Absolutely. If you're an ambitious club, that's what you do. Should have gone into the season with more depth, but I guess they'll spend crazy this summer.
Nathan Ake (Close to signing for Man City, £40m fee)
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Absolutely. If you're an ambitious club, that's what you do. Should have gone into the season with more depth, but I guess they'll spend crazy this summer.
I don’t think they’ll stop there for CBs. There’ll be another.
Not one for me, but Pep you'd think knows players better than me.
Except that they've lashed an absolute insane amount on centre backs and been really weak there still.
Except that they've lashed an absolute insane amount on centre backs and been really weak there still.
Agreed. Ake will be Laporte s backup as a LCB. They ll sign at least one for RCB.
Good signing for that price. He’s slightly underrated because he plays for Bournemouth and they’ve had some poor players (Cook, Francis etc.) around him. He’s no Van Dijk for sure, but he’s a good ball-playing CB, and he can actually defend, unlike many CBs of similar technical prowess.
At 5'11" They're taking a gamble that there'll be very little threat coming in from crosses. As good a header as he is, he won't be beating forwards who are good in that area. Good back up for LB though. Mendy is just an awful defender
Wouldn't have minded him here, but i would rather go for Upamecano/Konate. It is anyone's guess if he is good enough for a top team. I don't know, i don't watch that many Bournemouth games, but 35m isn't a bargain. City need it though, except for Laporte, the rest of their CBs are garbage. They will probably sign another one.
A decent player. Certainly better than any CD we have who is not Maguire.
Same for City to be honest. Better than anyone except Laporte.
There aren't that many high quality CBs nowadays to be honest. Mostly potential, but pretty expensive. I hope we can snatch one up this summer as well.
City have spent an unreal amount of money on their defence since Guardiola took over.
It's mental.
It's mental.
City journos saying they have £300m to spend in summer, so if that is the case than they will be making a big statement.
No one bargain until they play. 35m is a good price for a centre back with lot of PL experience. Dunk is 50m while last summer West Ham set 60m for one season PL experience like Issa Diop. Ake could cost 50m-60m last summer, clubs linked with him for the similar price last season. Now Bournemouth could get relegated, the club is much more open.
He is a left back last time I checked.
Isn't the guardian a bit unreliable?
This will be an absolute p*ss poor signing, will add nothing to their squad other than another squad member. They will still need for fork out plenty of money to sign a top class CB to revive their challenge next season. Could be another Jack Rodwell.
Would've taken him here, but always felt Pep would go for him. We definitely need a revamp in our CB area. Maguire was a good signing albeit overpriced, but Lindelof is squad player level at best, Bailly the same (but always injured so not much use), Jones always injured, Rojo useless, Smalling likely off, Tuanzebe always injured so useless. Lindelof starts because he can stay fit pretty much.
If that was United every target would suddenly double in price.
Ake makes a ton of sense for City. Good cover for injury prone Laporte + counts as homegrown.
Ake would have been good for us. No clue who wel go for to be honest, likely no one at center back.
People claiming Ake at 35 million isn't a decent signing yet we've got Maguire dropping feck ups weekly and we paid 80 million for him.
Ake is worth more than 35 million, plays in a rubbish team but still manages to look good. United should be in for him as he's twice the player of Lindelof.
Ake is worth more than 35 million, plays in a rubbish team but still manages to look good. United should be in for him as he's twice the player of Lindelof.
Fuming Ake is a quality player. We should be all over this deal, we cannot continue to overpay for players when there are good options who are on the market given the circumstances / relegation. I actually can't think of a defender in Europe maybe aside Upamecano who I'd take over Ake who is of reasonable value. Konate gets mentioned often but he's been injured throughout most of the season and is relatively unproven.
This is exactly the kind of thing that constantly frustrates me at the state of transfers at Manchester United these days.
If this deal does go through, it will be a reminder of the focus of top teams to get deals done as soon as possible, in this case before the window has even opened, meanwhile Manchester United will still be negotiating with their first signing for the next century.
Reminds me of that one kid you had in school. Everyone understands what to do and what the teacher is talking about: then there's that one kid fumbling about mindlessly having not grasped the idea that the teacher is explaining to him for only the 20th time now.
If this deal does go through, it will be a reminder of the focus of top teams to get deals done as soon as possible, in this case before the window has even opened, meanwhile Manchester United will still be negotiating with their first signing for the next century.
Reminds me of that one kid you had in school. Everyone understands what to do and what the teacher is talking about: then there's that one kid fumbling about mindlessly having not grasped the idea that the teacher is explaining to him for only the 20th time now.
This. Can't believe anyone's saying he's a poor signing, especially at that price. Can cover left back too.
Ake has been good for Bournemouth but I don't really think he's of the level to be starting for a team with title aspirations. I wanted us to aim a bit higher than that and I imagine City will too, if they're chucking money around again this summer.
Can other clubs not sign players without United being criticised?
Why aren't teams criticised for not signing Bruno Fernandes?
We really are shite when it comes to doing transfer business. Chelsea haven’t even confirmed champions league football and are on the verge of making their 3rd signing. Apologists and excuse artists for Woodward and co. can quite frankly do one right now. Ake would be an improvement on what we have and the price of £35 million is an absolute no brainer.
It's hilarious isn't it, doesn't matter who it is people loose their shit
Ake is not what we need
No, not really.
City have had one bad season and they’ve already started their business. Chelsea are looking serious again as well and on the verge of a 3rd class signing. Our rivals are getting things done while we sit on our hands. The concept of agreeing transfer fees before the season ends doesn’t seem to be a concept that Ed quite understands. A deal for Sancho is complicated but is one for Grealish or Ake really that hard to get done? We saw the same slow process last summer when everyone was dying for a response from the club. So yes, it is fair to criticize the club based on what our rivals are doing.
We are in no position to call any signing bad after spending 80m on Maguire
Sky now reporting this also (probably using the Guardian as a source but whatevs)
I swear whenever it is a story about United everyone would be like "it's just the guardian"
Find it strange reading people say he is not good enough when, when he goes there he's automatically going to be their second best CB
How do you know we're sitting on our hands?
Should we rush into deals for players?
We don't even know if we're going to be in the champions league at the moment.
Good signing, but as I wrote previously, as a Utd fan, I wouldn't pay much more than 25 mil. Maybe 30, but not much more. His attributes fit perfectly with that squad & almost justifies the extra spend. Smart play for Pep. Funny how many more are looking to hijack this deal after a decent percentage had pooh-poohed the thought of us getting him previously.
It happens every season
Nice signing for them.
One of the most overrated players on here. He's decent on the ball but not a very good defender. Midtable quality at best.