Chelsea last season
Because no one was talking about Chelsea over spending at this time, right ?
Well said.
Drinkwater cost 40mill? WTF!
He has been backed. He's replaced the first team entirely apart from De Gea and Young. The latter he thinks is brilliant.
First of all, those fees are in Euros, not pounds, so you need to keep that mind. Second, which is even more important, is the net spend. Chelsea's net spend is quite respectable , because they had to sell some important players over the years (Mata, KDB, Salah, Lukaku, Matic, Oscar etc) in order to finance their transfer deals. City's net spend is ridiculous over the last few years, they've basically bought a new squad for Pep without having to lose any quality in the process. Chelsea were doing the same in Abramovich's early years, but there was no FFP around and it wasn't a secret that they were working at a huge loss. Now City are reporting profits every year, which is a joke, given how much it cost them to assemble this current side.
Most of Citys major sponsors are still linked to their owners and will be for some time yet. Brands want to be linked with winners but more than that they want global audiences and City are miles away on that front. In many places people still don't know there are 2 clubs in Manchester.
This one is supposed to about Pep, but it's been turned around into how shite Mourinho is...
In all honesty the whole of the world knows that manchester has 2 clubs these days .
It really doesn't. It will take time and it can't be bought.
100% agree with this although I would argue the only position he has not replaced is the right wing. That said, he has been back and has spent between 300 and 350m which is a massively outlay in 2 years and 4 windows. The football should be much better.
So who’s the replacement for Valencia, Young & the RW position? Other clubs have 2 good players in each position and you are talking he’s replaced the first team. Replaced them with whom?
He actually said it this morning in his presser. He said United coming 2nd last season was one of his best managerial feats. I tend to agree with him. This disjointed team finished above Liverpool that included Salah, Spurs that included Harry Kane & Chelsea that included Hazard/Kante. We don’t have any player as good as the aforementioned players. It was a biblical miracle!
He’s not responsible for developing them. Man Utd is not a developmental centre. If they adapt to his football style then FairPlay do them. If they don’t, they should be shipped off with aplomb. Our rivals are doing smart business, spending money and fixing the holes in their squad. You want Jose to be developing inconsistent players - how does that work?
Yeah, how can two under 21 players not just develop themselves. Today's overpaid teens, not only stealing a living but also having the audacity to need to be actually coached and guided.
Dalot & Mihki I guess?
You don't think it's part of a mangers job to improve and develop the players under their tutelage?
Mkhi has left, Dalot is a rookie meant to understudy Valencia.
Not when you demand instant results. How many of Jose’s peers are developing youth players in their first team? The last 3 PL winners weren’t developing youth players - they were making meaningful signings that aided their title victories.
It's not about developing youth prospects who aren't ready and can't get you instant results (Iheanacho, Unal or whoever), but younger (heck the post you've quoted named KDB and he was in his mid 20s when he joined City) players who are already good further improving under the manager.
KDB was already established before coming to City. Don’t rewrite history to push a false narrative.
Why are you talking about youth team prospects? The players in question were Martial and Rashford not Chong and Greenwood.
in 2016, Martial and Rashford looked better than Sane and Sterling While Pogba and KdB were of similar profile.
Mata has never been on the same level as Silva
Mata was PFA team of the year just like before Mourinho got to Chelsea, Silva was top assister 11/12, Mata was top assister of the year 12/13 before Mourinho got to Chelsea and benched him for Oscar who could run more and is now playing in China.
Sterling was always good but heavily underrated. I have mentioned him several times whenever the question arises about underrated players in the league. He was a great part of the Liverpool trio trip of him, Suarez and Sturridge when they pushed far into the league, otherwise City wouldn't have paid 50m for him. He had a shaky start there but nothing new. He was always a good player, just underrated for obvious reasons.
What are you on about? Sterling was an established player for Liverpool way before 2016. He certainly wasn't a youth prospect that City bought.
Pep angry to face competition for signing...
Sane compliments them beautifully, but yeah, you can't really improve on those four players without looking at the absolute cream of the crop dream signings.
Mahrez, Sane and Bernado Silva are all great players in their own right, but yeah a little behind those 4 currently. Sane in particular I think could become Bale-like if he improves his decision making and finishing.
And people here are complaining about José's spending when he doesn't have the best players pre-Jose.
He has been backed. Fred was bought to warm the bench. At the least Peps signings become important 1st team players
They became important first team players because his poor signings are shipped out quickly instead of him being told to use them.
Oh come off it. We are closer to Bournemouth right now than City. So any benchmarking exercise that you do should keep that in context. I really doubt that everyone would disagree with you if we were second and playing good football.
Nolito and Bravo only ones I can think of
What poor signings?
One thing people miss about signings is that the players you buy can elevate or inspire the players that were there before even if the new players don't break into the first eleven immediately. You can buy a player who does not instantly take the first team shirt but his presence in the squad could make the player that was there before sit up and work double hard to stay in the squad. This is one of the reasons why the elite clubs in modern football keep spending despite having already good squads.
This would be a zinger of a post in the parallel universe where we’re 3rd.
Feel sorry for poor Pep.