Nathan Ake (Close to signing for Man City, £40m fee)

Infestissumam

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so 60-65m for Ake and Torres. I don't know a whole lot about Torres, I admit - but first glance, those aren't additions that will scare the opposition. Solid squad options, sure.
 

JohnnyKills

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It’s slightly easier when you have a bottomless pit of cash with no consequence for poor spending.
This. People talk about how much United spend in transfer fees vs City, but the real benefit of having unlimited money is the freedom to just move on players who don't work out.

Look at Mangala, Hart, Bony... they can just flog them for peanuts, whereas any other club has to get a reasonable price for their cast-offs (hence why we're still stuck with Jones, Smalling etc).
 

JohnnyKills

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so 60-65m for Ake and Torres. I don't know a whole lot about Torres, I admit - but first glance, those aren't additions that will scare the opposition. Solid squad options, sure.
Have they signed Torres too? He would be a much better signing I think. Hopefully he ends up at United.

EDIT: Just realised you meant Ferran Torres. Sorry, I'm an idiot.
 

Mihai

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He's good enough to play for any of the 20 PL teams ''at the moment''. Underrated due to his height and being Bournemouth player. Pep wants him sums it up, we should be in for him, Lindelof's upgrade, versatile and will give our CB good rest when needed.
I am glad we learned our lesson and don't do this anymore.
 

Mr Smith

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Have to admit I wish we were owned by one.
I mean each to their own, but I'm the opposite. If we were bought by Qatar or the Saudi's I'd never put another cent into the club, and might stop supporting altogether. Nothing would ever sit right with me again.
 

FrankDrebin

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Pep's eye for a CB is average at best. Pique and Laporte the best out of a underwhelming and expensive bunch.
 

sp_107

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Ake and Ferran Torres, Seems their transfer standards are dropping or they looking for some bargains ?

OR they can only sign these type of players if they strictly follow FPP rules?
 

Scriblerus

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Oh, look. A club that has a plan in place for the signings it wants to make, and then moves quickly to complete them. And for anyone saying that they have done that by paying over the odds, we take months to get a deal and still pay over the odds.
 

TheNewEra

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Kinda annoying to see another player we lot go move to a top side.
I think the thing is United can buy bigger than City (single transfers), if United wanted Ake I think they would have put up a fight, maybe there are bigger targets out there, of Lindelof is deemed good enough for the next campaigb.

City had a stroke of luck with Kompany who was a stalwart in defence and he's not replaceable for City.

As Pep said last pre-season.
Guardiola spoke about his interest in Maguire following his side’s Community Shield win over Liverpool on Sunday.

"Yeah, Maguire is an excellent, top class player," he asserted.

"We were interested but we could not afford it and United can afford it.

"He made an incredible World Cup, strong in the air, good with the ball and drives with the ball so fast and young and has all the qualities to work for United.
Following the ban being quashed for CL:

"We wanted Alexis Sanchez and we could not afford it. We wanted Harry Maguire and we could not afford it," Pep Guardiola has told Reuters while commenting on the Premier League's biggest spenders.
"We could not pay like United paid," he further added.
City can't afford 80-90M transfers like United can, so they buy players for around 50M I think, and they depend more on the system.

They still work within FFP, but I genuinely think PSG with Mbappe and Neymar are the most broken with transfers.

The Torres and Ake signings kind of show that City really can't do those transfers like Sancho with UEFA looking over them (in my opinion) United can because they have the revenue stream to do so.

Ake is a great player but the signings they make at the back does show that fighting fair financially they are a tier below United.

Pogba, Maguire, Alexis, Sancho shows that.
 

sp_107

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Oh, look. A club that has a plan in place for the signings it wants to make, and then moves quickly to complete them. And for anyone saying that they have done that by paying over the odds, we take months to get a deal and still pay over the odds.
True, Apart from 2007 summer (Tevez,Hargreaves, nani,Anderson) I hardly remember our guys doing swift business.
 

El Zoido

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I think the thing is United can buy bigger than City.

As Pep said last pre-season


Following the ban being quashed for CL:



City can't afford 80-90M transfers like United can, so they buy players for around 50M I think, and they depend more on the system.

They still work within FFP, but I genuinely think PSG with Mbappe and Neymar are the most broken with transfers.

The Torres and Ake signings kind of show that City really can't do those transfers like Sancho with UEFA looking over them (in my opinion) United can because they have the revenue stream to do so.
They can’t afford to sign a player for £80m but have no problems signing five players for £50m a piece. Has Pep borrowed Essien’s calculator?
 

Jezpeza

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Ake and Ferran Torres, Seems their transfer standards are dropping or they looking for some bargains ?

OR they can only sign these type of players if they strictly follow FPP rules?
I think Torres is an up and coming option and i dont think Ake will be a first choice, dont see them playing two Left footed centre halves. I just dont think pep wants stones or otamendi. They will sign another centre back to partner laporte
 

Damien

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True, Apart from 2007 summer (Tevez,Hargreaves, nani,Anderson) I hardly remember our guys doing swift business.
2018/19 with Fred, Dalot and Grant done before 4th July.

Our business in 2015/16 was done quickly too (Schneiderlin, Darmian Depay, Schweinsteiger), bar Martial but that one had to wait as Monaco refused to sell until they lost the qualification for the CL.
 

keithsingleton

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I mean each to their own, but I'm the opposite. If we were bought by Qatar or the Saudi's I'd never put another cent into the club, and might stop supporting altogether. Nothing would ever sit right with me again.
Might stop supporting them :confused: Not sure I could ever do that mate.. Once a red always a red.
 

Bosws87

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City have got a huge overall to do in the next season or two if this is the calibre they are going for, i'm really not worried.

They hit the jackpot with the spine of their team over the dominance will be nowhere near as easy to pick out the gems like Silva, Kompany and Aguero for reasonable prices.
 

sparx99

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I wonder who they might want for RCB. Presumably Ake is Laportes backup. Stones will be 2nd choice to whoever else they sign.
 

Cassidy

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I wonder who they might want for RCB. Presumably Ake is Laportes backup. Stones will be 2nd choice to whoever else they sign.
You mean Garcia will be second choice? Stones will be sold
 

Kasper

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I think the thing is United can buy bigger than City (single transfers), if United wanted Ake I think they would have put up a fight, maybe there are bigger targets out there, of Lindelof is deemed good enough for the next campaigb.

City had a stroke of luck with Kompany who was a stalwart in defence and he's not replaceable for City.

As Pep said last pre-season.


Following the ban being quashed for CL:



City can't afford 80-90M transfers like United can, so they buy players for around 50M I think, and they depend more on the system.

They still work within FFP, but I genuinely think PSG with Mbappe and Neymar are the most broken with transfers.

The Torres and Ake signings kind of show that City really can't do those transfers like Sancho with UEFA looking over them (in my opinion) United can because they have the revenue stream to do so.

Ake is a great player but the signings they make at the back does show that fighting fair financially they are a tier below United.

Pogba, Maguire, Alexis, Sancho shows that.
Peps quotes are completely shallow. He just says that to go against the perception that City are buying their way to trophies with money they didn't earn.
City can easily fork out 100m+ but so far they barely have because they seem to prefer quantity. I mean they've signed so many 40m+ players you completely lose count of them all because they burn to them so quickly.
The amount he has spent on Fullbacks and center backs is insane.
 

HowYouDoin

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Smalling is better than Ake. Thats all. Thats the post. We already have a better player on our books than the player they just bought.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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Ake and Ferran Torres, Seems their transfer standards are dropping or they looking for some bargains ?

OR they can only sign these type of players if they strictly follow FPP rules?
They also don't need a drastic upgrade in quality, especially in attack while they still have de Bruyne, Sterling etc and Foden coming through, provided Aguero returns well. They do need a quality option in defensive midfield to replace Fernandinho and Guardiola is especially fussed about that position, so that's likely where they'll break the bank.
 

Superunknown

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Stones is gone. Their options will likely be Laporte, Ake, Garcia and new CB/Otamendi.
Those seem like good/great options for the centre back positions over the course of a season. Not sure what the situation with Otamendi is right now, but I thought he was a decent player?
 

vodrake

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Transfer window wouldn't be a transfer window without Pep buying a CB.
Expect a massive bid for a Full back in the next few days, who everyone will hype up only for them to completely disappear 2 weeks into the season
 

DannyDee

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Pretty crazy fee for what they are getting. I don't think these Covid discounts are going to apply, at least to transfers within England. I know Sane had them in a rough spot, but the price difference here does not come close to reflecting the disparity. Sane got 40.9m before add-ons so it will be curious to see how this deal is structured.

This makes me think this transfer season it may be wise to go poaching through Europe moreso than usual due to the disparity in TV money.
 

SqualorVictoria

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They can’t afford to sign a player for £80m but have no problems signing five players for £50m a piece. Has Pep borrowed Essien’s calculator?
Which five players? Currently it would be around 60m for two. Also, obviously wages of such players will be way less.
 

SER19

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Peps quotes are completely shallow. He just says that to go against the perception that City are buying their way to trophies with money they didn't earn.
City can easily fork out 100m+ but so far they barely have because they seem to prefer quantity. I mean they've signed so many 40m+ players you completely lose count of them all because they burn to them so quickly.
The amount he has spent on Fullbacks and center backs is insane.
Agree. This notion is the most blatantly transparent lie in football. Secondly, I've said this before but ten players in history have ever been sold for more than 80m. It is not commonplace. After that big money fees are almost always in the 50-80 category in recent years and City do this very regularly. It is such a weak attempt at pretending he is not the among the biggest spenders in Pl history despite not being there for long and despite de Bruyne sterling Silva kompany Aguero and fernandinho all being there already. Basically the spine of his success was already signed and he still spent like a madman and still does. He's a chequebook manager
 

sp_107

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They are capable of doing more transfers if they want to. They always act fast so not a surprise they are swiftly doing business in this window.


2017/18

  • Laporte £58.5m
  • Mendy £51.75m
  • Walker £47.43m
  • Bernardo £45m
  • Ederson £36m
  • Danilo £27m
  • Douglas £10.8m
  • Harrison £3.6m
  • Kayode £3.42m
  • Ilic £2.25m
2016/17

  • Stones £50.04m
  • Sane £45.45m
  • Jesus £28.8m
  • Gundogan £24.3m
  • Nolito £16.2m
  • Bravo £16.2m
  • Moreno £4.95m
  • Rulli £4.23m
  • Zinchenko £1.8m
  • Mari £180k

Imagine if ED has to to 10 transfers in a single window (even you include IN's and OUT's)
 

acnumber9

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This. People talk about how much United spend in transfer fees vs City, but the real benefit of having unlimited money is the freedom to just move on players who don't work out.

Look at Mangala, Hart, Bony... they can just flog them for peanuts, whereas any other club has to get a reasonable price for their cast-offs (hence why we're still stuck with Jones, Smalling etc).
United lack common sense though. They handed out contracts to players like Rojo to protect their asset. The problem there is nobody wanted to sign him anyway so all we did was extend a wage burden. United could’ve done the same because selling for peanuts is infinitely better than keeping players so long they can’t sell them at all while continuing to pay them wages nobody else will.
 

Bilbo

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I'd be slightly underwhelmed if United signed him, so I can't say I'm concerned about City doing so.
 

Adam-Utd

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He's a back up for Laporte anyway surely? can't see them playing together.
 

DWelbz19

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2018/19 with Fred, Dalot and Grant done before 4th July.

Our business in 2015/16 was done quickly too (Schneiderlin, Darmian Depay, Schweinsteiger), bar Martial but that one had to wait as Monaco refused to sell until they lost the qualification for the CL.
We don’t let facts get in the way of moaning and narratives in the Transfer section
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Ake and Ferran Torres, Seems their transfer standards are dropping or they looking for some bargains ?

OR they can only sign these type of players if they strictly follow FPP rules?
Ake probably starts for them to be fair. He’s better than Stones, Otamemdi & García.
 

Sylar

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Bit weird they have done this already knowing thats how much Bournemouth want.

They should be offering 30m, then 35m, and then 2 weeks before season starts and after pre-season, then agree the 41m. Its the way to go nowadays.