If he's incredibly talented we should consider him. We don't want the next lot of Silva/Aguero/Hazard to pass us by. But I haven't seen enough and Sancho would be my first choice from the players I've seen.
Joao Felix | Signed for Atlético Madrid
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Agree with this all actually. But would anyone be shocked if city bought someone that took minute's off Foden next season?
That seems to be mostly because they aren't real wingers though? Is that how we'll be looking to continue? I dunno. If it could work I'm all for it. It might need a quality attacking wingback to provide the width we've lacked on that side.
I mean, I'd be very happy to see us have proper width on the right. But I'd also be happy with having a top quality #10 in the central areas. We've seen it work very well at other clubs. We havent done it very well here. But I think thats because Mata has struggled to look like the player we bought and Lingard has been able to come in because of that weaker competition for the spot. The problem is we havent really looked to address that in all this time. We've sold a bunch of talented wingmen instead of bringing them in to play a real right wing spot. Nani, Depay I guess was mainly on the left, but Januzaj... Maybe we can say we were waiting for him to improve and make the position his own, but it didnt happen. We sold him and we didn't look for another proper right winger. So it kinda feels like we got stuck in this mindset of "We play with width on the left and on the right we play narrow with an extra attacking midfielder" and I'm not sure thats changing even if it should.
I'm always a bit reserved to make comparisons with what works at City, because Guardiola's teams are always doing something a bit different to the other teams and when other managers come in they struggle to continue it. So most of the time I feel like if we did actually copy City we'd look like what we really are doing, which is a knockoff version of the real thing. So it wont be as good.
But having said that, I think going forward it makes perfect sense for number 10s like De Bruyne and Silva to be at their best when they have more options to pass forward to. If we deployed De Bruyne or Silva on our right and they only have 1 striker in the middle and a left winger that might be in front of them I don't think it'd be as easy for them.
The problem is that its a bit gung ho to have such attack minded players coming from central midfield. But thats where Fernandinho is a bit of a special player. He does a better job disrupting play, covering his midfielders and defending the backline than most DM duos. So City dont pay for being so attack minded as often as they probably should in theory, because of the quality of players like Fernandinho playing those roles.
So can we get away with being more gung ho ourselves and playing another player more in the 10 role, in CM along with Pogba, like City do with Silva, De Bruyne and Fernandinho, allowing them to have proper width on the right and more targets for those 10s to find in dangerous areas?
We can do that. Will it be as good as City's original version? Probably not. But will it be better than our current tactic of no width on the right? Maybe. Probably.
So yeah, if it was up to me I'd be more willing to go down the route of City's method of playing your number 10s from central midfield rather than having them as part of your forward 3. Because they end up in the same positions on the pitch and will be more effective going forward with City's tactics.
But if we're going to continue doing what we've been doing for this current era and playing a number 10 playing centrally from the right, I'd rather we sign an extreme talent or one of the world's best in the position to try and make it work for us. And Joao Felix seems to be the first one.
He seems to be the most talented young Portuguese attacking player since Ronaldo. So I can see why we'd be getting interested so early in his career.
Yes and no. No because well, it's City.
Yes because it would be the second year they fail to address the LB And DM positions and Guardiola had just stated this to be a priority now. If Felix didn't have this supposed 100m tag then maybe I guess.
We all want a proper RW but if the club really think he's the next Kaka, you sign him, tuck Shaw in a bit, have Dalot or the new RB push up and there's your squad:
--Martial/Rashford------Rashford/Lukaku
-----------------------------------Felix/Lingard-------
-----------Pogba/Pereira-----------------------------
-------------------------------Herrera/Fred------------
--------------------Matic/Mctominay------Dalot/RB
----Shaw/Young---------------------------------------
------------CB/Smalling----Lindelof/Bailly----
(Lindelof is also the actual backup LCB)
And ideally we buy a promising RW option to give us a wide option there and if we don't this year, probably are looking at signing a defensive minded midfielder in the summer of 2020. If we do that, it could make sense to go after an orthodox rw on loan like a Douglas Costa, Robben, Vazquez from Madrid, Malcolm at Barca or some other name I'm forgetting struggling to get minutes at a top club.
--Martial/Rashford------Rashford/Lukaku
-----------------------------------Felix/Lingard-------
-----------Pogba/Pereira-----------------------------
-------------------------------Herrera/Fred------------
--------------------Matic/Mctominay------Dalot/RB
----Shaw/Young---------------------------------------
------------CB/Smalling----Lindelof/Bailly----
(Lindelof is also the actual backup LCB)
And ideally we buy a promising RW option to give us a wide option there and if we don't this year, probably are looking at signing a defensive minded midfielder in the summer of 2020. If we do that, it could make sense to go after an orthodox rw on loan like a Douglas Costa, Robben, Vazquez from Madrid, Malcolm at Barca or some other name I'm forgetting struggling to get minutes at a top club.
Would rather give the minutes to Greenwood tbh. He looks just as talented as this guy. For 100m it would be silly unless we sell off Lukaku/Mata/Sanchez
Surely the latter two could bring in a few quid
If we intend on playing a 4-3-3 id prefer a pacier player out wide on the right. Felix, from the little I’ve seen, could work at the tip of a diamond though. I guess if we get a attacking right back who can keep the width, it’s a whole other story.
City have got so much money, they can afford to buy players just to make sure their rivals don’t buy them.
It looks like Ole quite likes his diamond though. Having Rashford + partner drift wide and allow the clever attacking midfielders to enter the box.
He looks good from YouTube scouting, but would prefer Sancho purely for the fact that he plays in right wing, and our last functional player in that position has been Valencia in 2012. If we sign Felix, we would probably try to convert him anyway (what we did with Kagawa and Mata) which probably won't end well. And if we sign both, then we need to play Pogba as a central midfielder, which isn't his best position.
Makes a lot of sense too.
Would rather him than Sancho. Assuming we are going to play a diamond. Looks the more intelligent and talented player to me.
I'd tend to agree not because Sancho isn't a talent but this kid looks a bit special
Think a players may not go with that these days.
The Italians did that in the 80s and 90s but now? Not sure it'll work. Too much money, too many clubs
If we’re serious about getting back in the big leagues, we should go all out for him, Sancho and De Ligt in the summer. Sure it’s £300m but that’s what it’s gonna take
I'd rather see the club give Greenwood a chance, we have other areas that need investment.
I wouldn't mind maybe throwing Mbappe in there too.
If we shift guys like Mata and Sanchez out, Mason will even if we spend on this guy.
Hatrick in the Europa League 1/4 final...
Want
He's an assassin. Makes it look easy.
He has spilt so much sauce on that field tonight, Uefa are gonna have to make him wear a bib in the second leg. What an unbelievable achievement by this kid, he's going right to the top.
I'm all in
I'm all in
I would like to see us sign this lad, and we definitely have the capability of overpaying for him..
Looks special all right
We would be a stepping stone for him before he moves to Barca or Real after one or two contract renewals.
Did not see the whole game, but his two shots should have been saved by the keeper. Not saying he is bad or anything.
What was his play in general like?
What was his play in general like?
Why bump?
Price has just escalated
In good company there
So what? Liverpool were a stepping stone for Suarez and Coutinho and they've done alright
They have?
I’d wager if those 2 were still around the PL title would have been Rom sooner
People need to get over being bothered by this. If he came and spent 5-6 successful years with us where we won things, I’d not complain. Not many players aren’t going to see us as a steppingstone, it’s just how it is.
Stepping stone? Only for Madrid and Barcelona imo. And they can only buy so much
Wow.
2 contract renewals is a lot of years. Besides Real and Barca are most sought after teams on the planet. No point in feeling bad about it.
Scored a hattrick in the quarters of the Europa league away to Eintracht Frankfurt..
No one goes to Barca (apart from Neymar), Real (may be Juve and Bayern) and buys their top player. I want us to be the same. That's all.
That's never going to happen. We're in Manchester. You're lucky to get a good summer here.
This pathetic negativity sums up the mentality of our fans at the moment.
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