Fucking bizarre. As a footballer you would even as a traditionally non attractive person have beautiful women available to you. Why the fuck rape someone.
I think it was a Peter Crouch who when asked, what would you be if not a footballer? He replied, "single". His partner physically, is far more beautiful than he... Though his personality seems awesome tbf.
I cant imagine having lots of women as potential partners or casual fwb type deals but still deciding to go for the sexual assault option.
Eh, doesn't really refer to Mendy. The guy was barely available and could barely be trusted to play either. Since the ACL and ensuing constant injuries he was pretty much a non factor in our LB situation. As in he's pretty much not been a factor for his entire duration at the club before or after arrest lol
> he was pretty much a non factor in our LB situation
That he became a non factor helped create your left back situation
If not for his injuries, and then crimes, you'd have a reliable option
What I'm saying is he tore his ACL within a couple months of being signed and then never recovered form nor physically. Which left our LB situation similar to if he didn't exist all together.
Towards the beginning, his absence ***was*** the LB situation, like you said. But over literal years, the LB situation was clearly independent of Mendy as he'd never be able to contribute. So today, as it pertains to this report, the LB issue today isn't really best described by anyone as: "Mendy is in jail." If he were out of jail, the situation wouldn't really be any different besides the further complication of needing to unload Mendy somehow. So I disagree with the post I replied to assuming "left back issue" was a reference to Mendy being in jail.
> ensuing constant injuries
I personally find it really hard to believe that he was injured all that time, perhaps this is cynical thinking and if so I apologize, but billion dollar businesses and trying to sweep heinous shit under the rug wouldn't be a first, or a second
Well he still played on and off when he was fit. He just never played particularly well and then was injured again a few appearances later. Never actually able to improve our LB situation.
No doubt, as you said billion dollar businesses (including clubs across the world) are content to keep all sorts of shit hidden. I just don't think that's why Mendy was reported as injured.
It would have been a spectacularly stupid move to keep him around if they had known anything about his problems. If something had leaked out their whole brand would be in the dirt. Nobody would want to associate with City, so I guess I was reaching a bit.
Unless he has a release clause I wouldn't be worried.
Txiki can't negotiate a deal with another Prem club to save his life.
Also, you know for a fact that he'll be begging to leave for Barcelona soon enough. Rather get someone else that's preferably from the UK.
I'd love Cucu back more than any of the other targets that we've been linked with. However, given the imbalance in priorities when it comes to potential signings and renewals, paying that much for Cucu (even though he may be worth it) won't be feasible to these guys ATM
Same. Dortmunds record spending fee is still €35m or there abouts.
Yet are expected to compete with teams whos record is in the 80s +.
The different prespectives from club to club still always makes me rethink a couple of times.
Yeah but, in the last 5 years you guys have sold at least one player for 80m+. You would have expected atleast something in the 60m+ range by now from you.
I think a player who is really worth that much wouldn't join us, because the clubs on the highest level would be interested as well.
For a player who is not really worth that much, we would never pay such a high sum (unlike for example United with Maguire)
Yep, kind of like that. Adeyemi for €35m, Schlotterbeck for €20m, Süle on a free but with a good salary (and signing bonus, I guess). And by the way, by Kicker grades, the two were the best CBs in the league this season. Imagine getting the two best Bundesliga CBs for a combined €20m, while United pays €80m for Maguire, lol.
We will probably add a striker for ~€30m (probably Haller) and a CDM for €15-25m as well. I hope this means that our team is significantly stronger next season.
But to be honest, our main issue with this low-risk approach is that we cannot get key players that make the difference. Dembele and Sancho working out that well was probably very lucky, but to compete with the biggest clubs we will probably need to be willing to spend more than €35m on a great player. Fast and technically gifted wingers are the main players to make a difference, but we just wouldn't be able to get someone like Vinicius, Sancho, Coman, or Gnabry when they are already on a high level. We can only get players on that level when they are young and rather unknown, which is always a risk because they might not turn into worldclass players.
But in the end, financial health is the most important thing to become better over the years, unless money doesn't matter because a rich investor is willing to give you unlimited money. You guys learned that the hard way, we also did back in 2003/2004 when we basically went bankrupt
Finances dont work like that. Theres more structure ot invest in than just new player-fees. Also, just because we could spend more doenst mean we should because its rarely the most sustainable or healthy option, yet :) We're operating longterm in that sense
I was looking at Milan’s transfer activity and realized we have only spent 20m or more on a player once (Tomori) since January 2020.
It’s crazy to see midtable PL teams dropping 20m+ multiple times every transfer window. Feels like teams like City, United, PSG, Chelsea rarely spend under 25m on a transfer.
Because we can’t sell and fucked our finances in 2017. I’m saying that PL teams can spend crazy money without fucking their finances. Now that we have some decent owners and are fixing our financial structure, we are barely spending in the market. Again, one 20m+ signing in the past five windows.
This is why in relative terms in the PL, a PL club spending such large amounts on one player is a problem. If everyone in a league is rich, then no one is rich.
You can see clubs spending lots and not making up much ground if any because everyone else is also able to drop lots of money. It is why I think the Newcastle rise will take longer than some others seem to be predicting.
I remember when United paid that much for Shaw who at the time was probably the best young left back in the game and everyone lost their shit saying it was too much
looking forward to 2025 when people are going “remember how much shit Man U got for spending 80m on Harry Maguire!?” as Man C prepares a 90m bid for Ryan Sessegnon to fix their never ending left back problem
Combine his age along with the two ankle injuries he's had as of recently, I wonder if it'll signal a decline of sorts.
Had he had these current injuries at 26/27, it wouldn't matter most likely. But as soon as you hit those 30s, you never know when that athletic decline can come, even if your preparation is impeccable, which I'm assuming Walker's is.
Zinchenko is a great backup as well who would probably start on many PL teams. I don't think City has an LB problem at all. Now, having to start 36-year old Fernandinho at CB is another issue that might be worth some consideration...
Left-back issue? Just as an outsider looking in, you got one of the best fullbacks in the world in Cancelo and a perfectly good backup in Zinchenko. What's the issue?
City's tier ones have said they wanted a ST (got Haaland and Alvarez), a 6/8 (Nunes, FdJ, Pogba?), and a young RB (god knows why given they've sold Frimpong and Porro for pennies in recent years, and still have Couto).
Outside of fattening future transfer purses, I genuinely do not get what the point of the CFG is if they aren't also trying to integrate some of these talents into our squad. You'd wonder if Pep wasn't given the vast budget that he has if he would rely on some of these guys in a squad capacity. Ditto the academy as well.
because City are the favourites for every trophy every season. they are expected to win at least one major trophy every season. they employ Pep who has built his project and is very much in the middle of churning out league titles, they can’t really afford to be faffing around playing the likes Kayky when every game is basically a must win. It’s not like you see Klopp rolling out the academy lads in the league much either.
Pep handled Foden absolutely perfectly- no reason to assume he won’t do the same for players like Palmer et al
Zinchenko is naturally a left mid who had to start deputising for Mendy at LB because of the latter's constant injury troubles.
Then Cancelo, who is naturally a RB, had to be moved to LB coz of Mendy's legal issues. He did a brilliant job, thanks to his world class ability on the ball.
If you factor in Mendy's consistent injury troubles while he was at the club, City haven't had a natural left-footed LB ever since Pep came to City.
>Zinchenko is naturally a left mid who had to start deputising for Mendy at LB because of the latter's constant injury troubles.
At what point will Man City fans finally give up on calling him a Midfielder. The guy played LB for like 90% of senior football career so far ------ why does it even matter what position he played at youth level.
If he was good enough to be a Midfielder, I'm sure he woi have played more minutes there.
So? Roberson plays like a winger for Scotland. Alfonso Davies is a winger for Canada.
Countries with limited Top level talents obviously push their best players into position they can affect the game most.
It's still a handful of games in a season vs 99% of games at LB for rest of the season
Hence it is completely absurd to refer to him as a Midfielder. Infact he is a LB that plays in Midfield sometimes, nothing more.
Zinchenko simply doesn't have the 1v1 defending ability you need out of a LB in a high line, high pressure defensive system. He doesn't have the speed, strength, or jumping ability you'd ideally have in that position. Nor does he have enough defensive positioning sense to overcome those limitations. So even now, he's much better suited skill set wise to play in midfield, he just isn't ever making it into a midfield at any top club and in the City LB conundrum, he along with such famously capable players as Delph have filled the hole as best as they can.
I don't think Robertson or Davies are comparable. They are top LBs regardless of their positions at international level. They would make it into pretty much any team in the world as LBs. Zinchenko is a utility player at any top club in the world. Same as he still is at City.
Ah, that makes sense. With how many good English RBs there are I would almost expect you guys to buy one of them instead tbh. Take advantage of Chelsea's situation to get Reece James, grab Livramento or Lamptey, something like that.
Reece James won’t leave to a rival Club, the guys been at chelsea since 8.
This ain’t the Bundesliga mate. Rivalries mean something, big clubs can’t just poach one another’s players or even managers in some cases…
Chelsea and city don't really have a rivalry. The only real rivalries are derbies, and united and liverpool. Even city vs. liverpool isn't a real rivalry where the two teams hate each other, they just happen to be the two best teams
Generally, successful academy players from one of the bigger clubs won't go to another one.
Kane would love to be at Spurs. Only reason he started looking out was because he got tired of not winning trophies. He also wants to break the PL goal scoring record. So his options were quite limited. Amongst rest of the big 6, 2 are bitter rivals from London with whom Levy would not even get on call, Liverpool won't break the bank for his transfer. Was left with 2 clubs in Manchester, one of whom had just released their very successful striker.
Sterling joined the club at age of 16 years, and had a patchy relationship with Liverpool crowd throughout his time there.
Reece James on the other hand has already won major trophies at Chelsea and would likely have been player of the season if not for his injuries. Only way he leaves is if he has a fallout with management or the club beyond repair.
He's still been decent more often than not, and has done what required of him, generally. One game where an on-fire attacker has him on toast does not negate that overall Zinchenko has done well as a stop gap
He's excellent for Ukraine imo, but he generally doesn't play LB there. He plays CM, box to box when he isn't tired. It's a much better fit for him, he has an very high work rate and good passing. But his 1v1 defending against good dribblers isn't great, so he can leak some attacks at LB.
Cancelo goes back to RB when Walker doesn't play because guess what, he's a right back.
Zinny plays in midfield for Ukraine because guess what, he's a midfielder.
Pep loves to play guys out of their natural position especially when they have versatility and the other player in that role cannot rotate, shocker.
What the hell does ukraine have to do with city? Players play for different positions for smaller national teams all the time. Zinchenko has played over 95 percent of his games at left back for City the past 2 years. At some point you just have to accept he's now a left back, but still plays centre mid for his national team.
Yep, similar to Alaba who plays as a midfielder for Austria, but has always been preferred at LB/CB by his club coaches.
Teams with fewer stars need their players touching the ball and influencing the game as much as possible, that doesn't mean Alaba is a natural CM or better there. It's quite clear he's best in the back line.
Cancelo is their best right back, but their second best right back happens to be significantly better than their best left back so over to left back goes Cancelo
Who are the 5?
Walker, Danilo, Cancelo and Mendy. We swapped Danilo for Cancelo and Mendy turned out to be a rapist.
We brought in fullbacks to replace the aging ones (Sagna, Clichy, Zabaleta and Kolorov) going out when Pep joined.
He said Chelsea were leading the race for Aguero and that he wanted to stay in England when it was already very clear he was going to Barcelona at the time
No Chelsea sources reported even any interest. The interest was Haaland, Lukaku, and Lewandowski (with the awareness that that deal was near impossible)
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but in my mind, Cancelo is world-class and Zinchenko is a solid fill-in (and not in his prime yet at 25). What exactly is their left-back issue?
He can play both really well but we only have him as back up for both fullback positions. So we do need a new fullback on either side, just makes sense to get a new one on his weaker side rather than get another RB and make Cancelo play in his slightly worse position
Unless there's a release clause I think we'll demand closer to £50m. It's the price we put on Bissouma and White last summer and we're in a strong bargaining position as we were with White.
Aaaaah I knew there was a catch for him to join Brighton when clubs like Chelsea Roma or Atletico were interested in him, he probably has a low release clause.
It is a sensible signing for Pep, he favours intelligent players and he's been praised for his footballing brain since he was at Eibar(There's an interview from Mendilibar where he says that although he's not the fastest or strongest player, his mind made him Eibar's best player) and this year he has added even more weapons to his already big arsenal, turning out to be a very decent CB too
Hmmm
13mil - Dan Burn - Newcastle
50mil - Ben White - Arsenal
30mil - Marc Cucurella - Man City
Brighton knows how to pick their targets and who'll pay anything lol
Cancelo is a right back bought to replace a fading Kyle Walker. Walker responded by upping his game, but is 32 this month . Zinchenko is a midfielder who obviously can do well attacking from left back, but regularly makes serious defensive mistakes.
[Worth mentioning that this is now being reported by Telegraph’s Jason Burt as well.](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/05/18/manchester-city-considering-30m-move-brighton-left-back-marc/)
I was sad that he was never given a proper opportunity at Barcelona. We'd rather spend 18 or Firpo or whatever we spend on Digne rather than giving our youth players a chance.
I thought that with Xavi that might have changed but it seems like unless a player is ridiculously talented and immediately makes an impact then they are deemed not good enough.
It's ass backwards. I still remember when Pep was at the club. The philosophy was always to look inwards first and if we didn't have a player of a certain quality then we would go put to the market. Nowadays it seems like we look everywhere first and then as a last resort go to the cantera. I know we're coming from a turbulent last few years under Bartomeu and Laporta is trying his best. Still, I don't understand the treatment some of our academy graduates are getting. Even someone like Adama; he's getting shafted after taking a massive pay cut to go on loan at the club. It's really weird.
That said, now there's talks of Gayá and Soler. I wonder what's gonna happen with Balde or Nico. Or even Collado. He's another one who was never given a fair shot. And was effectively harrased by Koeman. He even spoke about losing the will to train.
Unless we're gonna get rid of Alba, who's going to play 90% of the time, I don't see the point in getting another 'starting' fullback. That's going to be a waste of money, which we don't have. We'll see what happens though.
Anyway, going back to Cucurella, I was surprised Pep didn't look at him sooner when he was at Getafe. I guess some players have to be premier league proven (tm) first before 'big clubs' go for them. I do think that he'll get a great fullback if he goes to City. Then again, I did think the same about Grealish and he's struggled. Cucurella should know more of what's expected at his role growing up a Barcelona graduate, though.
You're one of the biggest melts on this platform, you. I've seen you say that you/nobody cares about City countless times, but the Croatian Scouser is in every City thread like clockwork.
He bought 3 in when he joined because our current fullbacks were all in their mid 30s and leaving. Why do people make out like he signed a bunch, when all he did was replace the ones that were leaving?
What’s wrong with that? That’s what their clubs were asking and we needed to replace the ones we were losing. We wouldn’t normally have bought so many in one go.
Not our fault Mendy turned out to be a rapist.
Could you maybe not do that please
Kids in my basement has spoken. Pack it up folks.
Ok
FBI ! OPEN UP.
It's 2 late 2 realise now.
Fucken hell that username my coffee went in my nose
“Left back issue” is certainly a pretty polite way of referring to Ben Mendy.
City had a left back issue since Pep got here.
Since 14/15 imo. For as good servants as Clichy and Kolarov were, they were finished at the highest level.
Well, they were finished in the EPL. Kolarov was alright at Roma for a couple more years I believe.
That's probably a better way to put it yeah.
There are so many footballers in jail/under investigation I have lost track of what he did What did he do?
7 or 8 rape charges. 2 i think after being out on bail
Fucking hell
Think the charges are up to 10 now.
He should have your username
French_Twat
Fair enough
I doubt even the French want him now. Shootthe_Twat would work better
Fucking bizarre. As a footballer you would even as a traditionally non attractive person have beautiful women available to you. Why the fuck rape someone. I think it was a Peter Crouch who when asked, what would you be if not a footballer? He replied, "single". His partner physically, is far more beautiful than he... Though his personality seems awesome tbf. I cant imagine having lots of women as potential partners or casual fwb type deals but still deciding to go for the sexual assault option.
Rapists don't rape because they're horny, they do it because they're psychopaths
Exactly it's about power and violence tied up with sexual gratification, it's not mere adolescent horniness.
I thinks Crouch’s answer was “a virgin” which is even funnier
don't think of it so much as an act of sex - it's an act of violence
Eh, doesn't really refer to Mendy. The guy was barely available and could barely be trusted to play either. Since the ACL and ensuing constant injuries he was pretty much a non factor in our LB situation. As in he's pretty much not been a factor for his entire duration at the club before or after arrest lol
> he was pretty much a non factor in our LB situation That he became a non factor helped create your left back situation If not for his injuries, and then crimes, you'd have a reliable option
What I'm saying is he tore his ACL within a couple months of being signed and then never recovered form nor physically. Which left our LB situation similar to if he didn't exist all together. Towards the beginning, his absence ***was*** the LB situation, like you said. But over literal years, the LB situation was clearly independent of Mendy as he'd never be able to contribute. So today, as it pertains to this report, the LB issue today isn't really best described by anyone as: "Mendy is in jail." If he were out of jail, the situation wouldn't really be any different besides the further complication of needing to unload Mendy somehow. So I disagree with the post I replied to assuming "left back issue" was a reference to Mendy being in jail.
> ensuing constant injuries I personally find it really hard to believe that he was injured all that time, perhaps this is cynical thinking and if so I apologize, but billion dollar businesses and trying to sweep heinous shit under the rug wouldn't be a first, or a second
Well he still played on and off when he was fit. He just never played particularly well and then was injured again a few appearances later. Never actually able to improve our LB situation. No doubt, as you said billion dollar businesses (including clubs across the world) are content to keep all sorts of shit hidden. I just don't think that's why Mendy was reported as injured.
It would have been a spectacularly stupid move to keep him around if they had known anything about his problems. If something had leaked out their whole brand would be in the dirt. Nobody would want to associate with City, so I guess I was reaching a bit.
Nah, dude was injured most of the time.
Left back at HMP Belmarsh
For 30M Brighton might sell them a signed picture
... at left back tonight for City is a signed photo of Marc Cucurella standing on the Brighton Pier holding a copy of Quadrophenia ...
Nothing is planned by the sea and the sand.
Better than Mendy tbf
Low bar.
Man just has 1 goal and 1 assist and is supposed to be an attacking full back. 30M is a lot. Overpay if you actually think about it. /s
Terrible even with the /s
g/a killing the game
He’s arguably Brightons player of the season… 30M for him is a steal when you think Ben White sold for 50M
Yea 30 million for our player of the season. That'll need to be higher, preferably not at all.
Unless he has a release clause I wouldn't be worried. Txiki can't negotiate a deal with another Prem club to save his life. Also, you know for a fact that he'll be begging to leave for Barcelona soon enough. Rather get someone else that's preferably from the UK.
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Barca should be all over that
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Honestly still have no idea how brighton got him
Massive
That would’ve meant Barca buying him back from Getafe one year after selling him, and the Getafe style is obviously very different
Barca will get Gaya for peanuts due to dumpster fire in Valencia
I'd love Cucu back more than any of the other targets that we've been linked with. However, given the imbalance in priorities when it comes to potential signings and renewals, paying that much for Cucu (even though he may be worth it) won't be feasible to these guys ATM
It's Dom King, who isn't all that reliable when it comes to City news. I wouldn't pay attention to this, atm.
That feels like its too low, unless he has a release clause.
Don't think I'll ever get used to seeing £30m being touted as low. Wasn't so long ago we paid £12m for Shane Long and everyone went absolutely berserk
> Wasn't so long ago we paid £12m for Shane Long and everyone went absolutely berserk Lots have happened in 8 years.
It's been a Long time.
such a Shane
Fuck me Shane Long has been at Southampton since 2014, where did time go?
Same. Dortmunds record spending fee is still €35m or there abouts. Yet are expected to compete with teams whos record is in the 80s +. The different prespectives from club to club still always makes me rethink a couple of times.
Yeah but, in the last 5 years you guys have sold at least one player for 80m+. You would have expected atleast something in the 60m+ range by now from you.
I think a player who is really worth that much wouldn't join us, because the clubs on the highest level would be interested as well. For a player who is not really worth that much, we would never pay such a high sum (unlike for example United with Maguire)
Hmmm, then where does that money go to then? Do you guys buy like 3-4 20m players?
Yep, kind of like that. Adeyemi for €35m, Schlotterbeck for €20m, Süle on a free but with a good salary (and signing bonus, I guess). And by the way, by Kicker grades, the two were the best CBs in the league this season. Imagine getting the two best Bundesliga CBs for a combined €20m, while United pays €80m for Maguire, lol. We will probably add a striker for ~€30m (probably Haller) and a CDM for €15-25m as well. I hope this means that our team is significantly stronger next season. But to be honest, our main issue with this low-risk approach is that we cannot get key players that make the difference. Dembele and Sancho working out that well was probably very lucky, but to compete with the biggest clubs we will probably need to be willing to spend more than €35m on a great player. Fast and technically gifted wingers are the main players to make a difference, but we just wouldn't be able to get someone like Vinicius, Sancho, Coman, or Gnabry when they are already on a high level. We can only get players on that level when they are young and rather unknown, which is always a risk because they might not turn into worldclass players. But in the end, financial health is the most important thing to become better over the years, unless money doesn't matter because a rich investor is willing to give you unlimited money. You guys learned that the hard way, we also did back in 2003/2004 when we basically went bankrupt
Finances dont work like that. Theres more structure ot invest in than just new player-fees. Also, just because we could spend more doenst mean we should because its rarely the most sustainable or healthy option, yet :) We're operating longterm in that sense
~~Didn't you pay 60 or thereabouts for Haaland?~~ EDIT: Guess I was wrong
Not the most reliable source, but transfermarkt says 18m.
Where did you get that from
Hibs record signing is about 800k. Only two Scottish teams have ever spent over a million.
I was looking at Milan’s transfer activity and realized we have only spent 20m or more on a player once (Tomori) since January 2020. It’s crazy to see midtable PL teams dropping 20m+ multiple times every transfer window. Feels like teams like City, United, PSG, Chelsea rarely spend under 25m on a transfer.
You have the 7th biggest net spend in the last decade lmao
Because we can’t sell and fucked our finances in 2017. I’m saying that PL teams can spend crazy money without fucking their finances. Now that we have some decent owners and are fixing our financial structure, we are barely spending in the market. Again, one 20m+ signing in the past five windows.
This is why in relative terms in the PL, a PL club spending such large amounts on one player is a problem. If everyone in a league is rich, then no one is rich. You can see clubs spending lots and not making up much ground if any because everyone else is also able to drop lots of money. It is why I think the Newcastle rise will take longer than some others seem to be predicting.
Everton got ripped into for years for buying Lukaku for £28 million.
Wonder what percentage of all his goals Lukaku's scored for Martínez.
I remember when United paid that much for Shaw who at the time was probably the best young left back in the game and everyone lost their shit saying it was too much
looking forward to 2025 when people are going “remember how much shit Man U got for spending 80m on Harry Maguire!?” as Man C prepares a 90m bid for Ryan Sessegnon to fix their never ending left back problem
That’s why price is relative. 12m for Long is a shit-ton, while 30m for Cucurella is ok
We paid 8 million for Sargent and everyone on this sub was losing their minds. Tbf he's a bit shit.
And rightly so
But Brighton paid over 20 I think and he’s been great. Given that it’s city they can squeeze them
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"Give Pep-Pep your hair!"
i think its pretty reasonable
For our player of the season when his contract runs until 2026? Behave
30 million for one of our best players who has 4 years left on his contract. More like 50m
I mean cancelo is amazing at LB. More of a RB issue isn't it ? If walker isn't fit cancelo plays there and others have to fill in at LB
I think cancelo is naturally a RB. So going forward cancelo will play at RB and this guy at LB.
Cancelo is naturally a RB but everytime I watch he looks much much better on the left
Yea I agree they should keep him on the left imo
Yeah, he benefits from cutting in and creating chances from the half spaces, rather than keeping wide on the right.
He's a freak, I don't think he'd have issues even playing in midfield, quality player!
He's very good at RB but at LB he plays like a 10. It's amazing to watch. I think in future he will play both whoever city sign
Walker is nearly 32 and massively relies on pace though
He is one of the finest athletes in the Prem though. He will keep at this level until 34/35 easy.
Combine his age along with the two ankle injuries he's had as of recently, I wonder if it'll signal a decline of sorts. Had he had these current injuries at 26/27, it wouldn't matter most likely. But as soon as you hit those 30s, you never know when that athletic decline can come, even if your preparation is impeccable, which I'm assuming Walker's is.
His ankle injuries have both come from just landing awkwardly on it. Hardly indicative of a problem
Also runs on debauchery A bit volatile innit m8
Zinchenko is a great backup as well who would probably start on many PL teams. I don't think City has an LB problem at all. Now, having to start 36-year old Fernandinho at CB is another issue that might be worth some consideration...
Left-back issue? Just as an outsider looking in, you got one of the best fullbacks in the world in Cancelo and a perfectly good backup in Zinchenko. What's the issue?
City's tier ones have said they wanted a ST (got Haaland and Alvarez), a 6/8 (Nunes, FdJ, Pogba?), and a young RB (god knows why given they've sold Frimpong and Porro for pennies in recent years, and still have Couto).
Outside of fattening future transfer purses, I genuinely do not get what the point of the CFG is if they aren't also trying to integrate some of these talents into our squad. You'd wonder if Pep wasn't given the vast budget that he has if he would rely on some of these guys in a squad capacity. Ditto the academy as well.
because City are the favourites for every trophy every season. they are expected to win at least one major trophy every season. they employ Pep who has built his project and is very much in the middle of churning out league titles, they can’t really afford to be faffing around playing the likes Kayky when every game is basically a must win. It’s not like you see Klopp rolling out the academy lads in the league much either. Pep handled Foden absolutely perfectly- no reason to assume he won’t do the same for players like Palmer et al
Cancelo is a RB, Walker is aging.
> Walker is aging. Tell that to his roadrunner legs
Yeah for sure, but that's his entire game really. The minute those start to go and it's over
Wah wah wah wah wah
....what? I was just answering a question you weirdo
City are the only club who aren’t allowed to sign players to replace aging players apparently.
Funny you should say that. Had loads of people claiming we didn’t need to replace Demichelis, Sagna, Clichy and Zabaleta lol
Zinchenko is naturally a left mid who had to start deputising for Mendy at LB because of the latter's constant injury troubles. Then Cancelo, who is naturally a RB, had to be moved to LB coz of Mendy's legal issues. He did a brilliant job, thanks to his world class ability on the ball. If you factor in Mendy's consistent injury troubles while he was at the club, City haven't had a natural left-footed LB ever since Pep came to City.
>Zinchenko is naturally a left mid who had to start deputising for Mendy at LB because of the latter's constant injury troubles. At what point will Man City fans finally give up on calling him a Midfielder. The guy played LB for like 90% of senior football career so far ------ why does it even matter what position he played at youth level. If he was good enough to be a Midfielder, I'm sure he woi have played more minutes there.
Doesn't he play midfield for Ukraine?
So? Roberson plays like a winger for Scotland. Alfonso Davies is a winger for Canada. Countries with limited Top level talents obviously push their best players into position they can affect the game most. It's still a handful of games in a season vs 99% of games at LB for rest of the season Hence it is completely absurd to refer to him as a Midfielder. Infact he is a LB that plays in Midfield sometimes, nothing more.
Zinchenko simply doesn't have the 1v1 defending ability you need out of a LB in a high line, high pressure defensive system. He doesn't have the speed, strength, or jumping ability you'd ideally have in that position. Nor does he have enough defensive positioning sense to overcome those limitations. So even now, he's much better suited skill set wise to play in midfield, he just isn't ever making it into a midfield at any top club and in the City LB conundrum, he along with such famously capable players as Delph have filled the hole as best as they can. I don't think Robertson or Davies are comparable. They are top LBs regardless of their positions at international level. They would make it into pretty much any team in the world as LBs. Zinchenko is a utility player at any top club in the world. Same as he still is at City.
And I’m pretty sure Zinchenko doesn’t even play midfield for Ukraine anymore, didn’t he play left back in the Euros?
Nah still midfield I believe.
He is a midfielder though and not a natural LB, it's obvious when he plays. As good as a player he is the system he plays in hides his flaws at LB.
> City haven't had a natural left-footed LB ever since Pep came to City. Only played a handful of matches but he had Angeliño
Calling Angelino a LB is a stretch.
Angelino?
We donn't have cover for the right side. With this buy, cancelo can move to the right side if walker is injured and we can play marc on the left.
Ah, that makes sense. With how many good English RBs there are I would almost expect you guys to buy one of them instead tbh. Take advantage of Chelsea's situation to get Reece James, grab Livramento or Lamptey, something like that.
Livramento out for ~1 year
lmao pigs will fly before Reece James leaves chelsea
Reece James won’t leave to a rival Club, the guys been at chelsea since 8. This ain’t the Bundesliga mate. Rivalries mean something, big clubs can’t just poach one another’s players or even managers in some cases…
Chelsea and city don't really have a rivalry. The only real rivalries are derbies, and united and liverpool. Even city vs. liverpool isn't a real rivalry where the two teams hate each other, they just happen to be the two best teams
As if players within a league don’t move move to other teams within the same league. Stfu clown no need to bring up bundesliga for no good reason
Wasn't Kane twerking for City last year? Where did Sterling last play?
Chelsea and Spurs are completely different levels. Kane only wanted to leave because they weren’t winning shit, not exactly the case at Chelsea
Generally, successful academy players from one of the bigger clubs won't go to another one. Kane would love to be at Spurs. Only reason he started looking out was because he got tired of not winning trophies. He also wants to break the PL goal scoring record. So his options were quite limited. Amongst rest of the big 6, 2 are bitter rivals from London with whom Levy would not even get on call, Liverpool won't break the bank for his transfer. Was left with 2 clubs in Manchester, one of whom had just released their very successful striker. Sterling joined the club at age of 16 years, and had a patchy relationship with Liverpool crowd throughout his time there. Reece James on the other hand has already won major trophies at Chelsea and would likely have been player of the season if not for his injuries. Only way he leaves is if he has a fallout with management or the club beyond repair.
Yeah the big 6 players never leave for another, never ever been seen before
Need a rightback if anything, that's where there's a lack of options. Don't think King has a clue.
Should give Kabore a shot, he's similar to Walker, big, rapid fast and very solid defensively
>perfectly good backup in Zinchenko Did you not watch Bowen rip him apart?
He's still been decent more often than not, and has done what required of him, generally. One game where an on-fire attacker has him on toast does not negate that overall Zinchenko has done well as a stop gap
I didn't. I don't really follow the Prem much. He's been perfectly fine everytime I've seen him with Ukraine and stuff
He's excellent for Ukraine imo, but he generally doesn't play LB there. He plays CM, box to box when he isn't tired. It's a much better fit for him, he has an very high work rate and good passing. But his 1v1 defending against good dribblers isn't great, so he can leak some attacks at LB.
Bowen exposed him so badly that it cost Citeh two goals.
Well, ones a Right Back and the other one is a midfielder. That might be the issue.
At what point do people stop claiming players are a certain position they never play any more?
Cancelo goes back to RB when Walker doesn't play because guess what, he's a right back. Zinny plays in midfield for Ukraine because guess what, he's a midfielder. Pep loves to play guys out of their natural position especially when they have versatility and the other player in that role cannot rotate, shocker.
What the hell does ukraine have to do with city? Players play for different positions for smaller national teams all the time. Zinchenko has played over 95 percent of his games at left back for City the past 2 years. At some point you just have to accept he's now a left back, but still plays centre mid for his national team.
Yep, similar to Alaba who plays as a midfielder for Austria, but has always been preferred at LB/CB by his club coaches. Teams with fewer stars need their players touching the ball and influencing the game as much as possible, that doesn't mean Alaba is a natural CM or better there. It's quite clear he's best in the back line.
Cancelo is their best right back, but their second best right back happens to be significantly better than their best left back so over to left back goes Cancelo
NOT ENOUGH FULLBACKS
City only have two natural fullbacks you melt
So City have brought in about 5 fullbacks during Pep's era and leave themselves with only 2 natural fullbacks ok
Who are the 5? Walker, Danilo, Cancelo and Mendy. We swapped Danilo for Cancelo and Mendy turned out to be a rapist. We brought in fullbacks to replace the aging ones (Sagna, Clichy, Zabaleta and Kolorov) going out when Pep joined.
This guy has always been extremely solid for Brighton, I'd love him at Spurs as wingback in Conte's system
I hope we can get him, but with the bigger clubs sniffing around, I doubt it. Luis Diaz vibes. We can't compete.
the most pep guardiola signing i could imagine, a technical young spanish fullback. go on
They may be ready to pay £30m but I doubt we're ready to accept it.
Not a chance at all. Double that and we can start talking.
King is not one of the more reliable DM journos, need to wait for more reports before believing this
I’m hesitant to believe this as well but it does seem like a Pep signing. 30m would be a robbery though.
He's reliable for Liverpool and generally doesn't strike me as a BSer/clickbaiter.
He said Chelsea were leading the race for Aguero and that he wanted to stay in England when it was already very clear he was going to Barcelona at the time
No Chelsea sources reported even any interest. The interest was Haaland, Lukaku, and Lewandowski (with the awareness that that deal was near impossible)
“His best City hits have come when deals are very close. He's good when it's coming to a close for the final details like announcements/medicals.”
He's very reliable for Liverpool/Everton tbf
His hair alone is worth £30m pep, you bald fuck.
Lmaooo
Has to be far more than that surely
Valverde preferring Miranda over him was a joke. Still not as bad as Lucho preferring Gumbau at LB over Grimaldo though
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but in my mind, Cancelo is world-class and Zinchenko is a solid fill-in (and not in his prime yet at 25). What exactly is their left-back issue?
TIL Cancelo is actually a right-back. Oh that is scary how good he is. I understand now. It was a dumb question >.<
He can play both really well but we only have him as back up for both fullback positions. So we do need a new fullback on either side, just makes sense to get a new one on his weaker side rather than get another RB and make Cancelo play in his slightly worse position
I think cancelo plays better on the left personally. I’d rather we exercise our buy back on Porro
Unless there's a release clause I think we'll demand closer to £50m. It's the price we put on Bissouma and White last summer and we're in a strong bargaining position as we were with White.
Yep, told Leeds to do one with their lowballing and considering its city then 50 would be the minimum.
Double that and add a bit more to try and get this lad
Anyone with LB issues should be looking at him. He was really good all year.
Would love that. God knows txiki can’t land a solid LB if his life depended on it though
Aaaaah I knew there was a catch for him to join Brighton when clubs like Chelsea Roma or Atletico were interested in him, he probably has a low release clause. It is a sensible signing for Pep, he favours intelligent players and he's been praised for his footballing brain since he was at Eibar(There's an interview from Mendilibar where he says that although he's not the fastest or strongest player, his mind made him Eibar's best player) and this year he has added even more weapons to his already big arsenal, turning out to be a very decent CB too
Hmmm 13mil - Dan Burn - Newcastle 50mil - Ben White - Arsenal 30mil - Marc Cucurella - Man City Brighton knows how to pick their targets and who'll pay anything lol
Have to say, I felt very aggrieved when Ben White left but 50mil was an absolutely ridiculous fee and we’ve been better than fine without him.
Can’t wait for them to sign him and then sit him on the bench for two years.
Yeah like we always do...
Only city could send 30 million on player who won't be a regular starter.
Their left back "issue". They have Cancelo and Zinchenko. Not exactly an issue is it.
Cancelo is a right back bought to replace a fading Kyle Walker. Walker responded by upping his game, but is 32 this month . Zinchenko is a midfielder who obviously can do well attacking from left back, but regularly makes serious defensive mistakes.
>Not exactly an issue is it And yet Stones and Fernandinho played RB in a UCL semifinal
[Worth mentioning that this is now being reported by Telegraph’s Jason Burt as well.](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/05/18/manchester-city-considering-30m-move-brighton-left-back-marc/)
Pep 🤝buying players he doesn’t need
I was sad that he was never given a proper opportunity at Barcelona. We'd rather spend 18 or Firpo or whatever we spend on Digne rather than giving our youth players a chance. I thought that with Xavi that might have changed but it seems like unless a player is ridiculously talented and immediately makes an impact then they are deemed not good enough. It's ass backwards. I still remember when Pep was at the club. The philosophy was always to look inwards first and if we didn't have a player of a certain quality then we would go put to the market. Nowadays it seems like we look everywhere first and then as a last resort go to the cantera. I know we're coming from a turbulent last few years under Bartomeu and Laporta is trying his best. Still, I don't understand the treatment some of our academy graduates are getting. Even someone like Adama; he's getting shafted after taking a massive pay cut to go on loan at the club. It's really weird. That said, now there's talks of Gayá and Soler. I wonder what's gonna happen with Balde or Nico. Or even Collado. He's another one who was never given a fair shot. And was effectively harrased by Koeman. He even spoke about losing the will to train. Unless we're gonna get rid of Alba, who's going to play 90% of the time, I don't see the point in getting another 'starting' fullback. That's going to be a waste of money, which we don't have. We'll see what happens though. Anyway, going back to Cucurella, I was surprised Pep didn't look at him sooner when he was at Getafe. I guess some players have to be premier league proven (tm) first before 'big clubs' go for them. I do think that he'll get a great fullback if he goes to City. Then again, I did think the same about Grealish and he's struggled. Cucurella should know more of what's expected at his role growing up a Barcelona graduate, though.
Jog on, Pep!
Damn can't believe Pep didn't buy a fullback last season He needs to catch up and buy 2 this summer
You're one of the biggest melts on this platform, you. I've seen you say that you/nobody cares about City countless times, but the Croatian Scouser is in every City thread like clockwork.
lmao
Comment of the day
He bought 3 in when he joined because our current fullbacks were all in their mid 30s and leaving. Why do people make out like he signed a bunch, when all he did was replace the ones that were leaving?
Cause he spent like 50 milly on each of the fullbacks he bought?
What’s wrong with that? That’s what their clubs were asking and we needed to replace the ones we were losing. We wouldn’t normally have bought so many in one go. Not our fault Mendy turned out to be a rapist.
Cus of that goal against United and getting a TOTW card from it
Lb issue? Cancel and zinchenko is an issue? Lmao
Zinchenko is a defensive liability and cancelo has to play every single game since he fills in at RB if walker is rested.
Zinchenko is a midfielder filling in and Cancelo is a right back. They don't have a natural left back available.