Summer Transfer Thread 2015

[Gnasher]

Go on, then.  Name 2 or 3 players British players in the prime of their career who are out there in today's market and are likely to perform at or above the level that would be required to make them a good buy for the fee.

 

You can't.  Because they don't exist.  Sure, you can find an odd example now and again like Cahill who bucked the trend, but for the most part buying British players over the age of 22 is a fool's errand.  At best they play at the level you'd hope they'd meet for the fee, at worst the club is ripped off completely.  You can get excellent British players for bargain fees if you buy them young - we've shown that over and over, but if you buy them at their peak you're probably going to overpay.

Yes it's difficult because clubs don't want to sell their best players and if they do they rinse you. The key is to sign them before they hit their peak, although its easier said than done, look at fergursons last major signing, spunking 16mil on Wilfred Zaha.

[Josef Svejk]

Milner. Fucking Milner. Totally and utterly out of his depth last night. But good enough for us, I'm often told...

[stringvest]

I think he's a good player but not the kind of quality you need if you're seriously looking to get back on top.

 

I think Ramsey would be comfortably the best midfielder we have should he join us.  Which he won't.  

 

Once British players are recognised as half decent, the chances of acquiring them at a price which could at some future point represent great value are already massively diminished.  Excellent players are usually identified as such before the age of 17,  so really we need a scouting team that includes Fred Talbot and Jonathan King to sort the wheat from the chaff.

[TalkSilly]

Milner. Fucking Milner. Totally and utterly out of his depth last night. But good enough for us, I'm often told...

 

I was quite keen us snapping him up but now you've said that I've gone right off the idea.

 

Any thoughts on Ings? My enthusiasm for him needs snuffing out as well.

[Gnasher]

Only Bale is any good anyway. British players are usually middling and can do a job, which is all well and good until you encounter a top side with top players and you see them get utterly outclassed.

Ramsey scored 16 goals in 30 odd appearances from midfield last season. He's a terrific player with his best years ahead of him.

[Gnasher]

I suggest Ian Ayre spends his summer bidding ridicules high wages and ridiculous low transfer fees for a few Arsenal players just to piss them off.

[Jairzinho]

Milner. Fucking Milner. Totally and utterly out of his depth last night. But good enough for us, I'm often told...

 

I'm not sure that many of our players would look all that great against Barcelona. Not many of City's did.

[Section_31]

I'm not sure that many of our players would look all that great against Barcelona. Not many of City's did.

Milner is a great example of a player being out of his depth against top class opposition.

 

When we went into battle with a Hamann/Gerrard or an Alonso/Mascherano partnership we were never outclassed, they were top of the line players, our midfield now might look decent against average teams but against top class ones they'd be chasing shadows.

 

Half of city's team are like that too. They are an avwewge top four squad with a smattering of world class talents grafted onto the front, unlike Chelsea which has class right through its spine now.

[Major Tom]

Half of city's team are like that too. They are an avwewge top four squad with a smattering of world class talents grafted onto the front, unlike Chelsea which has class right through its spine now.

 

I don't really follow City but, if that's true, it's insane for the money they've spent.

 

Although how much is down to coaching? Terry and Cahill are hardly world class players but the Chelsea defence functions quite nicely.

[The Golden Eel]

What about this boy Hughes at Derby - surely with all these loans we've been softening them up for nicking him?

[TalkSilly]

Half of city's team are like that too. They are an avwewge top four squad with a smattering of world class talents grafted onto the front, unlike Chelsea which has class right through its spine now.

 

A lot of their squad aren't exactly in the first flush of youth either. They're going to have to replace a lot of them in the next few years if they're to remain competitive. It won't be so easy if FFP stays in place.

[Section_31]

I don't really follow City but, if that's true, it's insane for the money they've spent.

 

Although how much is down to coaching? Terry and Cahill are hardly world class players but the Chelsea defence functions quite nicely.

 

Turd that he is, I've always thought Terry was a very good defender to be fair. 

 

But I think coaching is a big part of it with defences, the arsenal back four was hardly world class, nor were players like Dennis Irwin or the Neville brothers.

 

I think with Midfield though, where most games are won and lost IMO, you can have the best coaching in the world but without the skill, vision, attitude and - in this league - strength and athleticism, you're doomed. 

 

I still say the most soul destroying football performance I've ever witnessed was our FA Cup final against Chelsea under Kenny. Our midfield were putting loads of effort, stringing together nine pass moves, then it'd break down and chelsea would bypass our entire team in two passes, their midfield were just striding through ours. 

 

It's no coincidence that the two managers who've most quickly broken the mancs stranglehold on the league, Wenger and Mourinho, the first thing they did was build a central midfield full of athletes. Keane and Ince too, weren't too shabby.  

[Babb'sBurstNad]

I think Milner's role for City is often under-appreciated, but he's just not what we need. He's the type of character who fills in between other players' roles, like Hendo, doing a lot of running and covering space.

 

We're collating a shitload of swiss army knife players, who can do a lot of things reasonably well, but few who can perform one role to a higher standard.

[Major Tom]

A lot of their squad aren't exactly in the first flush of youth either. They're going to have to replace a lot of them in the next few years if they're to remain competitive. It won't be so easy if FFP stays in place.

 

They'll just sell shinpad naming rights to Etihad Airways for £106m a season.

[Jairzinho]

Milner is a great example of a player being out of his depth against top class opposition.

 

When we went into battle with a Hamann/Gerrard or an Alonso/Mascherano partnership we were never outclassed, they were top of the line players, our midfield now might look decent against average teams but against top class ones they'd be chasing shadows.

 

Half of city's team are like that too. They are an avwewge top four squad with a smattering of world class talents grafted onto the front, unlike Chelsea which has class right through its spine now.

 

Toure, Silva, and Aguero are world class. Zabaleta is pretty close as well. They do have a few players that you wouldn't bat an eyelid if they ended up at Swansea or Newcastle. Clichy, for example, thick as fuck, shit delivery from out wide, and can't defend. Can't believe he's still there. 

 

I'm not sure that Chelsea's side is much better, they're just different. They have a better manager who usually employs a style that will grind out results, but occasionally their cowardly nature means they drop points. Burnley last week, Southampton just before Christmas. They're games that a team managed by Ferguson would probably win. 

 

City play much better football, but only when they have all their top players available, and in their defence, they've had a lot of injuries to key players this season, whereas Chelsea haven't (I'm only making the comparison between the two financial dopers, I'm not suggesting that I feel any sympathy for a side that cost half a billion quid, it's just worth noting that so does Chelsea's, and if they were without Matic, Costa, and Fabregas for a decent chunk of the season they'd look pretty ordinary as well).

 

For us, I thought last season's style/whatever you want to call it was completely unsustainable. Relied on the best player in the world (at the very least, comfortably the best in the league), getting no injuries for five months, and ridiculous improvement from Sterling (of which Rodgers clearly deserves much credit). The problem is that as soon as we sold Suarez, we should have known that without a Sanchez type signing (and even he wouldn't have entirely filled the void) we'd struggle to replicate the previous season. We got through last season with a very average midfield. I think Can has the potential to be part of a top class midfield, as does Coutinho, but Gerrard and Lucas are leaving (and neither are top class midfielders anyway, any more in Gerrard's case, obviously), and Allen and Henderson I think are destined to be "squad" players in a top side, or more than that in a side that finishes mid table. We have very few midfielders that are exceptional at anything, or that even have a very clearly identifiable role. Almost all of them would be best in the middle of a three man midfield which, unfortunately, often suggests that they aren't really good enough.

[Horus]

What about this boy Hughes at Derby - surely with all these loans we've been softening them up for nicking him?

 

Isn't he a big daft racist?

[The Golden Eel]

Isn't he a big daft racist?

 

Is he?

[Horus]

Is he?

I could be remembering incorrectly, but I'm sure he'd posted his support for the EDF on twitter and then had to remove it.

[J-V]

What about this boy Hughes at Derby - surely with all these loans we've been softening them up for nicking him?

 

Imagine how much he'll cost in the Summer especially if Derby get promoted.

 

[Major Tom]

That's a really good post, J.

[J-V]

A lot of their squad aren't exactly in the first flush of youth either. They're going to have to replace a lot of them in the next few years if they're to remain competitive. It won't be so easy if FFP stays in place.

 

Chelsea with the money they get for shite or players they hardly use I don't think they'll have much problem either to be honest.  They've just sold Thorgan Hazard for near £6mill.  Did he even kick a ball for them.

 

[JagSquared]

I could be remembering incorrectly, but I'm sure he'd posted his support for the EDF on twitter and then had to remove it.

What a cunt. Energy companies are the worst.

[Grinch]

They'll just sell shinpad naming rights to Etihad Airways for £106m a season.

Tongue in cheek but this isn't too far from the truth.

[cloggypop]

If we want a young midfielder that looks like a ghost I would much rather we went for Davy Klaassen from Ajax than Will Hughes from Derby. Much better player and probably cheaper as well.

[Original202]

I could be remembering incorrectly, but I'm sure he'd posted his support for the EDF on twitter and then had to remove it.

 

We're not interested in him anymore, his progress stopped as he ran out of gas.