In an ideal world, Rooney would be sold and benched with Pogba being given the number 10 job.
Paul Pogba | Undergoing Medical | Helping out the Laundry Ladies
- Thread starter KM
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I'm sure it's only United that drag things out like this! I might just be imagining it but other teams always tend to go from interested in a player to signing said player much quicker!
I suppose though with such a huge transfer sum involved it was never going to be easy.
I suppose though with such a huge transfer sum involved it was never going to be easy.
Why not? Jones isn't a bad defender but is very Injury prone.
Sell him to a team that then benches him? Christ, you must really hate him.
You're guessing as much as I am though. Just because City have a better idea over their budget doesn't make your theory any closer to the truth.
I'll just say this. When United got wind of Pep joining City and we briefed the press that we stepped away because we didn't want him anyway, you / Polite Poster / Gentleman Jim proceeded to give us a tonne of shit for it.
This is the exact same scenario.
Not once have I read that Pep is under FFP restrictions. Since he agreed to join it's been the exact opposite.
Explain the approaches for Kroos? Are you holding off transfers in case Madrid sign Pogba and he becomes available? What about FFP then?
If you sign Bonucci and Stones you will have added 100m worth of central defenders to the 100m worth that you already have and yet FFP is holding you back from signing Pogba?
You could sell Nasri to fund Nolito. Lets not pretend that transfer impacts who else you can afford to approach.
We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.
People expect constant updates, I blame the youth of today. Short attention spans.You only think this because you focus on our business. All teams drag transfers out. Just look at Sane to City.
Certainly not bad but equally not as good as some give him credit for.
Following summer? He'd have been crazy to turn down the chance to quadruple his wages in the hope that Bayern would sign him the following summer, thats not competition.
I don't think Jose paid almost £30mil for Baily to sit on the bench.
There is indeed denial in all of this. The truth is that Pogba wouldn't consider City, we know it and they know it. It is just a bit of a sour grape for them to swallow, need to lube it up and sugar it a bit.
We should just shortcut the season by playing league games on 38 successive days.
No, it's not only United. And you are not imagining it, you are just much less aware of other club's interests in players. For example, can you say for certain when Sane to City rumours started? Soon after Pep got appointed? May? Last week?
I think that unless we sign another centre back, it will be Jones and Smalling as the first choice pairing to start the season.
Jose has mentioned that Bailly cannot speak English yet, and he really wants his defenders to be able to communicate with each other effectively.
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Gerrard and Toure, in their prime, were fantastic box to box midfielders. It was only in their latter years they were given a less dynamic role.
Berbatov (City)
RVP (City)
Shaw (City, Chelsea)
Martial (City, PSG)
Pogba (City, Madrid, Chelsea, Barca)
But to name a few...
there seems to be a common theme here, but I see what you mean about real competition so you are right
I should have written "or" instead of "and"
Or they simply couldn't deliver anymore and failed to adapt/change their game accordingly.
Berbatov (City)
RVP (City)
Shaw (City, Chelsea)
Martial (City, PSG)
Pogba (City, Madrid, Chelsea, Barca)
But to name a few...
there seems to be a common theme here, but I see what you mean about real competition so you are right
For Martial it wasn't PSG but Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid and earlier Tottenham. Little competition.
Also to a certain degree I would include Depay, not a top player yet but showed serious signs of it at PSV and loads of clubs were after him. Also David De Gea signing a new contract and not joining Madrid (I class it as fending off competition.)Berbatov (City)
RVP (City)
Shaw (City, Chelsea)
Martial (City, PSG)
Pogba (City, Madrid, Chelsea, Barca)
But to name a few...
there seems to be a common theme here, but I see what you mean about real competition so you are right
Did we not beat PSG for the initial signging of di María, too? I don't remember.
They couldn't afford to match our bid if I recall correctly due to FFP restrictions.
Yep that was the only reason we got him.
yep well pointed out. The guy has to be a WUM
We didn't have any real competition for him though. Just city.
Ouch
Wasn't Juve interested at the time?
One thing I am concerned about with Pogba is his stamina and intensity after a punishing, but successful, training regime at Juve.
He's spent four years there but it sometimes amazes me how slow and pedestrian he looks in the second half of games and whether he has the dynamism to match the best ever PL midfielders like Scholes, Yaya, Gerrard and Lampard.
Patrice Evra said Juve worked way harder than United on the training ground so that may be a factor in Pogba's overall sluggishness and slow-thinking at times
That said, we can see he's gifted - sharp passing long and short, goalscoring ability and the element of surprise - so hopefully that will override the doubts I (and many others) still have about him.
He's spent four years there but it sometimes amazes me how slow and pedestrian he looks in the second half of games and whether he has the dynamism to match the best ever PL midfielders like Scholes, Yaya, Gerrard and Lampard.
Patrice Evra said Juve worked way harder than United on the training ground so that may be a factor in Pogba's overall sluggishness and slow-thinking at times
That said, we can see he's gifted - sharp passing long and short, goalscoring ability and the element of surprise - so hopefully that will override the doubts I (and many others) still have about him.
Berbatov (City)
RVP (City)
Shaw (City, Chelsea)
Martial (City, PSG)
Pogba (City, Madrid, Chelsea, Barca)
But to name a few...
there seems to be a common theme here, but I see what you mean about real competition so you are right
It's quite odd how even City fans that appear to be relatively sane seem to think that we have magically turned into West Brom in a couple of seasons. Perhaps they desire it so much it becomes a sort of reality to them? En masse they cannot countenance that we might eventually sort our shit out and not in fact be spiralling to oblivion.
One would think a supposedly easier training regime at United would help him overcome that sluggishness?
He's not going to be burnt out beyond repair at 23.
Berbatov (City)
RVP (City)
Shaw (City, Chelsea)
Martial (City, PSG)
Pogba (City, Madrid, Chelsea, Barca)
But to name a few...
there seems to be a common theme here, but I see what you mean about real competition so you are right
City were not in for Shaw, Martial or Pogba (if you get him) when you signed them. No one else was in for Martial when you signed him. No one else is in for Pogba right now. van Persie and Berbatov occurred when Ferguson was still managing you.
Cheers!
Knew that we were after him but didn't know the details. Didn't think that such a fringe player would be worth of a saga. Would hardly make the bench at United.
Sneijder and Vidal on the other hand...
How would you know who was in for who? Other then from the press and what clubs say, often you'll find people believe what they want too.
Last season, MCFC had the best squad. When RvN was interviewed he stated this repeatedly and nobody argued against that.
I am not quite sure how you have managed to conclude that MCFC's squad is bad.
MCFC had a much better set up (players, manager, system, league position, etc) than us and arguably the best in the league.
Only after we got Jose, has our squad improved. But that is expected when you buy a Galactico class manager.
While LVG was here, we were playing guys like Lingard. Attackers who were unable to score/create goals. We even brought in an 18 year old, who did a better job than most of our attackers.
While Moyes was here, we were buying players like Fellaini (for more than his release clause). After buying Mata, people were celebrating like we'd just bought the reigning Ball on dor. At the time I think we were 5th. We proceeded to drop further.
Lets face it, pre-Jose: a time to forget.
No, I agree - but he looks like one of those players, because of his gait and frame, that might be burnt out much earlier than some of the hallowed midfield names we've mentioned.
His top level football over the past three or four years (latter rounds of CL, World Cup, Euros, Serie A) has been relentless.
City with their superior everything only managed to nick 4th place off us through goal difference. And we relied heavily on our teenage strikers who were both on their debut season.
#PO6BA
It's possible that Jones may be ahead of Bailly in the pecking order BUT I trust Phil 'Red Zone' Jones to not be able to play more than a few minutes per season.
When Jose realises that Jones hardly ever plays, he'll be moved down the pecking order and his contract will be allowed to expire.
So, assuming Pogba is 'done', are we expecting any more arrivals? Is there even a need?
Well in that case I'll just say when we sign Stones that City beat United, Barcelona and Chelsea to his signature seen as all have been linked to him. We beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to Aguero seen as they were linked to him while he was at Atletico.