Man City 2020/21 - General discussion

Their recruitment has been vastly superior to ours. All that talent and Dias is their highest transfer fee at £64m.

What’s the story with him? Prior to him signing for City I had never heard of him, and now he looks like the best CB in the league.
 
As someone said above they are bound to win the CL eventually with the amount being spent. Just like PSG are also bound to win it eventually.

Fair fecks to the sheikhs for actually caring about the club unlike our cnuts.

Your "cnuts" are probably the most successful owners in PL history, or am I missing something?
 
Agree, think City would easily beat Real. Aside Benzema there's not much to trouble City. The midfield is good but would get out-pressed. Chelsea are a better match up but City will still be heavy favourites. It won't be like the FA Cup where Pep rested quite a few players.

It's just another CL final to Real, the players know the score. The pressure on City will be immense and none of them have ever dealt with that before. They could easily crumble.

Chelsea are in the same boat but they know how to play and beat City from the PL.
 
With the passage of time, this period of football will be the asterisk decade.

Without trying to sound like a dick to City fans, I honestly don't know how many PL's they've won. Is it two? Is it six? Not bothered to check either.
 
People saying their spending has been superior. But on the other hand look how much money has Pep been on defense until he got it right. It seemed like every year he buys at least 2 fullbacks and 1 centreback. It's easy to assemble that kind of team when you don't need to think about the money.
That's why imo their potential CL win won't be anything special.

That would be a valid argument if not for the fact that all but one of the defenders Pep has bought for us is still in the squad and playing regularly to this day...

He really hasn't bought that many defenders. You're seeing what you want to see. That's all.
 
Without trying to sound like a dick to City fans, I honestly don't know how many PL's they've won. Is it two? Is it six? Not bothered to check either.

But everyone knows exactly how many Liverpool have won :D
 
They took over in 2005 and have won 5 PL trophies since football began. And one CL with a couple of finals.
And taking millions out in the process. We were successful in spite of glazers not because of them. In fact thanks to their greediness we never built on sir alex's success.
 
That would be a valid argument if not for the fact that all but one of the defenders Pep has bought for us is still in the squad and playing regularly to this day...

He really hasn't bought that many defenders. You're seeing what you want to see. That's all.
? So as long as everyone plays regularly it is fine how many players you keep buying?
Having Dias and Stones as regulars and being able to play a player like Laporte whenever one of the former is out is a luxury no one else can afford. And you have this luxury in more or less every position.
With 60 games per season and 3-5 subs per game of course all those players will get enough games and this way you keep everyone fresh with hardly any drop in quality with your expensive bench.
 
Without trying to sound like a dick to City fans, I honestly don't know how many PL's they've won. Is it two? Is it six? Not bothered to check either.
That's exactly it. Other than the first one, which was an emotional roller coaster due to how close it was between us, I haven't really been all that bothered by City and latterly Pep. If anything, I was more arsed that they'd won the FA Cup the season prior as it meant we could no longer have that ticker in the Stretty stating how long it had been since they last won a trophy.
 
And taking millions out in the process. We were successful in spite of glazers not because of them. In fact thanks to their greediness we never built on sir alex's success.

Sure they leveraged you with debt but that didn't stop Utd being the Forbes richest club in the world for nearly a decade under them and all the support Alex wanted to knock us off our perch.

Listen to what Alex has / had to say about them during and after his term in office. The silence is deafening.
 
With 60 games per season and 3-5 subs per game of course all those players will get enough games and this way you keep everyone fresh with hardly any drop in quality with your expensive bench.

Nail on head. Why haven't United thought of that?
 
Sure they leveraged you with debt but that didn't stop Utd being the Forbes richest club in the world for nearly a decade under them and all the support Alex wanted to knock us off our perch.

Listen to what Alex has / had to say about them during and after his term in office. The silence is deafening.
Not really. „Alex“ couldn‘t even spend the Ronaldo money. Couldn’t even replace RvN. Couldn’t even pay the agent fee for Hazard and so on.
 
Nail on head. Why haven't United thought of that?
Well we would if our owners just let us spend more of our own money. This would at least partly make up for their failures and incompetence.
 
Nail on head. Why haven't United thought of that?

All other clubs barring Chelsea can't afford to pay those bench players 300k each through various offshore accounts (and get away with it even after being caught). I thought that much was obvious?
 
All other clubs barring Chelsea can't afford to pay those bench players 300k each through various offshore accounts (and get away with it even after being caught). I thought that much was obvious?

Oh so we're doing made up reasons. In that case why don't United just use the magic fountain to make Scholes ten years younger and ride a pegasus to 1966 to bring Bobby Moore to the present day?

Wanting something to be true doesn't make it so.
 
Sure they leveraged you with debt but that didn't stop Utd being the Forbes richest club in the world for nearly a decade under them and all the support Alex wanted to knock us off our perch.

Listen to what Alex has / had to say about them during and after his term in office. The silence is deafening.
Again you are making it sound like we knocked you lot off the perch because of them. We did it because we had the greatest manager sir alex. Let us not forget sold ronaldo and let tevez go in the same summer only to replace them with owen and oberton. It is like you guys after winning the cl letting salah and mane go and buying some duds. But even then we continued to dominate but because we had sir alex.
 
All other clubs barring Chelsea can't afford to pay those bench players 300k each through various offshore accounts (and get away with it even after being caught). I thought that much was obvious?
Oh so we're doing made up reasons. In that case why don't United just use the magic fountain to make Scholes ten years younger and ride a pegasus to 1966 to bring Bobby Moore to the present day?

Wanting something to be true doesn't make it so.

Odd for Liverpool fan to waste magic fountain on Scholes.
 
I find it funny how some city fans act as if everyone is operating in an even field. No harm in admitting that you have got rich owners who can spend millions after millions on improving the squad. Not every club has that privilege.
 
I find it funny how some city fans act as if everyone is operating in an even field. No harm in admitting that you have got rich owners who can spend millions after millions on improving the squad. Not every club has that privilege.
Who acts like that? I haven't seen the resident City fans here act like that.
 
City played Mendy, Laporte, Cancelo and Ake last weekend. 220 million
So they could rest their first choice of Dias, Walker, Zinchenko and Stones. 160 million.

How do they do it? Amazing stuff Pep

What a "coach"
 
Ederson - £35m
Zack Steffen - £5m
Ben Mendy - £52m
Oleksandr Zinchenko - £2m
Aymeric Laporte - £57m
Ruben Dias - £64m
John Stones - £50m
Nathan Ake - £41m
Kyle Walker - £50m
Joao Cancelo - £60m
Rodri - £62.6m
Fernandinho - £34m*
Riyad Mahrez - £60m
Ferran Torres - £21m
Ilkay Gundogan - £21m
Kevin de Bruyne - £55m
Raheem Sterling - £49m*
Bernardo Silva - £45m
Phil Foden - Free
Sergio Aguero - £35m*
Gabriel Jesus - £30m

Players with * not signed by Pep.

Their first team squad costs £828.6m (and this doesn't include the add ons either).
 
Pep's not going anywhere anytime soon! He has the perfect set up at City, the board created it for him and its just the way he likes it. He has unlimited resources at his disposal and owners with ambition and a long term plan. He's in it for the long run, to create a legacy at City. sigh
 
Ederson - £35m
Zack Steffen - £5m
Ben Mendy - £52m
Oleksandr Zinchenko - £2m
Aymeric Laporte - £57m
Ruben Dias - £64m
John Stones - £50m
Nathan Ake - £41m
Kyle Walker - £50m
Joao Cancelo - £60m
Rodri - £62.6m
Fernandinho - £34m*
Riyad Mahrez - £60m
Ferran Torres - £21m
Ilkay Gundogan - £21m
Kevin de Bruyne - £55m
Raheem Sterling - £49m*
Bernardo Silva - £45m
Phil Foden - Free
Sergio Aguero - £35m*
Gabriel Jesus - £30m

Players with * not signed by Pep.

Their first team squad costs £828.6m (and this doesn't include the add ons either).
I’d be interested to see the same for Utd. Might put to bed the myth be have spent comparably.
 
I’d be interested to see the same for Utd. Might put to bed the myth be have spent comparably.
We will still have a relatively high figure due to some fringe players who are always injured or hardly playing (Jones, Mata and to a lesser extent Matic, Bailly), but the total amount will probably still be lower.
 
We will still have a relatively high figure due to some fringe players who are always injured or hardly playing (Jones, Mata and to a lesser extent Matic, Bailly), but the total amount will probably still be lower.
I reckon it will be considerably lower.
 
City played Mendy, Laporte, Cancelo and Ake last weekend. 220 million
So they could rest their first choice of Dias, Walker, Zinchenko and Stones. 160 million.

How do they do it? Amazing stuff Pep

What a "coach"

Again, it's not just initial fees as they can be offset with sales. Does anyone know how much that second XI defence actually earns? That's where the real money is spent, fairly and/or unfairly.

I'm sure Utd second XI defenders and specially Kabak/Neco/Matip/Nat are together probably earning the same as one Laporte.
 
I’d be interested to see the same for Utd. Might put to bed the myth be have spent comparably.
Hasn't the math already be done plenty of times? City have spent more but Utd are 2nd behind them having spent more than Chelsea and Liverpool.

I don't think anyone is claiming that Utd have spent as much as City. In fact, the argument was mainly that for all the money they've spent the club has underperformed relative to for example Chelsea who have won 2 PL titles in 2015 and 2017. And in the last couple of years also relative to Liverpool.
 
Hasn't the math already be done plenty of times? City have spent more but Utd are 2nd behind them having spent more than Chelsea and Liverpool.

I don't think anyone is claiming that Utd have spent as much as City. In fact, the argument was mainly that for all the money they've spent the club has underperformed relative to for example Chelsea who have won 2 PL titles in 2015 and 2017. And in the last couple of years also relative to Liverpool.
Plus the whole we are making our money off the back of historic success inspired by great footballing men and City, well City aren't.

That's why they're trying to put forward this idea of Pep as a great coach on par with Sir Alex. It's just another attempt to gain some respectability.

Pep is the perfect coach for this soulless project.
 
I'm sure Utd second XI defenders and specially Kabak/Neco/Matip/Nat are together probably earning the same as one Laporte.
Yes and I'm sure that United have players on loan that they pay more than City pay Steffen etc. Not sure arbitrarily choosing the criteria strengthtens any point you are trying to make. And the wage bills are pretty much public, so there you go.
 
Pep's not going anywhere anytime soon! He has the perfect set up at City, the board created it for him and its just the way he likes it. He has unlimited resources at his disposal and owners with ambition and a long term plan. He's in it for the long run, to create a legacy at City. sigh

That’s the biggest thing out of all of this. Abu Dhabi have literally appointed guys who worked with him at Barcelona in key senior positions. Soriano and Begiristain have been there laying the foundations to basically get Guardiola in place. They couldn’t get Guardiola the first time so got Pellegrini as a 4 year stop gap(!).

Has any club in the history of football at this high end basically created an entire backroom to suit one manager? I can’t see the established elite clubs ever contemplating that as it would be viewed as risking so much and even ditching traditions. I imagine Guardiola got pushback from the Bayern upper management about spending money and was probably on his own against their top guys... so what better environment to have than your mates working with you supporting your moves, and then your bosses have a blank chequebook to do whatever the feck you want?

It is insane the mountains that have been moved for Guardiola at City, even before he stepped through the door.
 
I’d be interested to see the same for Utd. Might put to bed the myth be have spent comparably.

Sure - here's our first team squad for this season.

David De Gea - £18.9m
Dean Henderson - Free
Alex Telles - £15.4m
Luke Shaw - £30m
Harry Maguire - £80m
Eric Bailly - £30m
Axel Tuanzebe - Free
Victor Lindelof - £30m
Aaron Wan-Bissaka - £45m
Brandon Williams - Free
Nemanja Matic - £40m
Scott McTominay - Free
Fred - £47m
Bruno Fernandes - £47m
Paul Pogba - £89m
Donny van de Beek - £35m
Dan James - £15m
Mason Greenwood - Free
Edinson Cavani - Free
Anthony Martial - £36m (£50m incl. add-ons).
Marcus Rashford - Free

I've left Jones (£16.5m), Romero (Free), Grant (£1m) out as they're yet to make a first team appearance (but if you want to include them add on another £17.5m).

So that's £558.3m. Martial is a funny one as he has these add-ons some of which are realised and some that aren't, so if I add on another £15m for him that takes us to £573.3m.

Edit: Just realised I missed off lovely Juan Mata, so that's another £37m to our total - taking it to £595.3m.
 
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Sure - here's our first team squad for this season.

David De Gea - £18.9m
Dean Henderson - Free
Alex Telles - £15.4m
Luke Shaw - £30m
Harry Maguire - £80m
Eric Bailly - £30m
Axel Tuanzebe - Free
Victor Lindelof - £30m
Aaron Wan-Bissaka - £45m
Brandon Williams - Free
Nemanja Matic - £40m
Scott McTominay - Free
Fred - £47m
Bruno Fernandes - £47m
Paul Pogba - £89m
Donny van de Beek - £35m
Dan James - £15m
Mason Greenwood - Free
Edinson Cavani - Free
Anthony Martial - £36m (£50m incl. add-ons).
Marcus Rashford - Free

I've left Jones (£16.5m), Romero (Free), Grant (£1m) out as they're yet to make a first team appearance (but if you want to include them add on another £17.5m).

So that's £558.3m. Martial is a funny one as he has these add-ons some of which are realised and some that aren't, so if I add on another £15m for him that takes us to £573.3m.
Thanks that's interesting, it really is night and day compared to City. Just the £300 million extra. I can't understand this narrative that we have spent comparatively.
 
Here's Liverpool for completion:

Alisson - £66.8m
Adrian - Free
Andy Robertson - £8m
Kostas Tsimikas - £11.75m
Virgil van Dijk - £75m
Joe Gomez - £3.5m
Nat Phillips - Free
Ozan Kabak - £1m (Loan fee)
Joel Matip - Free
Rhys Williams - Free
Trent Alexander-Arnold - Free
Gini Wijnaldum - £25m
Thiago - £20m
Fabinho - £39m
Jordan Henderson - £20m
James Milner - Free
Curtis Jones - Free
Naby Keita - £52.75m
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - £35m
Mo Salah - £36.5m
Sadio Mane - £34m
Roberto Firmino - £29m
Divock Origi - £10m
Xherdan Shqiri - £12.5m
Diogo Jota - £41m

Total is £520.8m. Again there's a few add-ons that have been realised (like Mo Salah could also be £43.5m, and Jota could be £45m).
 
Thanks that's interesting, it really is night and day compared to City. Just the £300 million extra. I can't understand this narrative that we have spent comparatively.


I think it's when you add in your Lukaku's, Di Maria's etc etc, that the numbers are similar, the argument isn't on current squad value, it's what you've spent and wasted over the comparable years.
 
I think it's when you add in your Lukaku's, Di Maria's etc etc, that the numbers are similar, the argument isn't on current squad value, it's what you've spent and wasted over the comparable years.
But then you'd need to add the same for City...your Mangalas, Otamendis, Claudio Bravos etc. By all metrics, City's spending has blown everyone out of the water.
 
Thanks that's interesting, it really is night and day compared to City. Just the £300 million extra. I can't understand this narrative that we have spent comparatively.
I would guess United have had more shit buys so it might be a bit skewed due to that. It's not like you didn't buy in the same period (since Aguero also counts) Rojo, Blind, Herrera, Schneiderlin, Di Maria, Schweinsteiger, Depay, Darmian, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Dalot, but I don't even see Diallo listed in the above list. Not to mention the astronomical wages and transfer fees to the likes of Ibrahimovic or Alexis or Falcao. Obviously City have had the likes of Bony, Jovetic, Nolito etc. too. So of course United spends comparatively. That was reflected in the respective wage bills throughout the seasons.