Transfer Rumours | Tactics | Who to buy/sell etc

the stats of players who play for guardiola's teams are always inflated due to the sheer attacking potential of the team.

Goal or assist / 90
Sane: 1.136
Hazard: 0.882

Inflated or not by Pep, he's been incredible. And I am not saying he is better than or equal to in ability as Hazard. I think Hazard is the overall better player. I am saying if we have the money, which it seems like we do, Sane is a good option for the RW. Considering he is 5 years younger, and is the same price as Hazard I would say it is good value.

Just watching games...  Hazard is basically the ENTIRE Chelsea attack.  They had Giroud as the best striker ffs and Kante was at RW.  The other "best" attacking threats were a washed up Pedro and Willian.  I won't even mention Higuain because he was disastrous.

Now compare that to Aguero, De Bruyne, Sterling, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, etc...  plus of course Pep. Not to mention I thought Sterling and Aguero were the best two attacking players on City for the season.

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Sane wasn't even in the same league as Hazard.  Frankly, very few were.  He was the best player in EPL this season as far as I was concerned in terms of attacking players.

They are both attackers, one plays in a much better attack, yes, but I wouldn't say it's apples and oranges. It's not like we are comparing Hazard with a CB. They still play the same position.

I've already said I think Hazard is the better attacker. All I am saying is for the same price and a 5 year difference I would say that is good value and we should go for him if we don't have any other RW options.

i understand vandeez, let's move away from the comparison, the question you are asking is whether Sane at 100 mil is good value for RW?

I dont know how he plays on the right wing though, he is always on the left, that's a bit of a concern. Pepe is about the same agent and shows the same level of quality

That's the same question I have. I think he has shown enough ability and dynamism to be played about anywhere as an AM. I think it is worth the risk, personally. Left-footed wingers (especially ones who have a decent scoring record) generally have a good track record moving to the RW ala Bale/ Robben.

Personally, I wouldn't mind we just hijack just to piss Bayern off. Like, I would be so happy if we do that.

Doc wrote:Personally, I wouldn't mind we just hijack just to piss Bayern off. Like, I would be so happy if we do that.

That's low.


But not as low as Bayern's standards, these days
Honestly, though, that would make me really happy as well.

Personally, I'd rather get Nbombele and Pogba than Sane.... but i'm biased lol.

All 3 would be fine for me. Or a combination of 2 outta the 3. It's cool. Shit, 1 would have me happy tbh.

I'm not comfortable with no change in our starting 3 CMs... like not at all. I want at least 2 replaced.

Casemiro is basically shit for half a season now. He's caught the same disease as the rest of them. But at least he's younger. The other 2 can go or sit on the bench.

Extending Kroos pretty much guarantees only 1 CM will be changed. Sports you know as well as anyone that ZZ likes a 3 man midfield with a CDM, so unless we get Kante we’re going to play Casemiro, that means that last spot will be for one of Pogba, Ndom, or Eriksen.

I highly doubt Ndom is willing to sit the bench.

i dont see Kroos like a guaranteed starter anymore, extended or not, it looks to me like he has accepted to be a squad player for his remaining years in Madrid.

At Kroos' age I really doubt he would sign an extension without getting some sort of assurance of playing time. And he doesn't strike me as the type of player to accept the bench.

We play 60 games per year he is not going to be on the bench for all of them, but given his age I doubt he expects to be the first name of the team sheet. I think there will be a lot of rotations and Kroos is comfortable with that

I know you, Nick and Sports too are assuming the club gets rid of Modric to allow the purchase of Pogba (or Eriksen) and Ndombele. Plus you both seem to say Kroos and Casemiro go to bench or are rotational.

I say that isn’t feasible.

First off I highly doubt if any of Pogba, Eriksen or Ndombele would be coming for anything other than starter status.

Casemiro will only be benched or rotated if Llorente remains with team, which is highly doubtful or Zidane plays with just Ndombele and Pogba.

Kroos won’t except even a rotational roll and certainly not a backup role. Hell, even Hala would step in, if that happened!

There is no indication that Modric will leave. Plus Isco is also balking at leaving. I believe only one of them will leave, but I can see either of them accepting a rotational role (with Ndombele, not with Pogba, and maybe with Eriksen).

The other important factor in all of this is they will more than likely go into season with 6 midfielders. If you count who is staying (Kroos, Casemiro, Valverde plus one of either Modric or Isco), that leaves room for two signings). In other words we haven’t heard anything, nor I know of anyone at Castilla that is coming as a 6th reserve midfielder. My guess is that they sign only one and ask Llorente or Ceballos to stay.

futbol_bill wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:Marca: Inter are interested in signing Nacho; RM wont stand in his way and will let the player decide if he wants to go.

in the best universe we bring back Hermoso and run with Ramos, varane, Militao and Hermoso... but i know this wont happen

It isn’t out of the realm of possibilities Nick. The interest from Conde / Inter seems to be real, probably will be attractive to Nacho as he is headed to less playing time this season plus I recently read that Atletico are after Hermoso and that Real may have to exercise their option to buy back to stop him from going to cross town rival.

If Nacho does go besides Hermoso, the other options are Llorente and Vallejo. I don’t know if club has any buy back options for Llorente and Vallejo needs to go out on loan and play, if he is ever going to have a career.

By the way, the seleccion is trying to get a new partner for Ramos and the candidates are Hermoso, Llorente and Iñigo Martinez. Note. No Nacho nor Bartra this time!

With the possible exits of both Lucas and Nacho, the club needs to careful of home grown rules. I believe the rule is you have to have 8 regardless of nationality who have been with a spanish club for a minimum of 3 years before age of 21. Can someone confirm?

In any event, the only secure players adhering to this rule are Carvajal, Ramos, Luca and Fede. Then there is Odriozola (Spanish) but there is a possibility of him being replaced with Achraf (academy), although I suspect that won’t be for another year. There also is Brahim (Spanish), but I expect he will get loaned out. If Nacho does leave, he gets replaced by Hermoso (both Spanish and academy), Llorente (both Spanish and academy) or Vallejo - remains (Spanish).

Adding this up, I count 7 in best case scenario, so this could well be a consideration in midfield in the cases of Llorente, Ceballos or Isco remaining! But again, this is only an issue if both Lucas and Nacho depart.

Would be pretty wicked to extend Nacho's contract then sell him unless that was just a rumour.

Are people already forgetting how absolutely and unforgivably shit our midfield was this season...  not one of them is entitled to a single thing imo after that abomination.

Honestly I dont think Kroos would have accepted an extension if he wasn't guaranteed to start. Hes still in his prime years.

A quick update re Seleccion! Granted it was against a minor now. Isco and Asensio were completely different than they were this year. Rapido and direct. More important though was Hermoso and Llorente. Both very solid!

They can be very solid for another club next year

Mr Nick09 wrote:They can be very solid for another club next year

I’m speaking only in the event of your wish, if Nacho leaves! They both are better than Nacho or Vallejo.

I meant that for Isco and Asensio

sportsczy wrote:Are people already forgetting how absolutely and unforgivably shit our midfield was this season...  not one of them is entitled to a single thing imo after that abomination.

Hey I agree, but what we want, and what we will probably get are 2 different things. No rumors of signing a better CDM than Casemiro, Kroos extended, and no rumors of signing a RW.

If it were me I would sign one of Sane or Pepe (preferring Sane), Ndom and one of Pogba or Eriksen (preferring Pogba). Realistically of those mentioned, the club is probably only going to sign Pogba or Eriksen. Not horrible, but definitely needs work.