And who doesn't go for the money?
Kyle Walker signs for City
- Thread starter Theafonis
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I think our squad will be the strongest it's ever been at the end of the summer, so I do genuinely believe anything except a title win for Pep would be deemed a poor season. Obviously if Chelsea go and romp to 100+ points that would be unprecedented, but there's 2 or 3 clubs in the same position in terms of having to win it for it to be a good season. United included, you'll spend a fortune as well.
Announce it before the club? What a cnut!
Levy doesn't sell to the direct rivals.
Hehe.
Hehe.
Yep.
Walker - £50M
Stones - £47.5M
Ederson - £35M
Mangala - £32M
Otamendi - £32M
Bravo - £15.4M
Caballero - £6M
Total - £217.9M
Insane.
Do you think there's a significant difference between the two? The response to him being signed by Spurs was pretty muted, but it wasn't controversial to suggest he was a better player than Walker...
In fact you even had one City fan at the time saying they'd like to have signed him.
Obviously he took a while to settle, but he started the last international at right back at the expense of Walker, and Spurs didn't see any real dip in form with him being replaced. They're different players and Walker's speed is useful in City's team but I don't see any significant difference in quality, personally.
What's really insane is that I don't think there's a single signing on that list that you'd have down as an unequivocal success.
Believe me we're trying. Not working out as expected though.
I agree, Pep will need to deliver this season. In light of the money spent thus far anything less than a title will see him sacked
They've been here 16 years now.
10 ,14, 11, 10, 12 were our positions for the 5 years before they took over.
9, 10, 14, 9 and 5 were the five seasons after. In the subsequent 11 seasons, we've finshed out of the top 5 twice (in 07-09).
I'm not saying that he's had some overarching Stalinesque ten year plan. But you surely cannot deny a very clear improvement in the club's on and off pitch fortunes at a time when yes, the TV deal has been increasing, but at no greater pace than the clubs above or below us? It is not like only we have stumbled across this TV money.
This is not to say that Levy doesn't have his faults or doesn't make mistakes because he does of course.
Insane. Meanwhile, we've won the league twice in three seasons with Courtois (£8m) Azpilicueta (£7m) Cahill (£7m) Moses (£10m) as key members of our defense. Our most expensive defenders have been Luiz at ~£34m and Alonso at ~£24m.
Man City have spent a colossal amount of money on an extremely mediocre defense.
Those are strange quotes to back up the idea I was disagreeing with where people are hailing him as a definitive upgrade. Muted praise, at best.
He may turn out to be amazing. My point is that it's far too early to be certain that Walker won't be missed.
Nobody wants Bellerin. He fell off so far last season no-one can even find him.
Do you feel the same way about Mourinho?
Where do you stand with your champions league chances? Your best ever squad, very expensively assembled and one of the top managers in the world.
Obviously it requires some luck, but what would be a success for you in the CL?
I made this point numerous times but here we go again.
Can Pep not be discussed with dragging Jose into it?
Pep never seems to be judged on his own merits
Yeah, I think you've done well enough here. He's a finished Premier League product in his prime, who's as likely as anyone to hit the ground running, and will upgrade your first eleven from the get go. Compared to buying potential which is touch and go when it'll settle, that's worth millions today with as tight a PL as we've ever seen.
Hehe, yeah. I'm not sure Spurs are much worse off with Trippier, to be honest. But obviously strengthening a direct rival, when they're as close to winning the league as they've been for decades? That's bad business whichever way you look at it.
I wasn't trying to disprove any point, I was just using your quote as a springboard to ask you a genuine question. Do you think there's a significant difference between the two? I don't see him as an upgrade personally - I'd agree that seems very premature, and unlikely to turn out to be true. I don't think it's a big loss though. There's never been much of a difference between them, in my view.
If he didn't deliver 2 trophies in his first season, yeah. But he did.
I never compared the two, I just wondered how far his feelings extended - but they can't both win the league, and they'll both spend a fortune, so on this theory one of them has to go at the end of the season. I would always disagree with a hard and fast rule of "X has to win Y or he's sacked", because it lacks any context.
Still a bit baffled by this one. Technically he is well below the standard of a typical Guardiola player. Bellerín would have made much more sense.
He's getting paid handsomely, he's still in a competitive team that's improving (only way Spurs can improve is by winning the league and City is in the same boat...2nd, 3rd, 4th...same shit) and he's working with Pep. That's a good move.
Good deal for both clubs I'd say. City will be happy to have a PL-proven, very decent right back, Spurs will be happy with the money + Trippier.
Who cares how much they spent. They have a bottom less pit and signed two things they needed. A homegrown first team player and a proper fullback. They are much better now because of that.
Ederson?
Pep is bald as feck
Goalkeeper from Benfica.
It's one thing for Trippier to provide cover for a handful of games, quite another to be considered as your teams first choice right back at such a young age. There is no guarantee that Trippier will perform to a standard even remotely close to that of his predecessor. Forming an assessment of a player based on 500 minutes of first team football will simply never be accurate.
Relying on youth is to risky a proposition. Surely Poch will be in the market for a more tried and tested replacement
Surprised I didn't about that. 35 mil is pretty hefty
Oh right, ok. Well my answer to that would be similar. Trippier looks promising but Walker is proven quality. And proven quality will almost always be missed. A few years ago I never would have predicted he'd turn out so highly valued. Which just goes to show how unpredictably footballers can develop.
This time last year many people would have Bellerin down as the right back most likely to be a 45 million quid player. Now he's a "train wreck". Becoming first choice at a big club can hike up the pressure and expose flaws you don't see when a player has been relatively protected like Trippier has at Spurs so far.
I don't get this logic at all. They've just sold arguably the best RB in the league to a direct rival....45m really isn't a huge fee in today's market.
Levy is s fecking genius he gets away with selling all their best players and never gets any shit for it, really fecking weird.
Trippier established himself as one of the best right backs in the league, on par with Walker, 2 seasons ago. The idea he's only just come onto the scene in the last few months is a bit weird.
I can see the logic in significantly overpaying for him and I don't think he's a bad signing, really. I certainly wouldn't call him a great fullback though. He's miles behind someone like Carvajal and I'd be shocked if he went for £50m at the age of 27 myself. If you look around at the fullbacks at top clubs it becomes clear pretty quickly that you don't need to spent £30m+ to get someone as good as or better than Walker. That's what you're paying for an exceptional player, which I don't think anyone would claim he is. He's barely good enough to lock down a place for an average Top 20 international team without much depth in his position.
The fact that Davies and Trippier came in to replace Rose and Walker without much difficulty last year wasn't much of a surprise to anyone, because as good as the first choices are they clearly weren't miles ahead of their backups. Yet for some reason they're worth 5-10x the amount of their backups. Weird. Reminds me of this.
Yeah like taking us from finicial ruin to competing in the PL, I mean what has the guy done for us at all. Oh and it's not £45M, Walker is now the most exapensice English player, believe it or not.
If Jose breaches the £200m barrier this summer then sure, the fans will be expecting a strong title challenge at the very least.
Also you have to remember that United and City's situations are entirely different. We are a club in a clear state of transition and have been for 3+ seasons, certain allowances can be made, City on the otherhand have been going strong for a decade.
Agreed. Trippier can be even better considering his positioning and delivery as Walker only relied on his pace.
So I had a look into this and I'd say transfermarkt's value seems about right - half the price. Compare that to Ben Davies or Kieran Tripper at c.10m, and I'd say it's pretty fair. I've no idea what calculations go into it but they're much more in line with what I'd instinctively think. There are very few defenders worth £30m+ and Walker isn't one of them. This valuation essentially suggests he's 5x as good as most fullbacks out there. That's silly.
I'm not having a straightforward discussion with you? I don't have my own opinion when it comes to Guardiola? Whose would it be then? I'm not reading from a script
I have a perspective on Pep that comes from years of following him at my own club, a club where even an unhealthy contingent of supporters hate him as well. It's the reality of the world, there be haters - I'm not attempting to convert anyone, only provide a perspective that is often lacking. You're not the first poster to question whether I can find anything to be critical of Pep eventhough I've never even indirectly suggested he was without fault.
Although I am curious how you think Pep has any fault in the fee for Walker. I suppose even in the insurance world there's no such thing as being faultless in an accident but Alves bailing on City for more money at PSG would be a strange thing to fault Guardiola with if we're going to talk strange
Guardiola's trademark on developing footballers is to help all 11 on the pitch become better tactically & technically, to get them to play fast & naturally. He isn't known for forming stout defenders, more like great 2 way defenders that can either attack or bring the ball out of the back without fear against midfielders et al. City needed a RB, probably 2 due to their schedule and previous experiences with injuries last season - great teams need depth. Alves/Walker combo would've been ideal as Dani may not have been able to play 50-60 matches in a season at his age. Walker is a proven commodity in the Premiership for years and English, more importantly he has great pace & size at a position that was both woeful last season and vital to Pep's approach to football - attacking fullbacks.
I don't know Trippier and Pochettino probably is quite happy keeping him, dumping an unhappy player and seeing his club pocket a good chunk of change in the process - however, there's no question that he has also strengthened a rival.
After 20 games, half of which came as a sub, you consider Trippier to be one of the best full backs in the league? That's an almighty stretch any way you slice it. Valencia alone is far superior.
Not doubting his talent mind.
Such a young age, youth. Do you know who Trippier is? He is almost 27.
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