Wow.

The players may force a move, becomes very difficult for the club if the players want out. 7th place and no Europe and no real way to spend big to improve the team as was probably the project that was sold to them. Plenty of better teams than Newcastle will want them both, prime age in their careers - do they want to hang around to see if Saudi backed Newcastle works?

Jack Grealish, £100m for 14 goals in 125 games for the most dominant team English football has seen. A colossal failure of a signing that gets swept under the carpet due to what the team has won so his direct contribution isn’t questioned.
City were desperate for a goal in the cup final and he was left on the bench.

Welcome back to Southampton. It will probably be only for 1 year but who knows. Can’t stand Leeds.

I was actually wondering to myself if this was going to be his last season. 300k a week. If he's kept on the books its not about his talent but because he's English.

Cocky but admirable spirit. Now he has to make it happen

Get ready for Nketiah to Southampton then

Prime, hungry Rashford would be fantastic for us. When he's in the mood, he's a fit. The current incarnation? Hell no. Lazy, uncommitted, moody, off the field issues at times.

If he can't be arsed to commit to his childhood club that he came up form the youth, how can we expect the same? The amount of wages won't be worth it. I hope its just the rumor mill babble.

That said, if he's bought I'll support the club's decision. If Arteta is serious he might possible be seeing him as a similar reclamation project like Havertz. Lightening will likely not strike twice, Mikel.

That's a good call. If I was the manager of Southampton I might look around at a few of our fringe players : Vieira, Nketiah, Tierney and Elneny. Whether they are interested I am not sure.

I think Arteta will retain Vieira in the squad.

Tierney is injury prone, otherwise a good addition to any team.

Nketiah should weigh his options carefully. I believe his next move is career defining. Don't think he will be first choice for any of the other Top 6 teams or top European clubs. I think he should go to a team, like Southampton, where his chances will increase.

Elneny will likely leave England in his next move.

Arsenal are interested in Stade Rennais winger Desire Doue, 18, and are prepared to compete with numerous clubs including Tottenham for his signature. (Mirror)

I know it’s all part of the transfer nonsense and tomorrow it’ll be 5 others, but this guys YouTube was the only one out of loads that made me genuinely go wow!

When looking for Man Utds placings over the last 20-30 years, I noticed that according to TransferMarkt they never got relegated in the 70's..




https://www.transfermarkt.com/mancheste ... verein/985

Southampton have Adam Armstrong up front. He's coming off a season far better than Eddie has managed even if it was in the Championship. I reckon Southampton will need to buy 5 or 6 players to have any chance of staying up, so I doubt Eddie will be on their list.

Adam Armstrong has scored 52 in his last two championship seasons and 4 in his last 68 premier league games.

Think he gets awarded the Darren Huckerby trophy for being too good for the championship but not good enough for the prem. Add to that Che Adams is leaving I think a striker is very high up the list. Whether they can get one good enough to matter and whether Eddie is it is another matter.

They also have a GK problem, so Ramsdale would be a brilliant get for them. Think he’d obviously prefer a team in Europe but that list is really only Chelsea in the conference league.

Or City if Ederson goes to Saudi…

Seen a few rumours were after Quinten Timber, Jurrien’s brother. Who were the last brothers we had in the squad?

Quinten is a central midfielder

The might be a correlation in how successful our first team is against the interest in our fringe players.
Man City just sold another youngster who never made an appearance for them for £20m as part of a mandatory buy option for Southampton getting promoted

Watching Martinelli look so good on the right wing in our final game of the season made me think that slotting in as a right winger is a lot easier than left winger in our side. On the right you have Ben White and Ødegaard in harmony that makes the RW job easier because of the support and dragging away other players. Our left back and left mid don’t really do that.

I do wonder whether part of the evolution of the team goes extra attacking in some games and plays inverted full backs on both sides and a maybe someone like Vieira for the left mid role to do a similar creative job to Ødegaard on the right. So you end up with a true 2-3-5 formation, with both full backs tucking in alongside Rice and then a front 5 from left to right of Martinelli/Vieira/Havertz/Ødegaard/Saka

Leslie & Dennis

If god forbid Ødegaard is injured and out for a little while, who takes his slot? And what would be your set up?

Don't recall Leslie Bergkamp playing for us?

Maybe with a well placed encouraging nudge from Walcott.

I don't remember personally but apparently Chris Willock played a couple of League Cup matches for us, making him and Joe another pair.

Thanks Ash, I'm glad I took the time to watch that. Interesting player.

Take your point but '"colossal failure" is a bit strong perhaps. Aside from the fact that he has played over 100 games as part of a side that's won everything, focussing on the goals alone (as you have chosen to do) he wasn't that much more prolific at Villa where he was a much bigger fish.

You're also overlooking the likelihood that Guardiola has given him very specific instructions which may not necessarily involve shooting or finishing off moves. Thierry Henry's goals dropped off significantly when he was playing for Guardiola. Not especially fond of the guy but unfortunately he really does know what he's doing. Which is not to say he's infallible, but I don't see Kalvin Phillips getting 125 games for example.

April 1974 never happened apparently. The website can't be trusted.

Kevin and Sol

I haven't heard of this guy but a gooner I know who is Turkish is raving about this guy. Said he's the answer to our Left Back prayers and is excited we are linked to him. I heard about our links and asked him. He's not a Faner fan but said the guy reeks havoc on his Turkish team.

Ok, but even if we add in his 18 assists for City he’s only averaging a goal contribution every 4 games. It was every 3 games at Villa. He should be performing at a level above what he did at Villa. And that is a Villa side averaging 50 goals a season rather than 90 odd that City score. 10 yard passes to De Bruyne who smacks one in the top corner is a nice way to pad out your stats. If he’s not in the City side to score goals or get assists what is he doing?
Of course Pep knows what he’s doing but he can get transfers wrong. Matheus Nunes, Phillips and for me Grealish. If Grealish had signed for any other big team for £100m and produced exactly the same performances and return he’d be under a lot more scrutiny.

Even if we go past the stats and just watch him play - when Pep trusts him to play - he’s not really a threat. He keeps the ball and draws fouls. I don’t see him beat a man, play an incisive pass or shoot. I think he could move back to a Villa-like team and shine again but right now he’s not doing it for City. He’s become better known for his drunken celebrations and nights out after winning a trophy than anything he’s done on the pitch for City.

Hi Vince, he reminds me of the type of player Wenger would have signed from 1997-2003, and then missed out on from 2004 onwards to Chelsea and the like once they cottoned on to what he was doing!

I think it’s simpler rich, no one asks questions when you’re winning.

Things that you get criticism for when you’re one of the pack you get praised for when you’ve won the big trophies. Playing badly for instance.

Martial is leaving Man Utd, I don't know where he's going but he's out of contract. He's 28. Not a bad age. A wee bit too injury prone.

Worth a punt?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/arti ... vv4qlv077o

Exactly that. Which is my entire point. Proper journalism should cut through that and judges things better

No!

G’Day Old Man

Just started this - might interest you. It’d be something to read you as you receive your daily maple syrup massage.

Just renewed. I assume we get the 4 home CL fixtures but what about the FA Cup?

Anyone know?

LOL....this strong of a no?

What's our transfer budget? 150 million? 200 million? Working under these 'constraints'
Possible summer buys.

LB Kadiaglu
CB Kato (leave out if pushes the budget over)
CM Guimaraes (players plus cash)
Striker Zirkee or Smith Rowe plus cash for Isak

*Denis

https://www.vavel.com/en/football/2015/ ... mpton.html

Yes, a factually inaccurate poor attempt at a joke.

My usual m.o.