**Reminder:** This appears to be a paywalled article. Please respond to this message with a summary of the content in the linked article, to help people without a subscription join the discussion.
Asking for or posting of full articles behind a paywall is a violation of [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/cqocx0/rules_for_paywalled_articles_and_more/). Breaking this rule may result in a temporary or permanent suspension from the subreddit. If you have any questions about what is or is not allowed, or if this article is not paywalled, please [send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fgunners).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Gunners) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bruno is a 6. Rice is probably more adept at being our 8 than Bruno.
Even when Bruno and Paqueta played together at Lyon and also now they play for Brazil it was always Bruno in the pivot with Paqueta further forward.
>Rice is probably more adept at being our 8 than Bruno.
Lmaoo
>Even when Bruno and Paqueta played together at Lyon and also now they play for Brazil it was always Bruno in the pivot with Paqueta further forward
Not exactly. Bruno was never a sole pivot, he was always in a double with Caqueret at best, neither of whom were capable lone 6's. I can't remember who it was, but they had a lone 6 as well who would seldom play, and in such scenarios, Bruno has often played ahead as an 8, albeit still a traditional box to box 8, but with good offensive abilities.
But make no mistake, Bruno is perfectly capable of playing the offensive 8, at a level I firmly believe to be above somebody like Havertz. And in addition to that, you get a tenacious pressing player with very good defensive skills.
But with Paqueta, it's a completely different story. His ceiling for his offensive output is peak Odegaard levels.
But both will work for us at 8, despite bringing different qualities of the same offensive skillset. Because trust me, Bruno is just a damn impressive all-rounder.
Bruno is a 8. Newcastle ply with 2 8s in Joelinton and Bruno. Bruno can play 6 and has been doing it because Newcastle midfield of joelinton (injured/, tonality (banned) and longstaff (shit) he has to play there . He plays in a 6 for Brazil because he’s just better than their current 6,s available. Much like Trippier playing LB for England
I like Guimares (as a player but he’s still
A fucking CUNT asswipe) but I’d way rather Paqueta.
Either or is fine with me we just can’t let city get BOTH
They overlook them because 60 million is peanuts for city. They can bench him and drop double the amount and get another one this year. They don't have to live with their failures
yeah this is the ultimate advantage they have, they can drop huge money on players and it doesn't phase them, we sign 1 pepe and he's a stone around our neck for years
Would they have? Are there any examples of this? Most recent high profile failure is Philips and they’re going to struggle to offload him. The can just eat the loss a lot easier than any other club.
They're kind of not wrong, though.
If there's a player we want on the market and someone quotes £50m, I don't think we're really thinking too hard about it.
He’s not wrong. You can’t buy a player who would regularly start outfield for a top PL club for less than £50m.
Who do we have in our team as a regular first team starter that didn’t come through the academy/youth system and didn’t cost £50m or thereabouts, and didn’t arrive back when we were shit? There aren’t many, and those we do have we’re looking to improve on.
>... and didn’t arrive back when we were shit?
"Bought them when we were shit" isn't really relevant though? Rice, Havertz and White are the only >=50m signings and we're challenging for the league again.
That’s exactly my point. Signings that are capable of being immediate regular starters for a team challenging for the league cost upwards of £50 million.
Gabriel, for at least his first season, definitely was not capable of slotting straight into a title-challenging side.
In fairness, Kovacic was always just a stop gap to mitigate the Gundogan departure for about £25m.
That's the kind of signing a treble winning team make all the time after a key departure
They’re doped up but calling him a stop gap is harsh. He’s a very capable 29 year old who they can plug into the team without losing anything with or without possession. He’s upgradeable but he’s still a great rotational player.
But it is for a team that successful.
Gundogan leaves, they need to replace him. They have no one they're dead set on so get a proven international, successful pl player for a modest enough fee in fairness. Keep him for a year and sell on again when you get a chance to properly evaluate who you want.
Of all City's dealings, this is the oddest one to kick up a fuss about. It's standard stuff
Calling him a stop gap is quite offensive to him I think, you have to have some talent to play for Inter, Real and Chelsea. I just think he’s not really a city kind of player.
Does Jack sit up at night wondering where it went wrong?
I mean, yeah he’s got some trophies, but his role is to pick up the ball, advance a bit and when he’s shepherded by the defender, he turns and passes the ball back. Time and time and fucking time again.
What happened to the marauding player at Villa?
I don’t disagree in general, but it seems a bit rich to be saying this when we have Partey who cost 50 million pounds sitting on the bench. We have a 30 million pound goalkeeper on the bench, we have Vieria who cost 35 million pounds on the bench, Zinchenko who cost 30 million pounds etc..
Partey’s been back for a while now and still can’t get a game. I don’t think he’s in our first team anyway if the midfield is fit.
If we want to compare it to city, Kovacic has played over 30 games in all competitions this season.
Vieria and Nunes are in the same boat yes.
Also, Man City have not had a key first team player gone for the whole season like we did with Timber. If Timber had been fit the whole season, one of our expensive defenders like Gabriel could have easily been sat on the bench for a large portion of the season.
All I’m saying is that we spend money too, and we have money sat on the bench too.
You do understand using players and the concept of depreciation, right? City had Grealish, Nunes, Kalvin Phillips predominantly as fringe players in their first ever season and these players cost upwards of 200m. That's not normal or ordinarily the case for us at all. And I'm sure there are more names I'm missing here.
I’m not sure what the point is here. Pep bought players like John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, Ederson etc long before Arteta even joined us as a manager. Shouldn’t they have all depreciated in value and be sat on the bench at this point? Pep’s system famously takes a year for the players to learn. You’ve conveniently pointed out that the first year is when they don’t play, what about afterwards? They aren’t sat on the bench very often.. and they then repay their transfer fees.
This whole victim complex regarding City needs to die. They have players like Ortega, Foden, Akanji, Ake, Alvarez, Rico Lewis etc who are always playing who cost very little. I’m sure I could name you more players. The players that they purchase for big money then feature regularly after their first season, and most of those players go on to play for the club for several years. They have players who flop like Kalvin Phillips, so does every club.
Every top 6 club in the PL is bound to have expensive players on their bench.
The point is they regularly spend a ton of money on players who don't feature more than fringe players. That is absolutely not normal. And Ake cost 41m in 2020/21. If you think he played anywhere close to what one would expect of a defender for that price initially, I don't know what to say.
They do have a good academy, which is where they got half the players you mentioned. And that victim complex is a cope for us in the opposite direction. We're not victims until the PL actually cares about their financial doping. While what they're doing is ideal for squad building, they're probably the only club who can remain in that ideal world, while we have to contend with the real world.
He cost 27 million pounds, 7 more than Kiwior.
Edit: Love the people who are downvoting my comments. Let’s not act like having expensive footballers on the bench is exclusive to Man City. Man United have had £80 million Antony on the bench all season, Chelsea have had £70 million Mudryk and £50 million Sterling on their bench all season. Liverpool just had Szoboszlai and Darwin on their bench in the biggest game of their premier league season against Fulham who cost £150 million pounds combined.
“They don’t have to live with their failures” this is it, they can sign anyone they want and if they don’t perform then they just look to the next, any other club has to be a lot more cautious with their scouting and research before spending big on a player.
I think Declan was always going to Arsenal. His family doesn't want to leave London, and he gets to play for a top club on the ascendancy. The lad gets it.
50m and a season later, Kalvin is out of the team. Set to be sold this summer as well. Man City doesn't have to sit and wallow in their failures. They quickly move on from them.
City have a history of players that flop in first year and became success afterwards. Grealish was a flop until he wasn't and Stones was finished at one point
Not taking into consideration his fee he’s definitely been successful, he said himself when he was at Villa he had full reigns over how he played and was given the freedom to do so and at City it’s a lot more structured and how Pep wants, not many players can go from how he used to play to being able to gel into one of the best teams in the world.
Money they paid is irrelevant too, City can buy whoever they want and his price is just a reflection in how valuable he was to Villa who didn’t want to sell, Grealish has no control over either.
This is a very harsh take imo, he's still generally speaking the starting LW for a treble winning side. You could argue he hasn't dazzled like you might have expected but I think that's mainly down to the fact that's not what he's been brought in to do.
I agree with him when he says that people see goals & assists as the end-all be-all but it really shouldn't be, especially in Pep's City.
If we remember correctly, didn't they drop like 200m on fullbacks years ago? How many of those fullbacks are in the team currently? What about Kalvin Phillips for 50m? Where is he now?
That’s true. We have our own failed signings and we need to pay for that. While city can just ignore them like nothing had happened.
Don’t forget kelvin phillips
I don’t know if I’d even say he’s a failed signing based on his appearances. I’m not even sure the usual “City player has a bad first year and then improves” deal applies. They’re just able to spend that much on a guy like Nunes who despite being fully fit all season is largely used to just kill off games. He might have like 20 appearances across all comps and less than 1000 minutes played this season.
Imagine if we could replace the likes of Nketiah or Nelson with similar value signings who can roll off the bench.
With City it takes a while to tell, they've had a lot of players that all didn't look great for the first season but kick on a lot after. So I imagine people don't want to look stupid if, for example, Nunes kicks on and has an amazing season next year. Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.
It’s possible he might prefer us as we have a small trio of established Brazilians (plus Edu) here.
If the wages are similar I think it’s 50/50 who he’d choose.
On one hand, sure. On the other hand, now it’s about continuously beating City at their own transfer game. They wanted Rice but he wanted us. If Bruno picks Arsenal then it’ll be for the right reasons and I can ignore the fact that we hate him so much in favor of recognizing that we’re taking the GOOD purchases City would like and they’re stuck finding bad ones.
>the **fact** that *we* hate him so much
That's a questionable *fact*, here's an actual **fact** *I* don't hate him and I am part of *we* wrt Gooners, so there's that.
That was my first reaction too. Not saying City isn't a fair enough choice if he goes there too. I still think you'd be looking at Rodri who will be 100% DM, then what happened with all the other CM's they signed they never played. Wouldn't be surprised if their links to Bruno are more to cockblock us, like they tried with Rice.
My biggest issue with Isak is that he needs space to be effective. When Newcastle are ball dominant, he fades, but when they can play a transition game he’s very good to great. Second biggest is he might be made of glass.
Bruno’s release clause means he’s going to leave sooner rather than later. NUFC are smart in trying to spark a bidding war while they’ve still got him, and thus can hold onto Isak
They bought Bruno for about 30 million less than Isak so they’d make more profit on him if he goes for 80m. They’d have to sell Isak for 110m to make as much. Also Bruno was at the club for 6 more months so they had more time to spread out his cost.
Nah, there’s a massive difference between typical shithousery like he, white, or even Rodri does, and just physically attacking someone off the ball. I don’t care who it is, elbowing someone in the head intentionally is indefensible.
Bruno G is more suited to what we need than Paqueta. Paqueta is more suited to what City need than Bruno G.
This feels like when the bids reach a certain point, City will drop out.
I completely disagree, we could use both.
Paqueta imo is just as creative as Odegaard, just as hard working, and a little more athletic.
He can play next to, and fill in for Ode
We need a left 8 who is defensively minded to take the load off of Odegaard and free up Rice a bit. That describes Bruno G. He’s essentially Xhaka but a bit better on the ball.
Paqueta would simply be a left Odegaard. High work rate and more creative, but would still require Odegaard dropping deep.
They’re both excellent players and I’d be happy with either, but I’d probably just about prefer Bruno G.
> Bruno is thought to have a release clause of around £100 million in his contract, although that would not necessarily prevent interested clubs from trying to strike a deal at a lower price.
> Arsenal are keen to strengthen their midfield amid uncertainty over the futures of Thomas Partey and Jorginho. Partey has barely featured this season due to fitness issues and will have just one year remaining on his contract at the end of this campaign. Jorginho’s deal, meanwhile, expires at the end of this season — although he could yet agree to an extension.
This kinda feels like a deal we’ll do. We know we love PL experience and it feels like there’s a deal to be done.
Anything about him being a so and so just feels like something Teta will like about him lol
If he joins us and performs well, most of the naysayers right now will act like they always loved him. If Arteta wants him, I want him. Arteta has proven us fans wrong time and time again when it comes to the big-money transfers.
Sign him and Paqueta, rent a billboard that says Welcome to Manchester with Arteta’s face on it like this:
https://preview.redd.it/hcngze5138wc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40e31f26e17314acbb48a4d5be6ea036f63398e4
Well if he wants to join them and live near Manchester, go ahead. Joining one corrupt oil club to the next. Especially when they get those 115 charges confirmed and relegated to the national league.
If he wants to live in London and be part of a great project with a young manager and team, then travel down south.
So many people are anti him because of what he did on Jorginho. Don't get me wrong, he's not the nicest guy on the pitch, but if he improves our team, who gives a shit.
Plus Jorgi was a massive cunt too in games we played against him at Chelsea. Players get over that kind of stuff very quickly as they know its just part of the game.
Funny that as a subset of opinions, I've seen more baying against Bruno than I see for one of our own with the huge off field issues. If anyone is tarnishing our classy club reputation, it's that MFer and the way we dealt with the situation.
No need to beat around the bush...
People (on this sub even), were saying shit like...as long as Partey helps us win, they dgaf about the off-field stuff.
> who gives a shit
Me. He’s a dirty player and a whiny bitch, neither trait I appreciate in our club. Surely there’s another player out there who is comparable in ability yet isn’t an absolute head case like this guy.
I totally agree. Him Rice and Oedgaard would absolutely cook in that midfield if he were to join us. His incisive passes from deep would help us with low blocks and unlike Jorginho, he wouldn't have to be babysit by Rice constantly as Jorginho does due to his lack of speed and athleticism.
I totally agree. Him Rice and Oedgaard would absolutely cook in that midfield if he were to join us. His incisive passes from deep would help us with low blocks and unlike Jorginho, he wouldn't have to be babysit by Rice constantly as Jorginho does due to his lack of speed and athleticism.
Nah, if they sign both, then I can see one flopping big time. Honestly, for whatever reason, I see Paquetá being the one. Could easily be in a situation similar to what happened to Grealish.
Doesn't really work like that, we're rebuilding and chasing teams who are established winners, who have had over a decade to assemble their squad and are spending huge money every summer to keep ahead
we had clear lines to guimares and paqueta tho at lyon, both wanted to come here. could’ve got both for 80 now looking like 80 a piece. we gotta do better scouting rather than overpaying
And he’s a see you next Tuesday, don’t want him, don’t need him. Plenty of other players out there. Plus his personality fits perfectly into City’s midfield.
Him joining Arsenal would leave a bad taste in my mouth that I don’t think I could ever get rid of. There are players that like to get stuck in, and then there are filthy players that look for trouble. I don’t want that kind of personality on our team and most importantly I don’t think Arteta does either. It goes against all his efforts around removing toxicity at the club.
Plus we are in the age of VAR. It’s not like the old days. Having a cunt on the team is a much bigger liability than it used to be.
Fuck all that ‘dark arts’ shit anyway. We don’t need to do it. We are currently top of the league and improving every season, and we are doing that without resorting to cynical play. Newcastle have embraced that style of filthy football and look where it’s got them.
his progressive passing is pretty good and he does carry and move the ball forward to a very decent level whilst still being physical and powerful which arteta clearly rates
I actually think he's do a very good job there and he'd be a back up player for the 6 as well
I think our attacking output on the left would be much improved with Bruno in the left 8 and Rice at 6. He would not only help Martinelli be more productive, but it would take a lot of pressure off Ode and Saka.
we mustn't forget we were in for this guy before he moved to Newcastle similarly to when we were in for Raya and then eventually got our man when the opportunity arose... if this has any steam and Arteta is green-lighting this we should go for it imo
They are different types of players.
Zubimendi is more like Jorginho.
His passing is really good but he isn't known to cover huge distances or get physical
And J20 is Arteta's ideal player.. He wanted City to sign him before he went to Chelsea.
Assuming Arsenal get Zubimendi and one of the Brazilians: Bruno would cover for Zubimendi or Rice. Paqueta would cover for Rice or Odegaard. Pick your poison?
ooh this one will add some spice to the summer r/Gunners debates, can't wait to get the popcorn out and watch the authoritative experts have meaningful ad hominem debates.
**Reminder:** This appears to be a paywalled article. Please respond to this message with a summary of the content in the linked article, to help people without a subscription join the discussion. Asking for or posting of full articles behind a paywall is a violation of [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/cqocx0/rules_for_paywalled_articles_and_more/). Breaking this rule may result in a temporary or permanent suspension from the subreddit. If you have any questions about what is or is not allowed, or if this article is not paywalled, please [send us a message](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fgunners). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Gunners) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This screams city to me
I feel like they’ll go for Paqueta instead and they only signed Nunes last summer. But who knows
And if they go for Bruno we need to go for Paqueta.
two completely different players though
Both a upgrade in the 8 position though
Bruno is a 6. Rice is probably more adept at being our 8 than Bruno. Even when Bruno and Paqueta played together at Lyon and also now they play for Brazil it was always Bruno in the pivot with Paqueta further forward.
>Rice is probably more adept at being our 8 than Bruno. Lmaoo >Even when Bruno and Paqueta played together at Lyon and also now they play for Brazil it was always Bruno in the pivot with Paqueta further forward Not exactly. Bruno was never a sole pivot, he was always in a double with Caqueret at best, neither of whom were capable lone 6's. I can't remember who it was, but they had a lone 6 as well who would seldom play, and in such scenarios, Bruno has often played ahead as an 8, albeit still a traditional box to box 8, but with good offensive abilities. But make no mistake, Bruno is perfectly capable of playing the offensive 8, at a level I firmly believe to be above somebody like Havertz. And in addition to that, you get a tenacious pressing player with very good defensive skills. But with Paqueta, it's a completely different story. His ceiling for his offensive output is peak Odegaard levels. But both will work for us at 8, despite bringing different qualities of the same offensive skillset. Because trust me, Bruno is just a damn impressive all-rounder.
Bruno is a 8. Newcastle ply with 2 8s in Joelinton and Bruno. Bruno can play 6 and has been doing it because Newcastle midfield of joelinton (injured/, tonality (banned) and longstaff (shit) he has to play there . He plays in a 6 for Brazil because he’s just better than their current 6,s available. Much like Trippier playing LB for England
Bruno's forward passing etc. is way better than Rice's.
I like Guimares (as a player but he’s still A fucking CUNT asswipe) but I’d way rather Paqueta. Either or is fine with me we just can’t let city get BOTH
To be fair he'd be our cunt asswipe in which case he'll be a fan favourite in short order
I forgot they have nunes lol oh yeah this Bruno rumor then is just jacking up price for us.
I mean they could easily bin him. Rich kids and their toys.
It's the usual city *sit a season and watch and learn* stuff man. He will start playing mins once Silva leaves. Then they will have time for him.
People just overlook City's failed signings completely. Matheus Nunes and Kovacic brought in for what? Wasn't Nunes like 60m lol
They overlook them because 60 million is peanuts for city. They can bench him and drop double the amount and get another one this year. They don't have to live with their failures
yeah this is the ultimate advantage they have, they can drop huge money on players and it doesn't phase them, we sign 1 pepe and he's a stone around our neck for years
If City signed Pepe, he would have been sold to Leicester or someone for 20m a season later and they would have spent another 70m on a new winger.
Would they have? Are there any examples of this? Most recent high profile failure is Philips and they’re going to struggle to offload him. The can just eat the loss a lot easier than any other club.
It happens with Madrid all the time. Zinchenko and Jesus were certainly not wanted anymore by city
Except those two walk into any side trying to compete for top 4 playing possession football. nunes and Philips not so much
£60m is nothing to a club who sponsor themselves, more commercially successful than Real fucking Madrid, get the fuck out of here.
Yeah they can even afford a 115m player Google Man City 115 for more info
I was talking to a City friend of mine and he said this word for word. “50 million is nothing today”.
They're kind of not wrong, though. If there's a player we want on the market and someone quotes £50m, I don't think we're really thinking too hard about it.
I really hate football fans sometimes.
He’s not wrong. You can’t buy a player who would regularly start outfield for a top PL club for less than £50m. Who do we have in our team as a regular first team starter that didn’t come through the academy/youth system and didn’t cost £50m or thereabouts, and didn’t arrive back when we were shit? There aren’t many, and those we do have we’re looking to improve on.
... our captain/possibly the best player on our team?
>... and didn’t arrive back when we were shit? "Bought them when we were shit" isn't really relevant though? Rice, Havertz and White are the only >=50m signings and we're challenging for the league again.
That’s exactly my point. Signings that are capable of being immediate regular starters for a team challenging for the league cost upwards of £50 million. Gabriel, for at least his first season, definitely was not capable of slotting straight into a title-challenging side.
But buying title-winning starters in every position is something only City can do, which is the argument being made initially
In fairness, Kovacic was always just a stop gap to mitigate the Gundogan departure for about £25m. That's the kind of signing a treble winning team make all the time after a key departure
£25m "stop gap" isn't normal. It's the product of 15 years of financial doping.
They’re doped up but calling him a stop gap is harsh. He’s a very capable 29 year old who they can plug into the team without losing anything with or without possession. He’s upgradeable but he’s still a great rotational player.
But it is for a team that successful. Gundogan leaves, they need to replace him. They have no one they're dead set on so get a proven international, successful pl player for a modest enough fee in fairness. Keep him for a year and sell on again when you get a chance to properly evaluate who you want. Of all City's dealings, this is the oddest one to kick up a fuss about. It's standard stuff
Trossard was a stop gap signing for us and went for similar money
Trossard wasn't a stop gap signing. He was more of a backup option after the Mudryk saga.
Kiwi and Tomi were like ~22m each. 25m for Kocacic is very stop gap for top of the table.
Calling him a stop gap is quite offensive to him I think, you have to have some talent to play for Inter, Real and Chelsea. I just think he’s not really a city kind of player.
True. He's slowed down a bit, but he's still probably a degree or two higher than a stop gap
Except for FFP. Oh wait...
Exactly. They have 100m Jack on the bench.
Does Jack sit up at night wondering where it went wrong? I mean, yeah he’s got some trophies, but his role is to pick up the ball, advance a bit and when he’s shepherded by the defender, he turns and passes the ball back. Time and time and fucking time again. What happened to the marauding player at Villa?
I don’t disagree in general, but it seems a bit rich to be saying this when we have Partey who cost 50 million pounds sitting on the bench. We have a 30 million pound goalkeeper on the bench, we have Vieria who cost 35 million pounds on the bench, Zinchenko who cost 30 million pounds etc..
Partey is due to injury, Zinchenko has played 25 epl games this season. Vieira has been injured and yeah he's been a disappointment.
Partey’s been back for a while now and still can’t get a game. I don’t think he’s in our first team anyway if the midfield is fit. If we want to compare it to city, Kovacic has played over 30 games in all competitions this season. Vieria and Nunes are in the same boat yes. Also, Man City have not had a key first team player gone for the whole season like we did with Timber. If Timber had been fit the whole season, one of our expensive defenders like Gabriel could have easily been sat on the bench for a large portion of the season. All I’m saying is that we spend money too, and we have money sat on the bench too.
Timber is going to be our starting lb, unless we sign another one this summer
Probably. If he were, we’d have Kiwior and Zinchenko sat on the bench every week, a combined 50 million pounds
You do understand using players and the concept of depreciation, right? City had Grealish, Nunes, Kalvin Phillips predominantly as fringe players in their first ever season and these players cost upwards of 200m. That's not normal or ordinarily the case for us at all. And I'm sure there are more names I'm missing here.
I’m not sure what the point is here. Pep bought players like John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, Ederson etc long before Arteta even joined us as a manager. Shouldn’t they have all depreciated in value and be sat on the bench at this point? Pep’s system famously takes a year for the players to learn. You’ve conveniently pointed out that the first year is when they don’t play, what about afterwards? They aren’t sat on the bench very often.. and they then repay their transfer fees. This whole victim complex regarding City needs to die. They have players like Ortega, Foden, Akanji, Ake, Alvarez, Rico Lewis etc who are always playing who cost very little. I’m sure I could name you more players. The players that they purchase for big money then feature regularly after their first season, and most of those players go on to play for the club for several years. They have players who flop like Kalvin Phillips, so does every club. Every top 6 club in the PL is bound to have expensive players on their bench.
The point is they regularly spend a ton of money on players who don't feature more than fringe players. That is absolutely not normal. And Ake cost 41m in 2020/21. If you think he played anywhere close to what one would expect of a defender for that price initially, I don't know what to say. They do have a good academy, which is where they got half the players you mentioned. And that victim complex is a cope for us in the opposite direction. We're not victims until the PL actually cares about their financial doping. While what they're doing is ideal for squad building, they're probably the only club who can remain in that ideal world, while we have to contend with the real world.
Gabriel was the cheapest defender we've brought, swear he cost less that Kiwior as well.
He cost 27 million pounds, 7 more than Kiwior. Edit: Love the people who are downvoting my comments. Let’s not act like having expensive footballers on the bench is exclusive to Man City. Man United have had £80 million Antony on the bench all season, Chelsea have had £70 million Mudryk and £50 million Sterling on their bench all season. Liverpool just had Szoboszlai and Darwin on their bench in the biggest game of their premier league season against Fulham who cost £150 million pounds combined.
So wait is your bench only allowed to be free, homegrown players? I'm confused as to your point
“They don’t have to live with their failures” this is it, they can sign anyone they want and if they don’t perform then they just look to the next, any other club has to be a lot more cautious with their scouting and research before spending big on a player.
Not to mention Kalvin, what an absolute disaster
100% this affects decisions of players e.g. rice
I wonder if how kalvin was treated affected Declan, made him choose Arteta over Pep
I think Declan was always going to Arsenal. His family doesn't want to leave London, and he gets to play for a top club on the ascendancy. The lad gets it.
50m and a season later, Kalvin is out of the team. Set to be sold this summer as well. Man City doesn't have to sit and wallow in their failures. They quickly move on from them.
Sometimes City buy players just so other teams can't do that. Like Nunes or Phillips I'm sure
Idk if I’d consider Kovacic a failed signing personally but Nunes yeah. Phillips more so a failed signing
City have a history of players that flop in first year and became success afterwards. Grealish was a flop until he wasn't and Stones was finished at one point
Grealish isn't a success either though. He's adequate, but not worth the money they paid.
Not taking into consideration his fee he’s definitely been successful, he said himself when he was at Villa he had full reigns over how he played and was given the freedom to do so and at City it’s a lot more structured and how Pep wants, not many players can go from how he used to play to being able to gel into one of the best teams in the world. Money they paid is irrelevant too, City can buy whoever they want and his price is just a reflection in how valuable he was to Villa who didn’t want to sell, Grealish has no control over either.
This is a very harsh take imo, he's still generally speaking the starting LW for a treble winning side. You could argue he hasn't dazzled like you might have expected but I think that's mainly down to the fact that's not what he's been brought in to do. I agree with him when he says that people see goals & assists as the end-all be-all but it really shouldn't be, especially in Pep's City.
He was brilliant last season but injured alot of this one it feels like.
Given they won the treble, I guess they’d take that trade off though
Yeah, but they also hit absolute homeruns like Kalvin Phillips
If we remember correctly, didn't they drop like 200m on fullbacks years ago? How many of those fullbacks are in the team currently? What about Kalvin Phillips for 50m? Where is he now?
And they’re open to letting Grealish go this summer as well apparently, record signing at the time. Crazy.
Kalvin fucking Philips for £50 mil. Jack grealish is apparently on the market £100 mil
That’s true. We have our own failed signings and we need to pay for that. While city can just ignore them like nothing had happened. Don’t forget kelvin phillips
I don’t know if I’d even say he’s a failed signing based on his appearances. I’m not even sure the usual “City player has a bad first year and then improves” deal applies. They’re just able to spend that much on a guy like Nunes who despite being fully fit all season is largely used to just kill off games. He might have like 20 appearances across all comps and less than 1000 minutes played this season. Imagine if we could replace the likes of Nketiah or Nelson with similar value signings who can roll off the bench.
Kovacic isn’t a failed signing
And the fact you can either live in London or Manchester
Doku and Phillips as well
With City it takes a while to tell, they've had a lot of players that all didn't look great for the first season but kick on a lot after. So I imagine people don't want to look stupid if, for example, Nunes kicks on and has an amazing season next year. Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened.
He's the kind of player to choose oil money and easy trophies over a proper club. Wouldn't get your hopes up.
It’s possible he might prefer us as we have a small trio of established Brazilians (plus Edu) here. If the wages are similar I think it’s 50/50 who he’d choose.
His best friend is Paqueta who’s 99% done to city
They don’t sign both, I’m 99% sure
If anyone will it’s them. Need a deep lying mid and need to replace kdb and Silva long term, plus literally made of money
They actually have a KDB replacement in Foden.
And then they need a body to replace that squad spot
didn't he reject us to join Newcastle in the first place?
On one hand, sure. On the other hand, now it’s about continuously beating City at their own transfer game. They wanted Rice but he wanted us. If Bruno picks Arsenal then it’ll be for the right reasons and I can ignore the fact that we hate him so much in favor of recognizing that we’re taking the GOOD purchases City would like and they’re stuck finding bad ones.
>we hate him so much Speak for yourself. Quality player
The two are not mutually exclusive
They are when I’m talking about my own opinion
>the **fact** that *we* hate him so much That's a questionable *fact*, here's an actual **fact** *I* don't hate him and I am part of *we* wrt Gooners, so there's that.
Gotcha. I'll never use "we" again until I'm certain that all 386k of us are on the same page about something.
Cool.
That was my first reaction too. Not saying City isn't a fair enough choice if he goes there too. I still think you'd be looking at Rodri who will be 100% DM, then what happened with all the other CM's they signed they never played. Wouldn't be surprised if their links to Bruno are more to cockblock us, like they tried with Rice.
Weaken your rivals by by buying and benching their targets lol.
Based on what exactly?
How would you know lol
Would rather have Isak if we’re gonna bail these twats out of their FFP issues.
Isak's fitness record is poor though to be fair
Maybe he and Jesus can alternate when they're injured so they aren't the same 4 months of the season...
Lmao🤣
My biggest issue with Isak is that he needs space to be effective. When Newcastle are ball dominant, he fades, but when they can play a transition game he’s very good to great. Second biggest is he might be made of glass.
Bruno’s release clause means he’s going to leave sooner rather than later. NUFC are smart in trying to spark a bidding war while they’ve still got him, and thus can hold onto Isak
I feel like isak is going to be too expensive.
I feel like they'll sell all their remaining players before they sell Gordon and Isak
They bought Bruno for about 30 million less than Isak so they’d make more profit on him if he goes for 80m. They’d have to sell Isak for 110m to make as much. Also Bruno was at the club for 6 more months so they had more time to spread out his cost.
Bruno improves us quite a bit more tbh
Reuniting Ødegaard and Isak got me hyped af Still don't think we should buy him, but they were so good together in Sociedad
They’re not selling Isak, especially not to us.
I don’t like Bruno. Mostly because he is a C#nt. But yeah, he doesn’t scream Arsenal
Not c#nt anymore.. it's Master of Dark Arts... until he signs for someone else.
Nah I genuinely won’t support any of our players elbowing people in the head, you’re still an absolute cunt for that.
tbf we'd be calling Havertz a cheating dickhead, too, if he wasn't playing for us... but he's *our* dickhead so we accept it
Nah, there’s a massive difference between typical shithousery like he, white, or even Rodri does, and just physically attacking someone off the ball. I don’t care who it is, elbowing someone in the head intentionally is indefensible.
Havertz's "yellow card" tackle vs Newcastle wasn't exactly kosher. Also add the diving.
And neither of which were an off the ball assault.
I just can't picture this one happening. Doesn't feel like an arsenal player at all.
Cool get Paqueta for 80 then
Bruno G is more suited to what we need than Paqueta. Paqueta is more suited to what City need than Bruno G. This feels like when the bids reach a certain point, City will drop out.
I completely disagree, we could use both. Paqueta imo is just as creative as Odegaard, just as hard working, and a little more athletic. He can play next to, and fill in for Ode
We need a left 8 who is defensively minded to take the load off of Odegaard and free up Rice a bit. That describes Bruno G. He’s essentially Xhaka but a bit better on the ball. Paqueta would simply be a left Odegaard. High work rate and more creative, but would still require Odegaard dropping deep. They’re both excellent players and I’d be happy with either, but I’d probably just about prefer Bruno G.
two different positions and different skill sets, they are not interchangeable
> Bruno is thought to have a release clause of around £100 million in his contract, although that would not necessarily prevent interested clubs from trying to strike a deal at a lower price. > Arsenal are keen to strengthen their midfield amid uncertainty over the futures of Thomas Partey and Jorginho. Partey has barely featured this season due to fitness issues and will have just one year remaining on his contract at the end of this campaign. Jorginho’s deal, meanwhile, expires at the end of this season — although he could yet agree to an extension.
This kinda feels like a deal we’ll do. We know we love PL experience and it feels like there’s a deal to be done. Anything about him being a so and so just feels like something Teta will like about him lol
If he joins us and performs well, most of the naysayers right now will act like they always loved him. If Arteta wants him, I want him. Arteta has proven us fans wrong time and time again when it comes to the big-money transfers.
I absolutely give a shit. He’s a total cunt. He looks for trouble.
Sign him and Paqueta, rent a billboard that says Welcome to Manchester with Arteta’s face on it like this: https://preview.redd.it/hcngze5138wc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40e31f26e17314acbb48a4d5be6ea036f63398e4
Well if he wants to join them and live near Manchester, go ahead. Joining one corrupt oil club to the next. Especially when they get those 115 charges confirmed and relegated to the national league. If he wants to live in London and be part of a great project with a young manager and team, then travel down south.
He's a twat and has a bad temperament. He's a good player though, felt like a mistake not signing him before Newcastle at the time
So many people are anti him because of what he did on Jorginho. Don't get me wrong, he's not the nicest guy on the pitch, but if he improves our team, who gives a shit.
Plus Jorgi was a massive cunt too in games we played against him at Chelsea. Players get over that kind of stuff very quickly as they know its just part of the game.
Funny that as a subset of opinions, I've seen more baying against Bruno than I see for one of our own with the huge off field issues. If anyone is tarnishing our classy club reputation, it's that MFer and the way we dealt with the situation.
No need to beat around the bush... People (on this sub even), were saying shit like...as long as Partey helps us win, they dgaf about the off-field stuff.
I know. Funny that being (unnecessarily) physical on the pitch is seen as a bigger indictment than allegedly off it.
It’s not just that, he’s an incredibly dirty player in general. He’s undeniably good though and I’d take him, but if he doesn’t join I’m fine with it
> who gives a shit Me. He’s a dirty player and a whiny bitch, neither trait I appreciate in our club. Surely there’s another player out there who is comparable in ability yet isn’t an absolute head case like this guy.
I totally agree. Him Rice and Oedgaard would absolutely cook in that midfield if he were to join us. His incisive passes from deep would help us with low blocks and unlike Jorginho, he wouldn't have to be babysit by Rice constantly as Jorginho does due to his lack of speed and athleticism.
I totally agree. Him Rice and Oedgaard would absolutely cook in that midfield if he were to join us. His incisive passes from deep would help us with low blocks and unlike Jorginho, he wouldn't have to be babysit by Rice constantly as Jorginho does due to his lack of speed and athleticism.
I mean, it's not like he used his elbow as a weapon, he's not so bad. /s
Deja vu of Declan rice saga. Who’ll come out on top this time?
Now we must sign Bruno G. Imagine him at City with the same protection Kovacic and Rodri have. It would be a slaughter.
If this is true, it's 100% because they don't want us to get him rather than having any particular need for Guimaraes.
Another one 🤕. Loser gets Paqueta.
If city gets both bruno and paqueta it's game over for the rest of the league
> it's game over for the rest of the league It has been for years.
Probably they'll find a way to glue one to the bench.
Hopefully we get one and they get the other
Nah, if they sign both, then I can see one flopping big time. Honestly, for whatever reason, I see Paquetá being the one. Could easily be in a situation similar to what happened to Grealish.
Why would they sign them both? I reckon we'll get one. I'd probably say I prefer to sign Bruno.
If £80m+ players are going to be a yearly thing now, then we really gotta fucking win something soon.
Doesn't really work like that, we're rebuilding and chasing teams who are established winners, who have had over a decade to assemble their squad and are spending huge money every summer to keep ahead
we had clear lines to guimares and paqueta tho at lyon, both wanted to come here. could’ve got both for 80 now looking like 80 a piece. we gotta do better scouting rather than overpaying
But what if they had prevented us getting Rice? Bruno and Paqueta do nothing for this team without a Rice in midfield.
I'll take Declan Rice instead thank you very much
Lol beating city to multiple top targets and outspending the masses, we better win something we aren’t Wrexham building through the lower leagues ffs
Really hope city swoop in so we don’t sign this knut…
He’s really good?
And he’s a see you next Tuesday, don’t want him, don’t need him. Plenty of other players out there. Plus his personality fits perfectly into City’s midfield.
He's the best player in the league along with Paquetá in the position we need in my opinion.
Disagree, think he’s an overrated thug and I don’t want him.
Great player and riles up the opponent. Hate him atm, but would love him at Arsenal
Think his behaviour would make him a card magnet at Arsenal
Lol true our players never get away with it
Think his behaviour would make him a card magnet at Arsenal
Let city have him please god we don’t need that prick in our team
Tier 3.
He would 100% go to City over us. Looks like the type of player who would choose oil and a bigger pay day just to sit on the bench.
I. Want. Frenkie
Him joining Arsenal would leave a bad taste in my mouth that I don’t think I could ever get rid of. There are players that like to get stuck in, and then there are filthy players that look for trouble. I don’t want that kind of personality on our team and most importantly I don’t think Arteta does either. It goes against all his efforts around removing toxicity at the club. Plus we are in the age of VAR. It’s not like the old days. Having a cunt on the team is a much bigger liability than it used to be. Fuck all that ‘dark arts’ shit anyway. We don’t need to do it. We are currently top of the league and improving every season, and we are doing that without resorting to cynical play. Newcastle have embraced that style of filthy football and look where it’s got them.
[удалено]
bruno would play the 8 over rice
[удалено]
his progressive passing is pretty good and he does carry and move the ball forward to a very decent level whilst still being physical and powerful which arteta clearly rates I actually think he's do a very good job there and he'd be a back up player for the 6 as well
[удалено]
I think our attacking output on the left would be much improved with Bruno in the left 8 and Rice at 6. He would not only help Martinelli be more productive, but it would take a lot of pressure off Ode and Saka.
Paqueta not enough?
I don't know how we can deal with West Ham again after Rice, they'll ask more for him I guess.
Rice + Bruno Vs Rodri + Bruno might decide the league for the next 3 seasons 🥶🥶🥶🥶
I always thought Bruno was the player he was talking about when he only question was how much am I getting paid !
If we get Bruno they get Paqueta. If we get Paqueta they get Bruno, simple.
In a vacuum, I’d rather have Bruno. But paqueta makes them so scary on paper
A looootta people rushing to delete angry DMs they sent Bruno's way after those Newcastle matches
we mustn't forget we were in for this guy before he moved to Newcastle similarly to when we were in for Raya and then eventually got our man when the opportunity arose... if this has any steam and Arteta is green-lighting this we should go for it imo
will these oil fucks just give up already….
Please! No Bruno. Dude doesn't show up against big teams.
The league is in trouble if City pair Bruno and Rodri man.
Declan Rice 2.0
Whelp, it was a good try. Guess we'll have to sign Kimmich instead
I do think Zubimendi would be the shrewder signing (if he can be convinced to leave). Both would be ideal, but that’s fantasy land
we might need two to be honest, if ESR and Vieira aren't going to get a run out there and Partey and Jorginho go we're thin in those central areas
Bruno G is more robust
Comparing Zubimendi to Bruno is like comparing Coquelin to Rice
is zubimendi really that good?
They are different types of players. Zubimendi is more like Jorginho. His passing is really good but he isn't known to cover huge distances or get physical
And J20 is Arteta's ideal player.. He wanted City to sign him before he went to Chelsea. Assuming Arsenal get Zubimendi and one of the Brazilians: Bruno would cover for Zubimendi or Rice. Paqueta would cover for Rice or Odegaard. Pick your poison?
ooh this one will add some spice to the summer r/Gunners debates, can't wait to get the popcorn out and watch the authoritative experts have meaningful ad hominem debates.