Transfer rumours

[Dubciteh]

I see Sam Lee reports that Southampton are closing in on signing Romeo Lavia with a buy back clause. Signing Kalvin Phillips made a move away pretty inevitable. What of Kayky?

10m is great money!

I assume with egan riley we will get the buyback clause as it can be part of the reason we loan harwood bellis.

Egan Riley is out of contract mate. All Burnley have to do is agree compensation with us.

Yeah i get that but I wouldn’t be loaning them harwood bellis unless they play ball on Egan Riley if that makes sense?

[branny]

That’s one way to make sure we don’t attract decent kids to the academy in the future.

As an elite level team? Of course we will. Some players know they are CFG signings with little hope of making the first team. Hasn't stopped them signing. The % that go on to make it at the club is obviously going to be very minimal but having City on your cv will make clubs take notice as is currently the case with the youngsters that are heading out of the door. There's plenty of decent players around who haven't made it at City but have gone on to have decent careers.

[nottsblue]

That’s one way to make sure we don’t attract decent kids to the academy in the future.

As an elite level team? Of course we will. Some players know they are CFG signings with little hope of making the first team. Hasn't stopped them signing. The % that go on to make it at the club is obviously going to be very minimal but having City on your cv will make clubs take notice as is currently the case with the youngsters that are heading out of the door. There's plenty of decent players around who haven't made it at City but have gone on to have decent careers.

Exactly

You have the best education off the field, which parents will love

And then train amongst some of the best players in the country in the best facilities. That alone will be a major draw for most aspiring players. And as Branny says if they don’t make it at City the drop down is still to a decent club. Look at who we have sold players to over the last few years. Dortmund, Southampton, Schalke, Leverkusen, Leipzig, Leeds, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona to name a few top flight teams. Then there are loads of others who go to tier 2 teams as well.

[Mase]

That’s one way to make sure we don’t attract decent kids to the academy in the future.

As an elite level team? Of course we will. Some players know they are CFG signings with little hope of making the first team. Hasn't stopped them signing. The % that go on to make it at the club is obviously going to be very minimal but having City on your cv will make clubs take notice as is currently the case with the youngsters that are heading out of the door. There's plenty of decent players around who haven't made it at City but have gone on to have decent careers.

Exactly

You have the best education off the field, which parents will love

And then train amongst some of the best players in the country in the best facilities. That alone will be a major draw for most aspiring players. And as Branny says if they don’t make it at City the drop down is still to a decent club. Look at who we have sold players to over the last few years. Dortmund, Southampton, Schalke, Leverkusen, Leipzig, Leeds, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona to name a few top flight teams. Then there are loads of others who go to tier 2 teams as well.

Sorry worded it wrong, that’s one way to make sure we don’t keep hold of decent talent in the future.

[branny]

That’s one way to make sure we don’t attract decent kids to the academy in the future.

As an elite level team? Of course we will. Some players know they are CFG signings with little hope of making the first team. Hasn't stopped them signing. The % that go on to make it at the club is obviously going to be very minimal but having City on your cv will make clubs take notice as is currently the case with the youngsters that are heading out of the door. There's plenty of decent players around who haven't made it at City but have gone on to have decent careers.

Exactly

You have the best education off the field, which parents will love

And then train amongst some of the best players in the country in the best facilities. That alone will be a major draw for most aspiring players. And as Branny says if they don’t make it at City the drop down is still to a decent club. Look at who we have sold players to over the last few years. Dortmund, Southampton, Schalke, Leverkusen, Leipzig, Leeds, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona to name a few top flight teams. Then there are loads of others who go to tier 2 teams as well.

Sorry worded it wrong, that’s one way to make sure we don’t keep hold of decent talent in the future.

Foden has shown there is a pathway to the first team IF you're good enough but as I said, they'll be few and far between. Most will get the grounding and be moved on at a profit providing funds to buy players already at the level we want.

[nottsblue]

That’s one way to make sure we don’t attract decent kids to the academy in the future.

As an elite level team? Of course we will. Some players know they are CFG signings with little hope of making the first team. Hasn't stopped them signing. The % that go on to make it at the club is obviously going to be very minimal but having City on your cv will make clubs take notice as is currently the case with the youngsters that are heading out of the door. There's plenty of decent players around who haven't made it at City but have gone on to have decent careers.

Exactly

You have the best education off the field, which parents will love

And then train amongst some of the best players in the country in the best facilities. That alone will be a major draw for most aspiring players. And as Branny says if they don’t make it at City the drop down is still to a decent club. Look at who we have sold players to over the last few years. Dortmund, Southampton, Schalke, Leverkusen, Leipzig, Leeds, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona to name a few top flight teams. Then there are loads of others who go to tier 2 teams as well.

Sorry worded it wrong, that’s one way to make sure we don’t keep hold of decent talent in the future.

We have all the facilities to give young players the chance to grow as professionals and to a certain degree it’s up to them to show they are good enough.

I know opinion is somewhat slightly divided on this subject. Some of us would like to see some of these young lads given more minutes, especially in games where we are winning comfortably and I myself am very much in this camp. But equally as a club these days we are the best domestically and we want to win the ultimate prize in European football and as such we can’t afford to play too many untried players as the margins between winning and losing are so small. It’s a catch-22 situation

So only the very best will make it to the first team which thus means the vast majority won’t make it with us. And we can’t keep players indefinitely on the hope they might come good next year or the year after. There will be next crop of players in the year behind who are chomping at the bit as well.

Lavia as an example is a DM. He has Rodri in the first team in his position. Last year Rodri was pivotal to our success and is one of the best in his position in Europe. And we have just bought an established England international in Phillips as cover. So for someone like Lavia to progress his career he needs to be playing and he isn’t going to get that chance at City so it makes sense for both him and the club to sell him so he gets minutes elsewhere and we get funds in the coffers. Win/win

Same for the goalie Bazuna. And no doubt most of the others that move on. Of course there are always going to be players who excel at their new clubs and then we question why we sold them. Sancho at Dortmund is a prime example. But had he stayed would his career have followed the same trajectory? Probably not as he had Sterling and Sane in front of him. But as mentioned earlier, hindsight is everyone’s best friend. We make decisions based on probability at a moment in time

[Mase]

That’s one way to make sure we don’t attract decent kids to the academy in the future.

As an elite level team? Of course we will. Some players know they are CFG signings with little hope of making the first team. Hasn't stopped them signing. The % that go on to make it at the club is obviously going to be very minimal but having City on your cv will make clubs take notice as is currently the case with the youngsters that are heading out of the door. There's plenty of decent players around who haven't made it at City but have gone on to have decent careers.

Exactly

You have the best education off the field, which parents will love

And then train amongst some of the best players in the country in the best facilities. That alone will be a major draw for most aspiring players. And as Branny says if they don’t make it at City the drop down is still to a decent club. Look at who we have sold players to over the last few years. Dortmund, Southampton, Schalke, Leverkusen, Leipzig, Leeds, Sporting Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Barcelona to name a few top flight teams. Then there are loads of others who go to tier 2 teams as well.

Sorry worded it wrong, that’s one way to make sure we don’t keep hold of decent talent in the future.

Foden has shown there is a pathway to the first team IF you're good enough but as I said, they'll be few and far between. Most will get the grounding and be moved on at a profit providing funds to buy players already at the level we want.

Foden can’t be used as an example - he’s literally a City fan. If the club came to you and said “quit your job for a year and you can be part of the squad. You’ll never play but what an experience” I’m guessing 90% of us would say yes, because we support City.

I guess we’ll see what will happen.

[branny]

Foden can’t be used as an example - he’s literally a City fan. If the club came to you and said “quit your job for a year and you can be part of the squad. You’ll never play but what an experience” I’m guessing 90% of us would say yes, because we support City.

I guess we’ll see what will happen.

Khaldoon said that 85% of the talent entering the academy is local so highly likely that a fair few will support City. Foden has been at the club since he was 4 so more than enough opportunity to show him the door if he wasn’t good enough. I think his talent overrides who he supports on this occasion.

[Mase]

Foden can’t be used as an example - he’s literally a City fan. If the club came to you and said “quit your job for a year and you can be part of the squad. You’ll never play but what an experience” I’m guessing 90% of us would say yes, because we support City.

I guess we’ll see what will happen.

Khaldoon said that 85% of the talent entering the academy is local so highly likely that a fair few will support City. Foden has been at the club since he was 4 so more than enough opportunity to show him the door if he wasn’t good enough. I think his talent overrides who he supports on this occasion.

That’s not what we’re talking about mate. If Foden was held back from the first team longer than he should have been, it wouldn’t have mattered - because he supports City.

If he didn’t and supported the Rags, who’s to say he wouldn’t have done what Sancho did?

[branny]

Foden can’t be used as an example - he’s literally a City fan. If the club came to you and said “quit your job for a year and you can be part of the squad. You’ll never play but what an experience” I’m guessing 90% of us would say yes, because we support City.

I guess we’ll see what will happen.

Khaldoon said that 85% of the talent entering the academy is local so highly likely that a fair few will support City. Foden has been at the club since he was 4 so more than enough opportunity to show him the door if he wasn’t good enough. I think his talent overrides who he supports on this occasion.

That’s not what we’re talking about mate. If Foden was held back from the first team longer than he should have been, it wouldn’t have mattered - because he supports City.

If he didn’t and supported the Rags, who’s to say he wouldn’t have done what Sancho did?

We just have to trust the powers that be. I think so far they've got it right. There's nobody out there that has been a great loss up to now.

[Mase]

Foden can’t be used as an example - he’s literally a City fan. If the club came to you and said “quit your job for a year and you can be part of the squad. You’ll never play but what an experience” I’m guessing 90% of us would say yes, because we support City.

I guess we’ll see what will happen.

Khaldoon said that 85% of the talent entering the academy is local so highly likely that a fair few will support City. Foden has been at the club since he was 4 so more than enough opportunity to show him the door if he wasn’t good enough. I think his talent overrides who he supports on this occasion.

That’s not what we’re talking about mate. If Foden was held back from the first team longer than he should have been, it wouldn’t have mattered - because he supports City.

If he didn’t and supported the Rags, who’s to say he wouldn’t have done what Sancho did?

We just have to trust the powers that be. I think so far they've got it right. There's nobody out there that has been a great loss up to now.

That’s true, but I’d say this is the first crop of players we’ve had since the academy has been turned into what it is now, that have “graduated”. We’ll see in a few years.

[john@staustell]

Bottom line is if we just fill the team with academy products, we'll slip slowly and inexorably down the table. End of story.

[Mase]

Bottom line is if we just fill the team with academy products, we'll slip slowly and inexorably down the table. End of story.

I can’t imagine anyone is stupid enough to demand we fill the team with academy products.

[Mase]

Neymar apparently off from PSG.

[Nick]

Neymar apparently off from PSG.

Been down a well mase i cant see who would take him unless they subsidise wages for barca

[sheblue]

Jesus and Sterling going is fine, we have got ready made replacements. But i see rumors of Ake going to Chelsea. If Ake goes we will 100% have to replace him with someone of equal or better quality. That won't be easy.
I really hope it's bollocks and he doesn't go.

[nottsblue]

Neymar apparently off from PSG.

Been down a well mase i cant see who would take him unless they subsidise wages for barca

Could see him at Newcastle

[Nick]

Neymar apparently off from PSG.

Been down a well mase i cant see who would take him unless they subsidise wages for barca

Could see him at Newcastle

You could see neymar living in newcastle?

Aside from that, yes i could.

[nottsblue]

Neymar apparently off from PSG.

Been down a well mase i cant see who would take him unless they subsidise wages for barca

Could see him at Newcastle

You could see neymar living in newcastle?

Aside from that, yes i could.

Very few clubs would pay him the wages he would accept

Actually think he will stay at PSG. Realistically only Chelsea and Madrid and possibly Newcastle or the rags could/would pay the 300k+ a week needed

[Dubciteh]

Jesus and Sterling going is fine, we have got ready made replacements. But i see rumors of Ake going to Chelsea. If Ake goes we will 100% have to replace him with someone of equal or better quality. That won't be easy.
I really hope it's bollocks and he doesn't go.

Looking more and more likely. 40m is being touted so barely our money back. Doesnt make a lot of sense unless he has kicked up a fuss and wants to go. We invested two years in him and just as he is coming good we let him go for a slight loss only to have to replace him for someone who likely costs more and will need another settling period.