Insane transfer fee. Class player though, imagine we will see some of the money too.
Kevin De Bruyne
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Wolfsburg executive Klaus Allofs has confirmed it is almost a done deal.
crikey, I can only but imagine what could of been for your Chelsea team had you kept this lad.
A little surprised really. With the interest shown in him, I would have thought he would have held out for a move to get one of the big clubs on his CV, rather than the second tier 'money club' level he has so far attained. Perhaps he was waiting for one to show an interest but it never materialised.
The big clubs like United who aren't even the most likely team to win a trophy with Manchester in their name; or do you strictly mean Bayern, Barca, and Real?
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I don't believe I mentioned chances of winning trophies.
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Can't see it, not seen a single source mention that Chelsea are entitled to a percentage of any deal and Wolfsburg did pay a fair bit to take him off your hands, enough to suggest no other clauses were required.
So what you're saying is you're surprised de Bruyne has opted to join a team that has a chance of winning trophies?
I don't believe I mentioned chances of winning trophies.
What separates a big club from a second tier club if not the chance to win more trophies? Unless you think De Bruyne has a deep invested interest in what United have won over the last decade. I class City as a pretty big club nowadays, but maybe that's just me.
Well you're not making much sense. Are you claiming to be surprised that de Bruyne did not wait to try and join a historically bigger team than City, regardless of their current situation? That seems to be what you're implying.
I'd be surprised if we didn't include some sort of a deal given that his potential was always known and that he wasn't likely to spent his entire career at Wolfsburg.
I fail to see any ambiguity in my post whatsoever. I'm not implying it - I'm stating it outright. How does that not make sense! Whether you agree or not is another matter, and that's fine.
Fair enough, it appears I gave your post too much credit in assuming I had misunderstood it.
Where did he mention United? Why the inferiority complex?
Players don't give an eff about history. They care about money and potential for trophies.
De Bruyne's probably the best attacking player signed by a big club this summer so I'm not sure what you mean. More proven players at a cheaper price, sure, but they've gone for quality and long-term potential above all else. Not sure why you're so intent on pigeon-holing him as a #10 either. He's played well out wide for every club he's been at (incl. Chelsea) and frequently played there for the national team (over a period where he's been far better than Hazard).
He can play across any of the three attacking midfield positions just like Sterling and Silva and that flexibility and interchangeability is a key strength that De Bruyne will add to further. The key thing is that all three attacking midfielders offer something different to the attack - where they play is entirely secondary. It's not like we're talking about Riquelme and Valencia here - both Silva and De Bruyne are multifunctional players that drift right across the attacking third as part of their natural game, so their nominal position means very little in reality. Football is far more fluid than you're suggesting here.
By bringing in de Bruyne they've significantly upgraded their right-sided attacker and acquired a player capable of replacing Silva when needed. When Silva's unavailable they now have a player with the quality and skillset to cope without him far better than they have done in the past. In their best team with everyone else fit he will still be a very influential player who offers much more of a creative and goal threat than Navas. That can't be denied, surely?
Could someone explain the situation how he ended up leaving Chelsea/them letting him go? Just surprised how 3 years later he's worth £60m! Is it similar to our "Pogba situation" or a different case altogether?
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He wanted to play all the time, but at that point hadn't shown anything like the performances to justify that. The few times he got match time, he was pretty disappointing. It sucked because we were incredibly excited about his potential, but he just didn't show much for us and there were plenty of social media pictures of him out clubbing and the like. Felt like he thought he'd made it before putting the work in. Going to Wolfsburg probably provided him with the spark to prove the doubters wrong.
Mou didn't rate him, didn't think he was good enough to start for them. De Bruyne was already 23 and wanted to play for a team where he would be a starter so they sold him in the winter. Last year he was the best player in the Bundesliga with more than 20 assists to his name and all of a sudden the talent had become a superb player and the exploding price in the market, thanks to the absurd PL-TV-Money deal and very tame FFP rules makes it possible that a player like him is all of a sudden worth more than Zidane was.
Fecking hell, they're getting fleeced. Good player, but potentially one of the most expensive of all time?
Ridiculous.
I have never, ever, been impressed with De Bruyne while he was here. And he got plenty of chances to play. If the German league is this weak then I'm a bit worried about Firmino's rep now. 
So whats happening with FFP now then? is it finished because City and PSG are giving no fecks.
On De Bruyne its a load of money for somebody who's had one outstanding season, I think he's a good player and it scary looking at City's attacking options but £60m? I'm not sure he will look like a £60m player to be honest.
On De Bruyne its a load of money for somebody who's had one outstanding season, I think he's a good player and it scary looking at City's attacking options but £60m? I'm not sure he will look like a £60m player to be honest.
I have never, ever, been impressed with De Bruyne while he was here. And he got plenty of chances to play. If the German league is this weak then I'm a bit worried about Firmino's rep now.
It's quite simple. Chelsea was the wrong setup for him. He was asked to defend all the time and that's certainly not his strong point. With Wolfsburg he was the focal point of their attack and had total freedom and almost no defensive responsibilities. If you give him that role he will absolutely and be your most productive player and even show it in the very big matches, I would even say that's where he most of the time was at his absolute best.
Will be interesting to see how well he does for City where the main man in making their attacks work is without a doubt Silva and where he has to play the second fiddle at least for the time being. I still maintain the view that he is a special player and City will have a lot of fun with him. He is certainly an upgrade over the likes of Nasri and Navas but yeah the price is kinda ridiculous.
Seems like it but if you look at their revenue, they both have overtaken the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal and are only behind Real, us, Barca and Bayern. So basically they have the revenue to spend a lot of money as long as they don't do it every seasons.
About sums it up. They threw thier dummies out of the pram and UEFA relaxed the rules.
My post is near impossible to misunderstand - it sounds more like you have issues about your club not being regarded as being among the elite few in European football.
I'm not arguing that all players including Kevin De Bruyne will chase the money and trophies during their career and why shouldn't they. I'm pointing out that the kudos that playing for certain clubs brings plays a part also. To use an analogy, lets take Formula 1 motor racing - many drivers would agree that the best chance of winning silverware over the last few years has been with teams with far less racing pedigree and kudos than Ferrari, yet almost all the top drivers would agree that the opportunity to drive for Ferrari and have that on their CV is one not to be missed should the opportunity arise, even if there is a slightly lesser chance of silverware that particular season.
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Status of the club is just as important, then comes factors like role in the team, city they'd get to live in, family matters etc. If he had an offer for the same money from Bayern, Real Madrid or Barcelona you can be certain he'd not be picking
It's not important though. To City owners £60m or £100m or £150m makes very little difference because their resources are virtually infinite. The could go and spend £1bn on a new squad and recoup only a tight bit of that through success and it'd still not make them poor. Their worth could be close to £100bn.
I have never, ever, been impressed with De Bruyne while he was here. And he got plenty of chances to play. If the German league is this weak then I'm a bit worried about Firmino's rep now.
Yeah! Let's use the performance of one single player in completely different setups to judge whole leagues.
Are you sure you're not confusing him with a different player?I have never, ever, been impressed with De Bruyne while he was here. And he got plenty of chances to play. If the German league is this weak then I'm a bit worried about Firmino's rep now.
He played in 3 Premier League games, twice subbed off after 60 minutes and once subbed in for the last 5 minutes. That's it. Plenty of chances to play? Enough to make a final judgement on the player and compare his performances in different leagues and draw conclusions about the strengths of the leagues? Fair enough, mate. You'd be the most effective football scout ever. Or did the 26minutes he played in total in the CL for Chelsea make the difference?
That's utter bullshit.
Must be, even if you pay £60M flat fee, I can't see there being £30M in bonuses.
Allofs is trying to squeeze every penny though.
The current exchange rate means it might be one of the most expensive ever if you look in terms of Euros right?
That frontline from City though...fecking hell.
Quite funny the way so many of us are so pissed off at letting Pogba slip through our fingers, while Chelsea are generally held up as being very astute in the transfer market despite paying a shed-load to get Matic back and now watching De Bruyne become one of the most expensive footballers in the world. Oh and watch Lukaku score a shit-load for Everton this season, while Falcao flounders around on his arse.
Yeah a world record fee for him is just so obviously untrue it's not even worth denying. Have Bild actually reported that by the way or was it just that account trolling? Kristoff Terreur has seemed to be the most informed journalist throughout the whole saga and he said the total fee including all bonuses is £57m so I'll choose to believe him unless a more reliable source says otherwise.
At this point, I think he simply stalls until he can announce a strong successor at the same time as De Bruyne´s departure to make the blow to the team seem lighter. Wolfsburg is not in the situation where they need to fight for every Euro. The fact that he still has not made the transfer official is really worrying for Wolfsburg more than anything else.
Wasn't he MotM against Hull or something before Mourinho decided to drop him? You're picturing the whole situation wrong IMO. Both Mourinho and De Bruyne himself were at fault for his failure at Chelsea. I very much doubt he thought he'd made it before butting the work in either because he's a very level-headed kid. Him being unhappy was probably because he put in a lot of work in training and still wasn't selected. Everyone who's ever worked with De Bruyne says he's a proper workaholic both on and off the field in training sessions, apart from Mourinho.
Not sure if BILD reported it, that Account hasn't made up any stories all summer, so it's reliable.
I thought the reliable sources said it was £54M and rising to £58M. Though Wolfsburg may be trying to get it up to £60M in total.
I, for one, just hope it exceeds ADM's fee so we don't have to listen to ADM being the most expensive player in British history
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