Alexis/Alexi Sanchez

[blues2win]

Then let's see him sign a contract extension.

[nottsblue]

I was in the camp of not being keen. Mainly due to the cost. £50m is a hell of price when he would be free next summer. But as has been seen with Zlatan, a huge signing on fee and higher wages are then negotiated.

The questions of any prospective signing must be "do they improve the first eleven" and if they are to be a squad player "are they better than an Academy lad for the cost or would we be better off paying more for the first teamers". Sanchez is a first teamer all day long. He can play 8,9,10 or 11 (ie anywhere across the front three or as a playmaker). His work rate is excellent and his assists ratio suggests he is a great team player. Plus he is PL proven. A similar player could be Rodriguez at Madrid. Undoubtedly a good player but hasn't been tested in the PL.

Therefore I have switched camps. I am all for him signing.

We need more goals in the team and Sanchez -
Scores goals
Assists goals
Works hard
Rarely injured
Pisses off the Arsenal fans
Improves our team whilst weakening an opponents
Can play in a variety of positions

Hope it happens

[blues2win]

A Chilean soccer journalist at the Confed Cup says the future of Sanchez will surely be with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City

[CTID Hants]

I was in the camp of not being keen. Mainly due to the cost. £50m is a hell of price when he would be free next summer. But as has been seen with Zlatan, a huge signing on fee and higher wages are then negotiated.

The questions of any prospective signing must be "do they improve the first eleven" and if they are to be a squad player "are they better than an Academy lad for the cost or would we be better off paying more for the first teamers". Sanchez is a first teamer all day long. He can play 8,9,10 or 11 (ie anywhere across the front three or as a playmaker). His work rate is excellent and his assists ratio suggests he is a great team player. Plus he is PL proven. A similar player could be Rodriguez at Madrid. Undoubtedly a good player but hasn't been tested in the PL.

Therefore I have switched camps. I am all for him signing.

We need more goals in the team and Sanchez -
Scores goals
Assists goals
Works hard
Rarely injured
Pisses off the Arsenal fans
Improves our team whilst weakening an opponents
Can play in a variety of positions

Hope it happens

A very compelling argument NB, you've convinced me. I had him down as a nice to have too and less of a priority when compared to other positions.

The only question is can Pep juggle the ego's of a flooded front end as they cannot all play week in week out which they'll all want.

[nottsblue]

I was in the camp of not being keen. Mainly due to the cost. £50m is a hell of price when he would be free next summer. But as has been seen with Zlatan, a huge signing on fee and higher wages are then negotiated.

The questions of any prospective signing must be "do they improve the first eleven" and if they are to be a squad player "are they better than an Academy lad for the cost or would we be better off paying more for the first teamers". Sanchez is a first teamer all day long. He can play 8,9,10 or 11 (ie anywhere across the front three or as a playmaker). His work rate is excellent and his assists ratio suggests he is a great team player. Plus he is PL proven. A similar player could be Rodriguez at Madrid. Undoubtedly a good player but hasn't been tested in the PL.

Therefore I have switched camps. I am all for him signing.

We need more goals in the team and Sanchez -
Scores goals
Assists goals
Works hard
Rarely injured
Pisses off the Arsenal fans
Improves our team whilst weakening an opponents
Can play in a variety of positions

Hope it happens

A very compelling argument NB, you've convinced me. I had him down as a nice to have too and less of a priority when compared to other positions.

The only question is can Pep juggle the ego's of a flooded front end as they cannot all play week in week out which they'll all want.

There will be plenty of games to contend with and the will be injuries, suspensions loss of form etc.. There will be enough games to go round. Imagine for home games we will play a front four with three in midfield, Silva KDB and Yaya/Gundogan behind them. A good number of teams will travel to the Etihad with the sole purpose of keeping the goal difference down. A bit like What Barca and Madrid have. This mentality will help our defence as we will have even more possession of the football than last year.

[johnny crossan]

I'm reading some convincing arguments for and against this signing. Can we have a vote - Pep wants him obviously but who wants him on here?
I'm a NO btw.

[Dimples]

I am a yes.

Class player we need him for the PL and CL.
Long season, many games, rotate the class to keep them all fresh and hungry.
Also, never hides, always puts in a shift and delivers.

Everytime I think of Sanchez I think of his alter ego - Ozil. Everytime I think of Ozil I think of Nasri.

[Dameerto]

We urgently need fullbacks - so no, he plays in the least urgent position from the point of view of us strengthening the squad (until we maybe have time and funds to make luxury signings)

[Tokyo Blue]

No. We have got other far more pressing needs than him, as Dameerto points out.

Plus. 50 million for a 29-year-old with one year on his contract? Nah.

[Mase]

The rotation of the squad is something that irritates me.

Not keeping the same team for two games in a row, especially after a good win, hurts us more than anything in my opinion.

[john@staustell]

The rotation of the squad is something that irritates me.

Not keeping the same team for two games in a row, especially after a good win, hurts us more than anything in my opinion.

I think it hurts us because we just cannot replace Silva, De Bruyne and, before Jesus, Aguero. We want to be able to freshen up without playing crap.

We can sign Sanchez AND full backs, they aren't mutually exclusive. Budget is high this year I reckon

[Dubciteh]

The rotation of the squad is something that irritates me.

Not keeping the same team for two games in a row, especially after a good win, hurts us more than anything in my opinion.

I think it hurts us because we just cannot replace Silva, De Bruyne and, before Jesus, Aguero. We want to be able to freshen up without playing crap.

We can sign Sanchez AND full backs, they aren't mutually exclusive. Budget is high this year I reckon

Agreed his signing has no impact on full backs, we will sign full backs and him along with whoever else we want. I dont think there will be any budget concerns and pep wont care, his reputation is on the line he wants the best.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

The rotation of the squad is something that irritates me.

Not keeping the same team for two games in a row, especially after a good win, hurts us more than anything in my opinion.

I think it hurts us because we just cannot replace Silva, De Bruyne and, before Jesus, Aguero. We want to be able to freshen up without playing crap.

We can sign Sanchez AND full backs, they aren't mutually exclusive. Budget is high this year I reckon

Agree with that John, some of our squad played far too often last season, Sterling for example was burned out come the last third of the season. Silva was carrying an injury in the last part of the season and the drop off in quality was too much to rest him. Debruyne was another that was out on his feet during the season, in bad need of a rest.

[sheblue]

Ambivalent to this potential signing.
Would much prefer if we signed the four defenders and central midfielder we actually need.
This was always going to be a vital transfer window, so far its been very underwhelming.

[CTID Hants]

This was always going to be a vital transfer window, so far its been very underwhelming.

To be fair the window is only officially in to its 4th day, there are still 57 days left. I appreciate you say "so far" but taking in to consideration international games, confed cup, players wanting to swan off and have holidays not to mention tough negotiations with clubs reluctant to sell top players....

Ask me again if we fly out to the US having not signed 70/80% of our targets, then I might use the word underwhelming.

I think the next 10 days or so will tell us how serious we are on those mentioned

[FA cup winners 2006]

The rotation of the squad is something that irritates me.

Not keeping the same team for two games in a row, especially after a good win, hurts us more than anything in my opinion.

I think rotation is going to be crucial this season. We need our players in peak form come March and April, while still getting across the line in November, December and January. it was clear last year that when we got to the latter parts of the season, we were just not able for 2 games a week (Monaco away - we looked drained of energy and mentally tired)

I think Pep will try and minimise players having to play 2 games a week. There will be times when it might happen but I think it will be planned in advance with rest periods also scheduled in. At the start of the week I think there will be effectively 2 teams and the players not involved in the mid week game will be preparing for the weekend, but it will be important for Pep to ensure that it is not an A team and a B team, that all players feel involved in all competitions. Sometimes Aguero will sit out the big game, sometimes Jesus, Silva, Kompany all depending on what Pep sees as the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

No. We have got other far more pressing needs than him, as Dameerto points out.

Plus. 50 million for a 29-year-old with one year on his contract? Nah.

Spot on TB.

A resounding 'no' from myself.

[aaron bond]

There are no doubts about us massively needing to invest in the defence but scoring goals is a big problem for us.

We have 2 strikers - I'm excluding Iheanacho as Pep doesn't want him. In both recent title winning seasons we had 4! We need another striker on top of Aguero and Jesus.

Jesus looks like the real deal but he is still new the Premier League so we have to exercise some caution. And Aguero is injury prone. We need at least 3 strikers next season.

[City64]

There are no doubts about us massively needing to invest in the defence but scoring goals is a big problem for us.

We have 2 strikers - I'm excluding Iheanacho as Pep doesn't want him. In both recent title winning seasons we had 4! We need another striker on top of Aguero and Jesus.

Jesus looks like the real deal but he is still new the Premier League so we have to exercise some caution. And Aguero is injury prone. We need at least 3 strikers next season.

Deffo this ! We missed so many chances last season and it cost us big time especially in the CL , Pep wants trophies and titles this coming season and we need to be scoring more goals with all the chances we create plus Aguero can't play all the time , loads of options with Aguero , Jesus and Sanchez and hugely exiciting to say the very least , Aguero and Jesus were fantastic together in the few games they started together add Sanchez into the mix that is world class for sure . Even at 50 mill a great investment for me and with Mendy and Alves looking sure bets defensively it is all looking very tasty indeed ........ big couple of weeks ahead let's see what happens .

[patrickblue]

Hopefully covered all the bases,
Mods, can you merge with the main thread please.