Jamie Carragher sits down with an agenda and then tries to fit his narrative after he starts writing.
Was Ederson considered better than David De Gea? Were City’s centre-backs Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones preferable to Eric Bailly and Phil Jones? Did United fans want Fernandinho or Nemanja Matic?
Flawed argument here, only explores one side. What about De Bruyne, D. Silva and Aguero? All of them considered top 10 players in the league. He mentions CBs but neglects to mention Kompany who when fit is always straight into the starting lineup.
United broke the world transfer record to sign Paul Pogba, and then made Romelu Lukaku the most expensive Premier League player of last summer. Which English clubs made bigger statements of intent?
And Guardiola bought a CB for 50m then next summer shattered the record for a full back only to break it again for another full back 10 days later. 100m for 2 full backs. Pogba's fee is already a "bargain" (brackets because it's still a lot of money) despite him joining less than 2 years ago.
How many United or England fans would have swapped Marcus Rashford for Raheem Sterling a year ago? And when Anthony Martial first arrived from Monaco, was his reputation greater than that of Leroy Sane when he joined City?
Although he was signed before Mourinho’s appointment, Luke Shaw was a £30 million full-back – more expensive than City striker Gabriel Jesus. The United manager’s complaints about the value of the squads do not add up.
A lot of fans would have swapped the two. But yea, doesn't matter that Sterling has been playing far longer than Rashford does it? Martial's record when he joined was "who is that?". Sané's reputation was "City has bought one of Germany's biggest talents". We did as well with Martial but he didn't have that reputation yet.
Shaw is a 30m full back (not a José purchased) that's pretty much been unfit the entire Mourinho tenure but Mendy gets the injury treatment from Carragher.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pogba and Lukaku delivered elsewhere prior to moving to Old Trafford. Have they improved under Mourinho? That is the troubling question for the United manager. It is starting to sound like he has no patience or will to make what he has better.
Mkhi? No. Some players don't adapt and work out. That happens all the time with transfers. Has Bernardo Silva improved under Pep? Lukaku has been here 6 months. How good was Sterling last season? Pogba has certainly improved and there's a massive difference when he's absent.
City's transfer policy does involve lavish spending, but some fees have often been more eye-catching than the names. Of Guardiola’s signings only Ilkay Gundogan and Benjamin Mendy – players absent with injury for much of their time in Manchester – arrived as fully-established 'stars' elsewhere.
Plain bullshit from Carragher. Ederson was a fully established goalkeeper that played well in the CL prior season. Kyle Walker? Never heard of him before? Danilo had played for Porto and Real Madrid, what a shit player he must have been. Mendy was established but not Bernardo Silva? Claudio Bravo was the Barca keeper and Nolito a Spanish international that chose City over a Spanish giant.
I have heard all the arguments about how De Bruyne – just like Mo Salah - was not so developed at Chelsea during the Mourinho era, and Chelsea did not suffer given they won the title twice in three years after selling him. But would other managers have discarded such a talent, or would they have found a way to nurture it in the long-term interests of the club? It is hard to believe Guardiola would have managed De Bruyne on a daily basis at a young age and not seen what he might become.
Pure speculations. Mourinho always sell players that want to leave. He sold Mata and Lukaku as well. He sold Robben to Real. If players don't want to play for him he sells them. Do other managers do that? Yes, plenty do.
De Bruyne was an excellent player before Pep’s appointment. Now he is the best player in the Premier League. David Silva has been revitalised with a change of position in central midfield. Who else would have put him there? Would Fabian Delph or Otamendi be the players they are under Mourinho? Do not forget Guardiola also inherited an ageing squad and had to ship out and replace plenty of players.
Hazard, Sanchez, D. Silva and Augero are the players that were talked about in the same ilk as De Bruyne is now. Hazard has been largely absent but he's up there with De Bruyne. Pogba could be as well but he's also been largely absent. Sanchez hasn't been as good and neither has Aguero and that leaves De Bruyne and D. Silva as the top players in the league. I'm not going to argue semantics like "Kane is up there", that's irrelevant. David Silva hasn't been revitalized, he's always been great and Pep did nothing special with him, he just got him better players to work off of on either side of him.
Delph and Otamendi would not be worse under Mourinho. Would Young and Valencia be the same players under Pep? What about Rojo or Jones? See how easy it is to turn it around.
Guardiola had to ship out ageing players? Jeez, must have been difficult to let the contracts run out like that. Rooney, Carrick, Schweinsteiger just left. Both the previous manager had to replace ageing players. That's what managers have to do in football. The ageing players Pep got rid off were full backs.
Such a shit article. He should go into politics with words like that. Populist nonsense.