What was our original transfer strategy?

[Big Dave Watson]

I would love to know our original transfer strategy at the end of last season as I am puzzled by what’s actually happened.

On qualification for the Champions League we heard “Champions League changes everything, Mancini wants to wrap up his targets early to give them a full pre-season……etc”.

Then we had the Mancini v Cook/Marwood, summoned to Abu Dhabi fiasco.

Then we had the Tevez “I want to leave” situation.

Then we missed out on Sanchez (who clearly was part of a strategy) when Barca showed their interest.

On current signing :

Clichy was possibly an early target given Tolmies comments that we were always talking to Arsenal

Savic – possibly an early target

Aguero was supposedly a replacement for Tevez but we went ahead anyway (phew) when the Tevez transfer to Corinthians fell through.

On targets :

Nasri – An opportunity presented itself but looks as though he wasn’t an original target

Sneijder – An alternative if Nasri couldn’t be prised away from Arsenal.

Personally if we get Nasri I would be more than happy with the players we have brought in, however I would love to know what our original transfer strategy was and who Mancini wanted to bring in originally. Perhaps we will never know.

 

[richards30]

am sure our strategy at the end of the season was very quick business for the players that bobby wanted.then unfortunately like you say there was shit between bobby and cookie and marwood which held things up by quite a way and this is why we find ourselves in the position we are today.considering kun wasnt even an original target then we could have been facing the possibility that only clichy and savic would have signed at this point!! it does seem to have been alittle unorganised to say the least though?? possibly cookie was concerntrating more on the etihad deal maybe?

 

[alky313]

It was always quality over quantity. That in the end was the only determining factor.

 

[Nascent Blues]

The scatter-gun approach apparently...

 

[sbm]

So much has depended this summer on (i) finding a buyer for Tevez and (ii) Barcelona's reluctance to commit themselves on Sanchez and on Fabregas.

In my view, Tevez withdrew his transfer request in December on the understanding that he could go in the summer for a suitable fee and that, since then, Aguero has been earmarked as his replacement. Hoping to sell Tevez before signing Aguero, we managed to keep our interest in Aguero quiet until the Corinthians business (and Atletico were happy to keep it quiet for their own reasons). Soon thereafter, the desire of Aguero and of Atletico to sort things out after the Copa America meant that we had to commit ourselves before selling Tevez. Contrary to the impatient noises on Bluemoon, the details were sorted pretty quickly for such a major transfer.

I reckon Mancini never subscribed to the unrealistic belief that there would be lots of potential buyers competing for Tevez. This was why he felt able to respond "Yes" when asked (repeatedly) if he thought that Tevez would still be a City player next season. However, contrary to what some Tevez fans have wanted to believe, Mancini has never pretended to be desperately keen for that to happen. The only realistic buyer does seem to be Inter. But what that would involve is still up in the air. The one thing I think we can be sure of is that the Tevez camp would really like something to be sufficiently sorted that he does not have to turn up at the Etihad on Thursday.

Not only Arsenal but also City have been held up by the way Barca have stalled over Fabregas. Tolmie's repeated suggestion that Fabregas has been high on Mancini's wish list has always sounded plausible to me. But, even if Fabregas was unlikely to come to us, the uncertainty / delay has understandably led Arsenal to stall over Nasri (and over Mata). I reckon that, if Fabregas had signed for Barca on the first day of the transfer window, a lot of other signings would have happened by now.

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

My understanding is that we drew up a list toward the end of last season and activated it once CL was assured. i think when we target players we also pencil in 2nd and 3rd choice targets for the same position as well. when we negotiate, we do it simultaneously which imo accounts for all the seemingly random news reports that we are after this player or that when in fact we may well have enquired but not followed up interest due to price, availability, etc etc.

 

[johnny crossan]

top shelf - Italian brand leaders if possible