My point was that maybe there were better players, who actually play in the position they need to fill (seemingly on the right hand side) than him. They could have had Pedro for £20 odd million as an example. They're not desperate for a number 10 it seems yet they've potneitally been fleeced for him.
Kevin De Bruyne
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My point was that maybe there were better players, who actually play in the position they need to fill (seemingly on the right hand side) than him. They could have had Pedro for £20 odd million as an example. They're not desperate for a number 10 it seems yet they've potneitally been fleeced for him.
Again I point to the fact that for that sort of money (and specficially those kind of wages) I'd want a tried and tested player who's played at the top level - at least in the Champions League for a few seasons with a measure of success.
I'm sure there were lots of players who've played well in the Bundesliga for a couple of seasons on the spin. Reus must be worth a fortune if this lad isn't overpriced.
Bottom line, he'll be judged on what he does, and for that kind of money he'd better be special because if not the press over here will have a field day.
Are we going to use that 'they could have had Pedro' thing for all clubs now? I've now read it for United, Bayern and City. He signed for Chelsea and that's it. We don't know if any other top club could have bought him instead or if he prefered City over Chelsea, but didn't go there because City weren't interested. De Bruyne is a different player anyway, a lot younger with a higher ceiling. He offers something different, can be a longterm replacement for Silva and makes the team less dependent on Silva right now. Maybe that's what City were looking for and therefore they didn't care at all about Pedro?
Doubt it. He doesn't play for Manchester United.
Maybe it's not done just yet 
. Wolfsburg's Director of football, Klaus Allofs, just said in the press conference for the Bundesliga game tomorrow that the clubs started negotiations but no agreement has been found. De Bruyne will train with the team today and if Wolfsburg's interests aren't met, he'll stay at the club. This has deadline day written all over it.
. Wolfsburg's Director of football, Klaus Allofs, just said in the press conference for the Bundesliga game tomorrow that the clubs started negotiations but no agreement has been found. De Bruyne will train with the team today and if Wolfsburg's interests aren't met, he'll stay at the club. This has deadline day written all over it.Good on wolfsburg for rinsing the feck out of citeh, keep going boys get them through the 100m mark
No - but its a valid point in this case. They seemed to want a player to pay wide right, but have instead paid a fortune for a player who's best position, it seems, is probably through the middle. And Pedro was an example of a player simply to prove the point.
They may well have been looking for a player as a long term replacement for Silva. If that's the case then he'll spend a lot of time warming the bench which makes it even more odd. He's 24, not 20 and you suspect will therefore expect to be playing. To be honest With the money that they've spent he'll probably need to be playing to justify it.
Time will tell whether he proves to be a good investment, but I stand by the point I made - specifically that it's a massive sum of money for a player in a position they didnt seem to have a pressing need for, with questions marks over whether he's worth it. It'll put the player under big pressure - just like Di Maria was when we brought him in last year.
Its all a conspiracy....
Maybe it's not done just yet
I don't really get it. The hold-up hurts Wolfsburg way more than City. City don't really need de Bruyne, but every passing hour will make it harder for Allofs to re-invest the fee efficiently. And how much are we even talking about here, if the numbers which were reported are true City surely won't up their offer by a lot?
Not a conspiracy. Just doesn't shift as many papers.
Why would he be on the bench? Obviously he starts on the right, even when everyone is available. He did that quite a lot for Wolfsburg as well.
The fact that he adds a lot more than someone like Pedro if Silva is missing and that he's significantly younger than Pedro and can be at the club for up to 10 years is still important. How you came from that to "he'll spend a lot of time warming the bench" is what's really odd. It's not like he turns into a useless player if he starts out wide. Maybe we should wait how Pellegrini actually plans to use him. I've said before that the 4-2-2-2 usually has 2 free roaming midfielders, who don't mind going wide. With Sterling and Aguero upfront and Silva and De Bruyne behind them, it could work like a charme, at least going forward.
Either they're stalling until they found a replacement, which would make sense. I don't think they'll start looking after it's a done deal. Remember the Bale deal between Tottenham and Real? Tottenham all of a sudden signed several players and the Bale deal only went through on the last day.
Or they're stalling to see how De Bruyne acts today and in the game tomorrow, because they actually want to keep him, but want to know if he's still motivated to play for Wolfsburg if forced to stay at least one more year.
There's also the possibilty that the reported numbers are what Wolfsburg want and maybe City haven't actually agreed to it at all and are suggesting significantly less. Who knows?
It's not like Wolfsburg needs the de Bruyne money to invest in other players. Players who cost as much as de Bruyne wouldn't join Wolfsburg and those who do, they can pay for without the de Buryne money. Their best interest would be to keep de Bruyne for another year, even though it's probably not a good idea if he is dead set on joining City and won't have his head in the game if he isn't granted his wish.
If they had full coffers then they probably would've done more this window since their team looks far from finished.
I think clubs are always monitoring the market and the last development could not have come unexpected to Allofs, so they should have their targets sorted out for a while by now.
It's just that I think it hard to believe that Allofs would make statements like "we tried to convince him of staying another year and failed, so were negotiating now" or saying that it was de Bryune's explicit wish to leave when there is even a small chance that he will stay. And imo any kind of waiting is a risk to Wolfsburg, because most player they will be looking to sign will need replacements of their own (and so on), so I see this pyramid of transfers with KdB on top as a fragile building which could collapse from a single injury.
So yes, obviously we don't know anything for sure, but the wait seems a bit odd to me.
I'm not sure what was so controversial about my point - that they've paid (or will seemingly be paying) a mega amount of money for a bloke who hasn't really had a sustained stint of real top level football and who's best position seems to be where arguably one of the top players in the league already plays.
Perhaps they do have a plan, and as I said, he'll be put into that side whether it helsp the balance or not if they part with that much money for him, but it looks to me like a big risk.
Will this be a world record for a ginger?
Yes, perhaps City have considered how the player they have spent months negotiating for and who is going to break their transfer record will fit into their team. Just a guess though
you would think so... but then again surely we knew if Di Maria was going to be a winger, a midfielder or a striker when we brought him.Yes, perhaps City have considered how the player they have spent months negotiating for and who is going to break their transfer record will fit into their team. Just a guess though
.... I genuinely want to know now!
yes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_association_football_transfers
I still think he's very overrated to be honest, him and sterling wouldn't add as much as people think at City
Signing Pedro is a good point just because he can score goals.
I've said before KDB record is 1 in 5, about the same as Silva and we all know Sterlings failings as a finisher.
Unless the plan is to supply Aguero with 100 assists this season or have Kompany score from every corner.
For all I know about team chemistry, IMO it should have been either Sterling or KDB with another wide goal threat, not signing both of them, who that would be is a different question to answer.
I've said before KDB record is 1 in 5, about the same as Silva and we all know Sterlings failings as a finisher.
Unless the plan is to supply Aguero with 100 assists this season or have Kompany score from every corner.
For all I know about team chemistry, IMO it should have been either Sterling or KDB with another wide goal threat, not signing both of them, who that would be is a different question to answer.
That doesn't mean you didn't have a plan for him. I'm not saying City have a plan for de Bruyne that guarantees success, simply that they will have obviously considered how he will fit into the team. Also, Di Maria's signing was different in that I got the impression United signed him more because he became available and he was a huge name, rather than pursuing a long-term target.
City have been the top scorers in the league for 3 of the past 4 seasons, what makes you think we have any need for more goalscorers?
Yes, perhaps City have considered how the player they have spent months negotiating for and who is going to break their transfer record will fit into their team. Just a guess though
Stranger things have happened. Who's buying the players? Is it the two ex-Barca boys or the manager? I suspect had Guardiola or other managers perhaps been available this year Pellegrini would have been quietly moved on so there's an argument to suggest he's not in charge of recruitment. It wouldn't be the first time a player was brought in and a manager had to accomodate him.
We have to see how Toure lasts the season and you're signing 2 average goal scorers basically.
With a fit Aguero and an at it YaYa, you were always guarenteed a 40 goal head start lol.
i could see aguero getting 20-25 this season
silva around 5-10
Stirling around 5-10
and de bruyne 5-10
add another 5-10 from bonny off the bench
Toure I could see somewhere around 5-10 for the season as well and add another 10-15 for the rest of the midfield and for defenders coming up on corners etc and if they all scored in the middle of my guesses and they have outscored what any team other than city managed last season in the league. They conceded 38 last season and only once since 2000/2001 has somebody won the PL conceding 38 or more so thats what they need to focus on imo... controlling the game more and not conceding goals as there is plenty of firepower in the squad provided aguero stays fit (which with any luck for the rest of the PL he wont)
Pellegrini has a say in transfers, that much is clear. Signings like Demichelis and Negredo are testament to that. At any rate, the club is not going to just sign a player and say to Pellegrini 'there you go', it's going to have been discussed plenty of times.
It's a fecking joke isn't it, the tackiest thing I've ever seen them do. Either they're getting paid a feck tonne for it or they're trying to appeal to some fair weather fan base. It would be bad enough them having it in the background but then they start commenting on it! "Well at £12m you can see he'd improve their pace in wide positions but perhaps his shooting isn't as effective".
I'm sure he does, but you get the feeling its more by luck and lack of anyone else being available this summer that he's still there now, as opposed to last summer. Is he going to rock the boat if a player he's not that keen on is mooted? Would they listen anyway if someone else is lined up to take over next year?
It'd be interesting to know who's really driving it although as you say, I'm sure they've given thought to what they're going to do. Maybe they want the player and they'll accomodate him, rather than looking at their system and seeing what player fits. If its the former I'm not always sure that's a good idea - as Di Maria seemed to prove here.
Klopp and Ancelotti were two huge names available this summer, not to mention City could have tempted most managers currently in employment to replace Pellegrini, so it's utterly false to claim he's only in a job because of an absence of available managers. If you see the way Txiki and Ferran Soriano speak about Pellegrini it becomes clear they rate him very highly and are big believers in his approach to management. Now, I do believe if Guardiola was willing to join this summer he would be here right now, but evidently he wasn't and City stuck with Pellegrini as opposed to sacking him and appointing another high-profile manager. He signed a one-year extension, and that was not simply a superficial gesture.
They have two strikers capable of scoring 20+ a season and four midfielders capable of getting 10+. They will be fine.
They could have replaced him last Summer and didn't. They seem to trust him.
I think they will develop into two absolute stars of the league, personally.
Not included in the squad for the Schalke game.
Must be very close. Push it through just before the deadline on Tuesday so they haven't got time to spend the money before they play us.
I think he'll be announced before the end of the weekend. Deal is as good as done though.
Yeah, I'd expect in the next 24-48 hours. They'll want to get their own replacements in.
They both take up defenders and free up more space for Silva, that alone makes us a much better team. I'm chuffed with the De Bruyne links, but while Navas doesn't do anything for me as end product, he helps the right back a lot getting back, so I hope we can avoid being vulnerable there.
Allofs just told in an interview that they got closer this afternoon and result probably will be there this evening or tomorrow.
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