He's been injured for months (I looked it up).
Nathan Ake (Close to signing for Man City, £40m fee)
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Forgot about him TBH. There's a bucket load of signings like this around 40-50m that just get moved on at oil money city but the Journos don't seem to care.
To be fair hes producing pretty much as many goals and assists as KDB this season so thats probably a trade off worth making at the moment
It’s the thing that gets missed with City. They might not shell out £80m for a player in one pop, but they can buy a legion of 40-50m’s safe in the knowledge that some of them will work out. No bother for the ones who don’t.
Because his side continues to win, Sir Alex was given similar leeway with some of his dodgy signings and other successful managers get similar credit. In Pep's first season when City struggled he faced criticism, and he acted like a petulant brat in return.
It's actually interesting that Guardiola earmarks the Newcastle game in December as a turning point as that's when he kind of came up with the winning formula that has been in place ever since more or less. Outside wingers, one conservative fullback that tucks inside and one more attacking etc. Ake played a left back then, something similar to what Walker is playing currently when Cancelo (or Zinchenko) attacks down the left, and he did great actually. So that was where his short-term future probably was, especially with Laporte still struggling with fitness and injuries.
Then came his injury but given how capable Zinchecnko is currently to play both the conservative and the attacking style, depending on whether it's Cancelo or Walker on the right, it was probably a bit of a blessing from City's point of view. But hindsight is everything, and anyway, Ake showed that day that at the very worst he is a great squad option to have, as obviously he can just as easily partner Dias or Stones as a LCB too. Sad news for Mendy is that after Zinchenko and Cancelo (and perhaps Laporte) that's another player who is not originally a left back and yet is ahead of him in the pecking order currently.
Then came his injury but given how capable Zinchecnko is currently to play both the conservative and the attacking style, depending on whether it's Cancelo or Walker on the right, it was probably a bit of a blessing from City's point of view. But hindsight is everything, and anyway, Ake showed that day that at the very worst he is a great squad option to have, as obviously he can just as easily partner Dias or Stones as a LCB too. Sad news for Mendy is that after Zinchenko and Cancelo (and perhaps Laporte) that's another player who is not originally a left back and yet is ahead of him in the pecking order currently.
One of many things i.e. the undisputable fact that they are cheating bastards and shouldn't be in the CL this season
And that's why you aren't well favoured around the world. Just buying £50m squad options.
Ridiculous how you and PSG operate with impunity from FFP.
Glad you took the most important part of my post.
I'm actually surprised it wasn't you or @SER19 who bumped this thread! You will need to up your game I'm afraid.
Glad you took the most important part of my post.
I'm actually surprised it wasn't you or @SER19 who bumped this thread! You will need to up your game I'm afraid.
Think it's a valid point. No other club can just throw that kind of money about on the off chance the signing works. You buy alot in the price range and have a high hit and miss ratio.
The media don't bother about it nor does anyone else. The sheer amount you have thrown at your defence is a prime example.
How is the quantity and money spent badly by pep in his short stint with city comparable to Sir Alex's ?
These are pep's signing since joining city in defense (inc gk) only in only 4,5 years :
| Rúben Dias | €68.00m |
| Nathan Aké | €45.30m |
| João Cancelo | €55.00m |
| Angeliño | €12.00m |
| Pedro Porro | €12.00m |
| Danilo | €30.00m |
| Kyle Walker | €52.70m |
| Benjamin Mendy | €57.50m |
| Aymeric Laporte | €65.00m |
| John Stones | €55.60m |
| Ederson | €40.00m |
| Claudio Bravo | €18.00m |
TOTAL : €511.10m
You can’t just include regens.
You've missed out the keepers
Yeah, did not want to include them since the discussion is about the defender, but yeah, they are part of the defense. i updated.
I'd say it's more the sneaky 2 week holiday in December as well as the rules being changed in your favour against villa. Then changed back again after in case anybody else decides to exploit it.....
Its gone under the radar because:
a) none of them are record breaking transfers (not sure why that makes a difference to the media)
b) There was an excuse they had an aging squad and it needed replacing (and ive said this before, they arent the first team whove needed that, but CIty/Pep hand in hand have the advantage of replacing so many in so little time including replacements for a replacement)
Eg getting Bravo, and then a year later being allowed to pay much much more for Ederson and shipping of Bravo is hardly brought up because it worked out and they won the league. But how many other clubs / mangers would be told (work with what you have / what you bought)
c) its pep and city. Take that however you want it to mean.
I do think City fans and Pep fans get really defensive with regards to his spending. As a fan of United, I do wish we had a top top coach like Pep in charge along with being allowed to spend high amounts to get things right for a system.
a) none of them are record breaking transfers (not sure why that makes a difference to the media)
b) There was an excuse they had an aging squad and it needed replacing (and ive said this before, they arent the first team whove needed that, but CIty/Pep hand in hand have the advantage of replacing so many in so little time including replacements for a replacement)
Eg getting Bravo, and then a year later being allowed to pay much much more for Ederson and shipping of Bravo is hardly brought up because it worked out and they won the league. But how many other clubs / mangers would be told (work with what you have / what you bought)
c) its pep and city. Take that however you want it to mean.
I do think City fans and Pep fans get really defensive with regards to his spending. As a fan of United, I do wish we had a top top coach like Pep in charge along with being allowed to spend high amounts to get things right for a system.
You mean 1 week. And which rules were changed?
But yeah, you could say that, even though it would be obviously bullshit.
It's production-lining the transfer process, another one of those soulless manufactured elements of City as a whole. Whereas all other clubs are effectively taking a gamble when purchasing a player based on judgement and transfer acumen, City can simply have a revolving door of high cost talent with no real ****s given to the wastage.
He's been injured for most of the season. Of the 10 Premier League games he's been eligible to play in, he's started 5 of them. A perfectly decent amount for a new signing in a position that Pep likes to rotate quite frequently. And considering that Leroy Sane, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, and John Stones have all been prematurely written off by this forum at various points, you think some of you would learn to hold your tongues.
We both know it's not bullshit.
Sane, Mangala and Otamendi are the only players bought for over £40 million who are no longer at the club. Otamendi was old and Sane was sold against the clubs wishes. Only really Mangala who fits your bill. Mendy will more than likely be off soon, however I don't think your statement is accurate. For all the talk of City having unlimited cash, their expensive signings are all pretty good.
Ah my bad, I thought he was referring to the COVID protocol and that the game was called off as it was exactly the Villa game. Yeah that was bad, although the rule does leave something for interpretation, but bad nonetheless.
Looking to buy a LB now. Someone said city won't spend that much, well they say that every summer and end up spending more than 100m.
Yeah it was more a dig at the press making mountains out of mole hills when it comes to United.
Every game we get a close up of Donny on the bench with the typical ‘Cant get a start’ conversation from the pundits.
Also whenever Freds form is patchy his price tag gets mentioned when in this day and age it’s a basic fee.
Ake is a good backup player in fairness, perhaps he thought he would get more game time but Stones resurgence has put a stop to that.
I didn't say it was? I said successful managers get leeway for bad signings, including Sir Alex.
Quite a few players on that list have been important components in Championship winning seasons too.
Haha great comedy comments - I love the nonsense, keep it up.
It’s got absolutely nothing to do with Stones being resurgent or otherwise.
Ake’s a left sided defender who’s been out injured for most of the season and Stones is a right sided centre back.
Of the 10 games that Ake’s been fit to play in he’s played in 5, which is very good going for a player in his first season at City.
I'm very glad that is the model they run and that United have important academy graduates in every successful campaign as opposed to hoardes of expensive purchases.
You do realise the bolded part can also make someone a bad buy. You just drop it in like you're talking about a bad game but he's missed almost his entire first season, that's mad.
Has he always been injury prone or just unlucky this season?
Your starting lineup against Leicester cost £430million and you had another £140million on the bench on top of that. Your squad is hardly inexpensive itself.
No one will ever dispute this fact though? We've spent a lot, mostly terribly. But we still aren't in the position to spunk season after season huge money in the same positions without any sort of consequence.
Back to Nathan Ake..
Its way too soon to judge him so far yet. He got injured in the beginning of November with the Dutch National team and hasnt played since.
Its way too soon to judge him so far yet. He got injured in the beginning of November with the Dutch National team and hasnt played since.
He always looked like nothing more than a backup signing anyway, which is mad, and why the discussion has gone the way it has.
Nah, he played after that. See my post #726 which was one of the last on-topic ones... He did his hammy sometime in between December and January. Although it's quite weird that an injury like that kept him away for more than 2 monts. He is supposed to be in full training now for a week or two.
True, I’ve always rated Ake but 40 million for a player that was always going to be considered a backup was too much. That being said, every other signing (except Mendy) that we’ve made in that price threshold has been a consistent starter at some point throughout their time at City and are still considered valuable assets at the club. Maybe we’ll start seeing Ake’s worth when he’s back to full fitness, who knows.
The difference is we don't have the owners to go and spunk another half a billion on replacements to correct our mistakes.
It's clever smoke screening to be fair. If they had bought Maguire, Pogba there would have been much more scrutiny on them. A state funded club breaking transfer records would have created a shit storm.
Instead of buying 1 player for £80 Mill they buy 2. They also moved a huge chunk of their wage bill into a holding company. They can then proclaim the narrative that they aren't really spending much as they don't break transfer records & don't have the highest wage bill.