January 23 transfer window.

[PeterParker]

What a fantastic piece of business from Man United signing the leader of the austrian national team, according to Sky.

Did they mention he played only 3 full 90 minutes so far this season?

Irrespective of how many minutes he has played, is he a midfielder? Yes, tick. Have they lost Eriksen and need a short term fix - tick.. compare that to us who again neglect to replace a pivotal role in our set-up and I know who i would consider to have done better and it's not us. Bayern have also gotten themselves a replacement at our expense though Cancelo hadto be shipped out

Yeah, but it's easy to spend when no one is asking questions.
Like Sheblue mentioned above, we are more interested in being the good guys, rather than solve our issues.

[Mase]

If we get Foden, Kev, Bernardo back on form, Phillips fit, all the defenders up and running after injuries, use Alverez more - it’ll be like new signings.

I’m not panicking yet, just wish we’d either recalled Josh or had some sort of plan.

[nottsblue]

A fairly low key window for us. But January usually is

Cancelo going was a surprise on the face of it. But the more you think about it the more it kind of fits in with the way Pep has been lately. He hasn't been happy with our performances and dug it out following the Spurs game. He asked, actually rather demanded, a change in attitude and mentality. So following reports of a training ground bust up its not then a big surprise to see a vastly underperforming senior player become a fall guy. Time will, as always, tell whether we have shot ourselves in the foot, or whether it was the right thing and a decent bit of business. My initial thoughts are the latter. That is was the necessary and right thing to do.

As to not sourcing a replacement. You can argue we didn't have time. Our recruitment isn't like other clubs. It can't be. We are the champions and have been the best and most dominant side in the country since Pep arrived and over the last decade. Our trophy haul, goals scored and the sheer number of records we've broken are testament to that. So any player coming in needs first and foremost to be of top quality. His temperament needs to be good. He needs to be adaptable and flexible. These players aren't the norm. It takes time to identify these players. This doesn't happen in a day or two. I also imagine our recruitment process is actually a couple of years in the future. Completely the opposite of the rags and dippers and all our other competitors. Which is a big factor why we have been so dominant.

Look at the dippers. Their lack of recruitment planning over the last few years is now seriously hurting them. They had a settled first XI for 3/4 years and were relatively successful. But now they all of a sudden require 4/5 players including a virtual whole new midfield. And this is to now challenge for top 4.

Rags have been the same. No coherent strategy for a decade had left an imbalance in their squad which is only now, at huge expense by the way, is being slowly rectified.

And as for Chelsea's scattergun approach since Boehly took over. It has disaster and horrible fuck up written all over it

I'd suspect the Cancelo situation wasn't anticipated. But I also suspect we are happy with what we have. Ake is performing well. Lewis is now on the scene at probably a quicker pace than was anticipated. Laporte and Akanji are versatile and can fill in at full back if required. Walker is still here and a quality player. I also suspect we have a target or two in the summer who we have been working on already. Possibly since last summer. Who knows, maybe we tried to bring forward this future planning? Maybe the existing club wouldn't sell now for whatever reason. It happens. Maybe the player himself wanted to complete the season with his existing club? Who knows.

But we didn't bring anyone in. That is the reality we are in. But I for one am OK with this. We didn't panic buy and get rinsed like a lot of clubs have. We have a strategy and we are presumably adhering to it. And let's be honest, it's worked pretty well so far. I'd suggest we have had arguably by far the best returns for our player investment against the other teams in the PL

Let's see what the summer brings. A time where we historically do our business

[Dimples]

So it's all fine and dandy for Chelsea to spend 600 million, and very little scrutiny.
Ok so.

I read that the Chelsea spend is an indication of the financial strength of the PL. The transfer fees are being amortized over a long period (approx 8 years) and this is smart business.

Chelsea have brought spending to a new level. If Newcastle or City were doing that imagine the backlash.

[nottsblue]

So it's all fine and dandy for Chelsea to spend 600 million, and very little scrutiny.
Ok so.

I read that the Chelsea spend is an indication of the financial strength of the PL. The transfer fees are being amortized over a long period (approx 8 years) and this is smart business.

Chelsea have brought spending to a new level. If Newcastle or City were doing that imagine the backlash.

It looks smart business now. Let's see in 2/3 years when all these amortised signings add up and they are hamstrung in the transfer market. Or simply they have unhappy players on their books as they aren't getting game time or are even not in the squads for the PL or CL.

Sterling as an example must be now looking at this situation and wondering where he stands. But he is on a 5 Yr deal at presumably big money. I'd imagine 200k a week is not out of the question and it could be more. Sterling could easily sit on that for the next 4 years. And he won't be alone

I think Chelsea will regret what they have done and sooner rather than later

Nothing has been made of it, primarily I'd suggest because the rags and dippers are both up for sale and if/when they are sold their new owners presumably will want/need to invest heavily.

[sheblue]

Yes very risky by Chelsea, they will have a lot of people to keep happy, some of them with very big egos on very long contracts.

[branny]

Good fucking riddance. Cancelo out of the club so great window for me. Shite defender who dined out on a couple of decent assists per season. Lost track of how many times he dived in and got done like a kipper resulting in the opposition scoring and he thought he was something special going forward resulting in a ridiculous "its all about me" shot ending in row z when there were players in decent positions who were far more adept at putting the ball in the net. Glad to see the back of him.

[Mase]

Another twist with Cancelo…we may not have heard the last of him at City -

"I might have sounded like a farewell but it wasn't meant to be this way," said Joao Cancelo at his Bayern Munich unveiling. "We have to see what the next five months will bring."

“All I can say to the fans and to you is that I was enjoying my time at Manchester City and am still under contract at this club”

“During that time I always had the time to be an elite professional and the fans appreciated that, they gave me a lot of that back. I don't see it as a big farewell from the club, I'm very focused on what we can do in the upcoming five months at Bayern Munich and that is my priority."

“My decision was only based on the lack of minutes in the last couple of weeks. There was speculation that my relationship to Pep Guardiola was not the best but the fact is that I just wanted to play more and now I have the opportunity and a dream came true."

[Sideshow Bob]

let's be honest, this window was a shit show for us while many of our rivals have significantly strengthened. i don't understand why we're so reluctant to spend?? other than splashing out for grealish (which, well, that's another topic altogether), we've been very, very tepid in the market for years. FFP is essentially dead. even if it weren't, we have enough turnover to spend freely without the sheikh having to dip into his pockets. i really hope we've got something big planned soon, because even aside from LB we're going to have massive holes in the squad soon. bernie, walker, KDB, mahrez, laporte and stones are all getting old and/or heading for the exit. in this market with the rags and chelsea and others hoovering up every half-decent player in world football, we can't always count on being able to wait for bargains like akanji or alvarez.

[zuricity]

Cancelo just provided a beautiful cross for the first Bayern goal in Mainz. cup game .

[blues2win]

Dont.

[johnny crossan]

[johnny crossan]

Dont.

https://bulinews.com/news/16135/cancelo ... ess-streak

[Bluedj]

Are Brighton, the new Southampton?

They seem to be selling a lot of there first team players

[PeterParker]

Tottenham defender Pedro Porro was once forced to deny having an affair with Chelsea ace Joao Felix’s girlfriend Magui Corceiro

There you have it. I am prepared to bet that is why he didn't stay with us.
It's all about how our boys are outside the pitch.

[blues2win]

Saw the video compilation of Perrone who looks seriously good. Better value than Fernandes? He’s younger and may take a little time to integrate into the squad but he looks a very promising buy.

[Mase]

Tottenham defender Pedro Porro was once forced to deny having an affair with Chelsea ace Joao Felix’s girlfriend Magui Corceiro

There you have it. I am prepared to bet that is why he didn't stay with us.
It's all about how our boys are outside the pitch.

Foden is a nightmare off the pitch.
Grealish isn’t much better and we paid £100m for him after he was caught drink driving and shagging brass.

I think with Porro it’s more his comments about Pep that caused the issue. Pep is a stubborn twat so no way he was coming back after telling the world he’d not heard from Pep and Pep hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on him whilst he was on loan.

[PeterParker]

Tottenham defender Pedro Porro was once forced to deny having an affair with Chelsea ace Joao Felix’s girlfriend Magui Corceiro

There you have it. I am prepared to bet that is why he didn't stay with us.
It's all about how our boys are outside the pitch.

Foden is a nightmare off the pitch.
Grealish isn’t much better and we paid £100m for him after he was caught drink driving and shagging brass.

I think with Porro it’s more his comments about Pep that caused the issue. Pep is a stubborn twat so no way he was coming back after telling the world he’d not heard from Pep and Pep hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on him whilst he was on loan.

Agree with Grealish, but Foden did it later, after the money came.

[Mase]

Tottenham defender Pedro Porro was once forced to deny having an affair with Chelsea ace Joao Felix’s girlfriend Magui Corceiro

There you have it. I am prepared to bet that is why he didn't stay with us.
It's all about how our boys are outside the pitch.

Foden is a nightmare off the pitch.
Grealish isn’t much better and we paid £100m for him after he was caught drink driving and shagging brass.

I think with Porro it’s more his comments about Pep that caused the issue. Pep is a stubborn twat so no way he was coming back after telling the world he’d not heard from Pep and Pep hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on him whilst he was on loan.

Agree with Grealish, but Foden did it later, after the money came.

Walker has been a nightmare as well. Stones was and we gave him a new contract. Basically the English players

[PeterParker]

Tottenham defender Pedro Porro was once forced to deny having an affair with Chelsea ace Joao Felix’s girlfriend Magui Corceiro

There you have it. I am prepared to bet that is why he didn't stay with us.
It's all about how our boys are outside the pitch.

Foden is a nightmare off the pitch.
Grealish isn’t much better and we paid £100m for him after he was caught drink driving and shagging brass.

I think with Porro it’s more his comments about Pep that caused the issue. Pep is a stubborn twat so no way he was coming back after telling the world he’d not heard from Pep and Pep hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on him whilst he was on loan.

Agree with Grealish, but Foden did it later, after the money came.

Walker has been a nightmare as well. Stones was and we gave him a new contract. Basically the English players

Ah, yes, those too.
But I think with Porro is different because I get the vibes of Terry & Bridge type of situation. Something that might affect or start a conflict between teammates.
We had our share of knobheads under Pep, but they seem to care at eachother. You've never head someone going out and speak about other player. Maybe he thought Porro might bring that?
Who knows.

Also, if he chose Lewis instead of him, he gets my vote.