Who’s gone in the summer?

[LongsightM13]

To be honest, I don’t really notice him when watching Brighton. Top players generally stick out when playing in mediocre sides. Take Mane at Southampton or Tevez at West Ham for example. I’ll never understand why we didn’t pursue Mane. If the recruitment staff can’t spot an obvious talent like that, playing in this league, we’ve got serious problems.

The CDM position is going to be the most difficult to fill. I don’t really see anyone out there that I feel is destined to reach the levels of Fernandinho. It’s the one position that we may need to take a chance on someone. Strengthening the front three is arguably much more important though.

Easier for forwards like Mane and Tevez to stand out tbf

 

[Centurions]

If we do buy him back he could well be.
The amount of players we bought that didn't have work permits is mind-boggling.

Just out of interest who would that be besides Luiz?

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Just out of interest who would that be besides Luiz?

Without having to look up all their names the most prominent we bought without work permits were
Gabriel Jesus. Had to stay with his club as he had no work permit at the time. Was lucky enough to get it as Brazil played a load of internationals in a short period of time.

Zac Steffen Had to go on loan until this season until he built up the required points.

Marlos Moreno Went on several loans and is still on one. If he had been able to come to City when he was bought might be a totally different situation with him

Enes Unal. Again similar to Moreno. Several loan spells in which I believe he did fairly well.

 

[FantasyIreland]

To be honest, I don’t really notice him when watching Brighton.

Strange how we all see things differently.I think he's by far their best performer,he does the simple things so well and covers the ground brilliantly,technically he's also very proficient.

I am very confident he'll soon be playing in a top 4 side.

 

[Homar]

Easier for forwards like Mane and Tevez to stand out tbf

That’s certainly true, but it’s not impossible for a midfielder to stand out. I liked Idrissa Gueye at Everton, but he was touching 30. Kante stuck out at Leicester. Again, I have no idea why we weren’t interested. Maybe if he was playing for Shakhtar Donetsk or a Portuguese side...

 

[blueparrot]

That’s certainly true, but it’s not impossible for a midfielder to stand out. I liked Idrissa Gueye at Everton, but he was touching 30. Kante stuck out at Leicester. Again, I have no idea why we weren’t interested. Maybe if he was playing for Shakhtar Donetsk or a Portuguese side...

Who do you think is standing out now to replace Fernandiho ?

 

[Blu3m00n91]

I actually can’t believe we didn’t move for Thiago. He’s unbelievable

 

[Paul1970]

And Douglas Luiz and Jack Harrison would cost 50m plus for players that we had bought in the 1st place.
Not sure what the buyback is on Luiz but I think someone mentioned it was 30m.
I'm guessing Leeds would value Harrison at more than 45m and if they were selling they'd sell to the highest bidder.
That loan we have with Leeds with obligation to buy does not look to have been the best or maybe we didn't think Harrison would turn out as good as he has.

We still have Harrison on our books but i think we are obligated to sell for about £10-15 million which is a steal for them .

 

[inconnu]

For attacking players we could raid Barcelona.
This summer all 3 of Ansu Fati, Dembele and Pedri will have only 1 year left on their contracts.

 

[NorthamptonBlue]

Who do you think is standing out now to replace Fernandiho ?

That seems likely to be Douglas Luiz.

 

[blueparrot]

That seems likely to be Douglas Luiz.

Seems to be, which means we did well identifying him when we did. Explains why Pep seemed disappointed at the time with the work permit problem too. Though a couple of years with Villa has probably worked out well for him and us.

 

[Dicko69]

Seems to be, which means we did well identifying him when we did. Explains why Pep seemed disappointed at the time with the work permit problem too. Though a couple of years with Villa has probably worked out well for him and us.

How does that work? Can't get a work permit to play for us, but can get one to play for villa?

 

[blueparrot]

How does that work? Can't get a work permit to play for us, but can get one to play for villa?

He was a high earner at Villa, and wouldn’t have been be for us. As far as I know it was as simple as that.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Out

Mahrez (thank fuck)
Mendy (thank fuck)
Zinchenko (think we’d be light at left back if we let both him and Mendy go but it’s time to let go players that aren’t good enough
Garcia
Fernandinho
Bernardo (possibly)
Rodri (don’t think this will happen, but I don’t rate him)
Sergio

In

Haaland
Messi
Zakaria/Aouar
Left back

Haaland is a must. I would like to see more balance within the squad. To many attacking midfielders that haven’t cemented a position of their own and get shoe horned in due to rotation. Bernardo is a good player, but he hasn’t matched his form from two seasons ago. Selling him and brining in a proper CM like Aouar would be beneficial.

Ederson
Steffen

Cancelo
Walker
LB
Ake (left back cover)
Laporte
Stones
Dias
THB

Zakaria/Aouar
Rodri?
Gundo
Doyle
KDB
Foden

Palmer
Sterling
Messi
Haaland
Torres
Jesus
Delap

Even looking at that list, I still don’t think it’s perfect. Defence is pretty much sorted, just need to sign a reliable LB. Midfield still has a few problems. I don’t think Rodri is up to it but I haven’t got a clue who we’d sign to put in that position. Up top, Haaland would bang in the goals, but I still think we’d be unbalanced without a proper left winger. Sterling and Jesus would be the choices for that position, but I like players that beat a man on the outside.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

He was a high earner at Villa, and wouldn’t have been be for us. As far as I know it was as simple as that.

I think it was something like that.
If you're in the top % earner with a club a certain work permit requirement is filled.
The ridiculous thing is that he would be earning more with City but would not have been one of our top earners.
The idea is to spread out the top players among the clubs.
Not sure how fair it is. Can never understand why a Bosman 2 has never been instigated for something like this.

 

[WallyA]

For attacking players we could raid Barcelona.
This summer all 3 of Ansu Fati, Dembele and Pedri will have only 1 year left on their contracts.

If that's true then I'd love to get any of them, anytime they are on the pitch they seem like Barca's 2nd best player.

Dembele is injury prone of course, but his talent is so ridiculously high that I'd risk it if he's only on 1 year.

Haaland, Dembele/Fati and Pedro Neto, that's our attack sorted for the next decade. Sell Mahrez. Midfield and Defense is good right now imo, people making it seem worse than it actually is.

Edit: In terms of our 3151 attack (343 diamond) that I've liked:

Back 3 Options: Walker, Stones, Dias, Laporte, Ake

Middle DM Options: Rodri, Gundogan, Luiz (could buy to replace Gundogan in future and replace Dinho)

Wide Winger Options: Sterling, Dembele/Fati, Neto-------------------------------Jesus, Cancelo, Ferran
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(these 3 could play either imo)
Attacking Middle 3 Options: Foden, KdB, Bernardo, Gundogan ---but also---> Jesus, Cancelo, Ferran

Striker Option: Haaland, Jesus

 

[Dicko69]

I think it was something like that.
If you're in the top % earner with a club a certain work permit requirement is filled.
The ridiculous thing is that he would be earning more with City but would not have been one of our top earners.
The idea is to spread out the top players among the clubs.
Not sure how fair it is. Can never understand why a Bosman 2 has never been instigated for something like this.

I googled it, villa appealed it and won on the grounds that for them he would be regarded as a very important player getting plenty of game time. Where as for us he was to be a back up player to fernandinho getting limited game time. So hopefully if we choose to activate the buy back clause we will be more likely to get the work permit as he will be regarded as a more important player if re-signed. Not sure what his status is for Brazil, if he has played in 30% of internationals a work permit would be a given

 

[Dicko69]

Also on this subject, we/English teams might struggle snapping up talent from Europe after brexit, as work permit issues may well be similar

 

[Zenmanc]

I actually can’t believe we didn’t move for Thiago. He’s unbelievable

He is but for every 3 games he plays he'll be out 3 more.

 

[nmc]

Also on this subject, we/English teams might struggle snapping up talent from Europe after brexit, as work permit issues may well be similar

I‘d hope we wouldn’t be chasing players earning less than 25k a year!