Bonucci

[City64]

Italian media sources via twitter today reporting Bonucci has agreed personel terms with MCFC ..............

Wow , what a center back . Here is hoping !

[Dimples]

Italian media sources via twitter today reporting Bonucci has agreed personel terms with MCFC ..............

Wow , what a center back . Here is hoping !

Who are MCFC;)

[City64]

Italian media sources via twitter today reporting Bonucci has agreed personel terms with MCFC ..............

Wow , what a center back . Here is hoping !

Who are MCFC;)

Always MCFC for us old uns ! ;-)

[Mase]

He'll probably take longer than a day to get up to speed with the Prem and we'll all hate him and call him shit.

[PeterParker]

Yes please.

[Im_Spartacus]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

[South Stand Balti]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

The transfer fee is relevant to age but the salary isn't. The fee over 5 years would be spread at around £8m a year (assuming £40m ish fee). I would sign him if we can and would prefer him instead of stones, by a fucking mile, if the choice is between the two. The trick is to know if there is any truth in this or if his agent is playing games.....I don't have a clue which it is though.

[Dameerto]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

It's sounding increasingly likely that we're interested in him, but the club are on record denying we were rejected at £38m for him - Jamie Jackson seems to be the 'source' for the £51m figure which he says is a second offer from us, and I still maintain that this number is a work of fiction.

[zuricity]

Can't believe anyone ever fell for that holistic bullshit.

[City64]

Kompany and Bonucci possibly the 2 best center backs in the world and true leaders . It doesn't get any better than that !

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

What's it got to do with holism?

I share your reservations about the transfer.

[Im_Spartacus]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

What's it got to do with holism?

I share your reservations about the transfer.

On the holistic front, only time will tell whether we simply continue to throw good money after bad (if we signed Bonnuci, that would be best part of 150m euros on 3 centre halves in 18 months), and whether our scouting network will ever earn its money.

I just wonder whether in this era we will ever sign a player who our scouting network have spotted under the radar of the top clubs but goes on to be a roaring success in the manner of Kompany/Zabba, (and in a position we need) and will that scouting network ever identify a 16 year old with the potential to play first team football by age 20, and the club have a joined up plan to develop them into the first team.

Everything we do on the transfer / development front has seemed completely random since the holistic comments.

[PrezIke]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

What's it got to do with holism?

I share your reservations about the transfer.

If this transfer goes through it says that Pep has little faith in our central defenders, perhaps other than Vinnie, who is sadly a sick note. It indicates other things as well.

He is responding to the pressure to win the CL and PL ASAP and knows defence is a key weakness in the team. Given the options of real quality out there for this position, and in particular his kind of ball playing centre half, it may be worth it to spend big on a 29 year old who doesn't really rely on pace anyway, but also who can lead the defence. Nico and Mangala, if either or both stay, do not possess the temperament to do so, as we saw this season when Komps was out. They need someone to direct them a bit, I think and this fills that void.

If we landed Laporte this may not be happening, but it also could indicate Pep is prioritising this position over central midfield/Kroos, because this could undermine that potential transfer. This may then mean he is willing to give some of our young players, the 2 Garcias for example, a chance to make it into the team as backup central-ish midfielders.

It could also mean that Nasri and Ferando are staying. With Nasri if we don't add more quality to the attack from midfield and we sell Nasri we are trading off too much talent and not adding enough. We will need someone with experience then who can play several positions in midfield, which Nasri can do if needs be, and is a threat to score, and rarely loses the ball. Fernando gives us another option to backup Fernandino as well, but this of course leaves us vulnerable to relying on Gundogan to stay fit with Fernandinho.

If we miss on Kroos, actually Thiago seems like a likely plan B I could see happening.

[zuricity]

We shouldn't be in the market for 29 year olds and that includes Messi.

Let MDM be the example of making bad decisions about old and past it players.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Is the rumoured amount not a lot of money for a 29 year old?

The transfer essentially works out at costing 20m a year over a 5 year contract when you add in 200k/week for wages, for a player who towards the end of that contract will almost certainly be past the peak of his powers

I'm confused. This doesn't sound very fucking holistic.

What's it got to do with holism?

I share your reservations about the transfer.

On the holistic front, only time will tell whether we simply continue to throw good money after bad (if we signed Bonnuci, that would be best part of 150m euros on 3 centre halves in 18 months), and whether our scouting network will ever earn its money.

I just wonder whether in this era we will ever sign a player who our scouting network have spotted under the radar of the top clubs but goes on to be a roaring success in the manner of Kompany/Zabba, (and in a position we need) and will that scouting network ever identify a 16 year old with the potential to play first team football by age 20, and the club have a joined up plan to develop them into the first team.

Everything we do on the transfer / development front has seemed completely random since the holistic comments.

The holistic sound byte was a dig at Mancini, essentially because he worked against his colleagues instead of with them.

[Mase]

We shouldn't be in the market for 29 year olds and that includes Messi.

Let MDM be the example of making bad decisions about old and past it players.

Bonucci is past it?

[nottsblue]

£50m for a defender, albeit a good one, last season would have been considered extremely pricey. But that was before the TV deal kicked in. Now we are seeing vastly inflated prices for quite frankly, average players. If we are going to sign players at the peak of their game we have to pay up. I'd sooner pay £50m for Bonucci than £40m for Stones.

Pep wants a new centre half. Or maybe even two. Thus we will be getting a new centre half or two. Might as well go balls deep and get the best available at the moment

[zuricity]

We shouldn't be in the market for 29 year olds and that includes Messi.

Let MDM be the example of making bad decisions about old and past it players.

Bonucci is past it?

Nope but he is very much the wrong side of 25.

[Im_Spartacus]

Yeah, I'm aware of the difficulties with Mancini, however the fact remains that it would appear there is still no joined up approach to player recruitment & development.

For any enterprise turning over £400m of which nearly half goes on wages, and a significant chunk of the remainder on transfer fees, to seemingly have no clear succession plan and be turning to a 29 year old for x million is an embarrassing admission of failure at both youth and senior scouting level regarding our planning for replacing MDM and possibly Kompany. The fault doesn't lie just with Pellegrini who was paid for short term success, but with tricky who sanctioned the signings and must be held accountable for the long term plans.

It's not my money at the end of the day, but all these short term fixes seem like a crazy way to run a business

[PrezIke]

We shouldn't be in the market for 29 year olds and that includes Messi.

Let MDM be the example of making bad decisions about old and past it players.

I get the concern, but we are trying to win trophies this season with Pep's style of play now, so what do you propose we do about the defence to help solve this problem?

I get that some want Mangala to stay, but I find that hard to see unless we are unable to buy someone to replace him because his weaknesses are directly those that don't fit Pep's style. Nico gets a lot of criticism from fans for good reasons due to poor decision making at times, but he is much better with the ball than Mangala and can make the occasional good through ball. He is also not as good with his left foot, so we need someone who is at least okay with it, but that is probably going to be Stones. I have a feeling Pep may want to go 3 at the back, so that would mean Stones-Bonucci-Nico and Vinnie to replace whoever when he is fit.

Bonucci is still in his prime, does not rely on athleticism and the main issue is that we won't be able to sell on to get decent money back, but he's someone who can step in and make an immediate impact. That is surely the belief if we do this. He is exceptional with the ball at his feet, to the point where he is a weapon on offense due to his incredible vision for a central defender that I am not sure you can call place such a label any other ball playing centre half.

Laporte, who was clearly option #1, and Stones would have been risky with their ages, but Laporte has been more consistently successful, and from what I understand possesses some leadership skills and is a highly intelligent player on the pitch, which cannot be said of our other centre halves.

We are not going to buy or utilise traditional central defenders because we won't play in a way that suits their talents.