Probably as good a list as could be made. Yildiz maybe from Juventus.
But I don´t think I´d be totally confident if we signed any of them in the way that I was when we got Salah (though Mane less so, in fairness).
I like Abde, I like FP, I like Schulderup and I think Minteh is probably a player that could be very good, but I don´t see any outstanding candidates that have had a few good seasons. Maybe football has changed and players get bought before they have the chance.
If I could, I´d get Abde and Endrick or Minteh. But Barcola is probably the only guy who has had multiple good seasons.
Feels like 130 is the magic number. I think he is an improvement on Cody and is probably the right price in the current climate - but really, who really knows until the deal is done and he proves his worth or not…
If he came, I’d look to offload Cody to offset the cost somewhat and move on a player that may find himself on the fringes.
Bolded bit: I think so. If an attacking player has had a few seasons of high output, to the point of being an outstanding candidate, he’ll cost an arm and a leg. Especially if an English club wants him.
Look at Rayan, a player with half a season behind him in the PL and his release clause in January will be 130m. Kroupi has had one good season and Bournemouth probably won’t even sell him for 100m. It’s insane. As is the fee for Elliot Anderson, to me he’s mainly a meat and potato type of midfielder who can play a decent cross-field pass. But that’s what City are willing to pay for someone who can cover a lot of ground and help them defend transitions.
So naturally clubs in other European leagues will follow up, demanding similar fees for highly rated players once English clubs are interested. And why shouldn’t they.
Anyway.. You mention Yildiz, I like him as well, but I think Juve made it clear he’s not for sale. And he signed a new deal a few months ago. If he has a good season and goes to England next summer, I’d expect them to want around €100m or more.
I think Nusa could be a good value signing. When he’s good, he’s amazing. And I think Iraola could be a guy to help him become more consistent.
Partly what we paid last season but also Morgan Rogers going for £117m, Anderson for £116m and Tonali for £100m. Honestly I don’t blame PSG upping their price on us as I think any club should try that with prem clubs with how much money is being thrown around at the moment.
Personally I’d stick with negotiating with PSG. Barcola is indicating he won’t sign a new contract and only has two years left. A compromise of price can likely be found. Although I would look into signing another wide forward as well as I still feel we need another after Barcola.
Neither are PSG considering Barcola’s position and it is questionable if they really expected their demanded price to be met or set it with the intention for it to be something to bring the end negotiated price up.
I doubt they “just” started talking. But I do always find this protracted back-and-forth to be frustrating. PSG has a bottom line. Liverpool has a top number. It shouldn’t take weeks to figure that out and see if there’s any overlap. But PSG is incentivized to draw it out in order to show they drive a hard bargain.
They have a stronger position then us yes but an unhappy player refusing to sign a contract with only two years left is not a strong position either. This is the transfer window where they can get the best price for him. If there was a fight with other clubs wanting him as well that would be different but there isn’t any strong rumors of that and there are very few clubs that could meet PSGs asking price and even less that would meet it. That gives room for negotiation.
If Ekitike was fit, yes. But an injury to Isak and again, we’re cutting ourselves short. I think the sensible thing to do is wait till Ekitike is back and take the bid from Spurs in January.
We currently do not have the squad or time to be selling players right now.
Part and parcel of the pl advertising so loudly that they are the richest league in the world. Tell everyone you’re richer than Croesus and they’ll charge you accordingly.
Would be stupid of the other leagues not to try and milk the pl clubs for as much as they can. Has been the standard for years. Just seems to get more and more outlandish as the money in game continues to grow.
Gakpo is going nowhere and rightly so. I’m looking forward to Cody making a lot of people eat their words after AI has got his formation and tactics embedded. He can do a lot with Cody.
There was after he failed his medical at Brentford a couple of years ago, but then apparently he went to see some specialists after that, and seemingly all is well. Went to Leipzig instead.
At some point you have to trust that Rio, Wirtz, Dom and co to backup Barcola and Isak.
The outlay for Barcola is substantial and we need backup in other areas so moving Cody on to recoop some wiggle rooms is not an unreasonable path. I would say a good CB option is more pressing than keeping Cody. An injury to VVD is a bigger issue than Isak and Barola being out.
Wirtz was worth the fee as a generational talent; Isak, as good as he is and having demonstrated PL performance, was too much given he couldn’t hit the ground running. Barcola isn’t at their level and paying much over 100m pounds would be a big mistake. We absolutely need a quality CB and if PSG continue to be unrealistic we should tell Barcola we’ll come back in January/ next year when they get realistic and go and get Minteh instead.
