issue is we've tried but failed repeatedly. For all our quality, we still have mentality issues as evidenced by our failings in the CL. I believe City have been the best in Europe for a while and, at our best, no team can beat us. But we don't play to our potential in that competition and the presence of a superstar at the club could finally give us that confidence to go on and win it.
Who do you define as "superstars"?
Which "superstars" have we tried and failed to sign? Which ones have we officially made a bid for?
Which teams are signing "superstars" and how did they do in the CL?
PSG had Neymar who is supposedly a superstar and managed to come 2nd in a one horse race in their league. How did they do in the CL? Barca had Messi, how did they do? Ronaldo was at Juve, how did they do?
It's the same txiki who brought mangala, jovetic, Fernando, bony, Javi Garcia ect ect ?? Not to mention the players we've missed out on.Is this the same Txiki who brought us in Eddie,Walker,Stones,Ruben,KDB, Sterling,Mahrez, Gundo etc etc ??
Unless it’s a release clause we simply don’t seem to have a good team who close deals.
It's circumstantial to us. PSG haven't had a balanced side at any point. Juventus haven't had a balanced side and the same at Barca. We've, imo, been the best team in Europe for atleast 3 of the seasons Pep has been here but lost matches that we had no business losing. Having the presence of a Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Ramos or even Haaland potentially gives confidence to the players around them to perform to their best abilities. I recall Gundogan mentioning how nervous he was before the Dortmund game and these things count against us despite our obvious quality
You mention PSG, Juventus and Barca not having balanced sides. Maybe that is because Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar are part of the reason they were unbalanced. Worth considering. You want a superstar who will improve our balance rather than upset the balance you claim makes us the best in Europe, you need to go beyond the list you mentioned, good luck with that. Nothing unusual about some players being nervous, like actors or singers can be, it's dealing with their own thoughts, not a need for a supersta.It's circumstantial to us. PSG haven't had a balanced side at any point. Juventus haven't had a balanced side and the same at Barca. We've, imo, been the best team in Europe for atleast 3 of the seasons Pep has been here but lost matches that we had no business losing. Having the presence of a Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Ramos or even Haaland potentially gives confidence to the players around them to perform to their best abilities. I recall Gundogan mentioning how nervous he was before the Dortmund game and these things count against us despite our obvious quality.
This is the biggest load of shit ever. Someone came out with this & now people keep repeating it as though it's a fact.
Where did all the players in the team come from? Did we trigger a release clause for all of them? Did we fuck!
In your post you say we have been the best team in Europe for the last 3 seasons but we have no "superstars", surely by your own statement you have disproved your own theory on the superstar model then?
To be fair mate, even though I hate to say it, you make some very good points.To be fair what you’ve mentioned is more to do with the genius of Pep & his back room staff than Txiki.
He of course was instrumental in getting Pep here but as for signing players his approach isn’t ruthless enough to cut it with the big boys.
All those so called ‘dodged bullets’ with Sanchez, Fred or Jorginho is crap as we all know full well if those players were coached by Pep they would reach higher levels but we’ll never really know their potential since Txiki & board didn’t close the deals. He may not personally be closing these deals but ultimately it falls under his responsibility & directorship.
Not suggesting Txiki should go but he should surely look at the success rate of completing signings to targets & assume something must change in either their approach or possibly a change of staff that deal with the negotiations.
Unless it’s a release clause we simply don’t seem to have a good team who close deals.
If Pep requests a striker then it’s your job to go & get a striker, just like its Pep’s job to win games & trophies.
Whilst I wasn’t a fan of the Ronaldo option it was amateur hr to think if you don’t close the deal by the Thursday with all a player who has close United connections the risk analysis by the next day will have a very different landscape to what was presented to you the previous day. As soon as that window was available you just knew we would get guzumped. Of course, if we really weren’t in for him then we should have stated this much earlier on which would have helped us PR wise.
The Kane saga I think all fans saw as predictable as when has Levy ever made negotiation straight forward. Should have walked away weeks ago & bizarre the board put all their eggs in one basket - who does that in business.
Don’t get me started on the handling of the Mendy situation - why oh why would you continue to play him & include him in media promos & content when the club were aware of these incidents beforehand. Txiki & the board should have drawn a line with Mendy knowing full well this would get out. Surely, at the very least you would keep him as a low profile before this built up in the CPS charging him. Absolute PR nightmare.
Txiki needs to have a shakeup on how things are run off the field because you can’t keep on relying on Pep & the back room staff to create magic on the field as other competitors who strengthen will eventually catch up with us.