Winter Transfer Speculation and Shit.

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Originally Posted by the ollie and the ivy

is "willian is a better player then Mata" using the same logic as "Cabaye is a level above any of our midfielders" or is this a completely new type of stupidity?

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It's the same level of WUMing, really.

Remember, this is the guy who thinks Kolo Toure is the best defender in world football.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Citing Mancini's relationship with Balotelli doesn't help at all. He could be a shit father as well as manager for all we know. He fell out with all of his players and there were rumours of a revolt against him. Dzeko, Hart, Nasri, Tevez, Bellamy....it's a long list and you'd never hear about Wenger having such volatile relationships with his players. Never happens. Mancini is a bad example.

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Mancini is a known egomanic and petulant character.

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Originally Posted by BOBN

Mancini is a known egomanic and petulant character.

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Totally. He clashed with too many players and the environment he created at that club was problematic. It's easy managing players with big egos but he really couldn't handle it.

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Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

Mancini lost it at City towards the end but it doesn't change the fact that based on his and Balotelli's own words, their relationship was akin to father and son, yet Mancini still couldn't get a tune out of him consistently. Tevez's behaviour was ridiculous at City so I sympathise with Mancini on him.

The problem with Mario over here is that he is a troubled kid well out of his surroundings and easily provoked on and off the field. I suspect the trouble that follows him will be prevalent wherever he is in his career and particularly outside of Italy and Italy is the only place he seems to be able to make any sense of.....or rather puts up with because after all, it is his home.


I happen to recall Wenger being very complimentary about Balotelli throughout his career and on more than one occasion. However, even if the relationship between him and Wenger is ostensibly pacified in comparison to that he shared with others, I don't see why the other stuff he gets caught up in will cease. The disciplinary issues, the fact he is a loose cannon easily wound up by the opposition, the stuff in the media....It just seems to be one thing after another.

Mancini had the luxury of not having to rely on Mario. In fact he could have sought to sell him much sooner than he did and it is a wonder he didn't considering. Again, I believe it was his personal relationship and sense of responsibility for him that perhaps stopped him from doing so imo. He had rich pickings and had better forwards at his disposal anyway, so Mancini was never going to yield or pander to Balotelli's ego 100%. The Italian style of coaching is generally a little more authoritative. Respect is expected as a matter of course.

If Balotelli were to lose his way, Wenger would simply 'rest' him or he would pick up a suspicious injury before shortly selling him, but that isn't what we really want....a talented player for a brief time, like a flash in the pan who we just quickly sell on because he is unmanageable.

Unlike Mancini's City, Wenger wouldn't have the luxury of not having to rely on Balotelli either, so him going off on one would potentially be catastrophic.

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Excellent post.

Not many would disagree and fail to see the importance of the Balotelli/Mancini relationship.

:lol: Is that even neccessary? Very petulant.

You need to stop taking drugs. Very paranoid.

Blink's a good poster and I hear his concerns but a father/son relationship doesn't equal a good partnership. Calling anyone a 'thicko' who disagrees is childish. There is no need for it. You can add your thoughts without insults.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Citing Mancini's relationship with Balotelli doesn't help at all. He could be a shit father as well as manager for all we know. He fell out with all of his players and there were rumours of a revolt against him. Dzeko, Hart, Nasri, Tevez, Bellamy....it's a long list and you'd never hear about Wenger having such volatile relationships with his players. Never happens. Mancini is a bad example.

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Even if that is true, there is no real precedent for any pacifists being able to tame Balotelli, or any type of manager really. Good or bad fatherly-son relationship, that they had a relationship of that nature at all tells you there was somewhat of a deeper bond there. Yet in spite of that you got to a point where you always felt Mancini was fighting a losing battle.

Furthermore, in the Mario vs Mancini (feels like I'm talking about some infamous mafia court case) debate, both have been at fault, though in my view more so Balotelli, given the fact that one is the others boss and the frequency in which Mario stepped out of line. There were some huge ego's at City to control who were artificially and quickly assembled unlike our Invincibles... but I agree that Mancini had started to lose the plot and make his position untenable.

He wouldn't be my first choice but if Wenger ever tamed him, I would be bloody impressed. I would be happy to be wrong as I rate him, not that it's likely to happen.

I know many think it is pointless to debate any player who we aren't literally moments away from signing but transfer talk time really would be a ghost town if we only discussed players likely to sign or even occurrences likely to happen.

Balotelli, it's a no brainer for me as he is basically, the most talented and more importantly, the only quality striker available in the known football world. Don't forget that we are in desperate need of his quality as I can see our bid for honours stalling if we refuse to improve the squad. Also and this is important. Balotelli himself is fast running out of options. Outside ourselves and the 2 Spanish giants, there are really no A grade clubs left that the can go to. In England he would feel at home and free of the racist B.S in Italy.
It's a big risk I know especially as he would easily be our highest earner, I believe he was on 180k at City, so there's that, but if available, even on loan, I think we should.

Loan would be good if possible with a view to permanent deal.

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Originally Posted by footloose, the wanderer

Loan would be good if possible with a view to permanent deal.

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Apparently Milan wouldn't mind selling him for good. The owner wants to raise some cash and isn't happy with Balotelli antics in Milan.

I'll trust Wenger's judgement.

If he think he's worth the hassle I'll get behind him.

gotta say I am a big fan of Balotelli's. yes he is a nutter but is top top talent. no one can tame him but I think he is worth it. considering he may be available for around 20m I think its a great deal ( I just pulled that figure out of air btw). costa is smashing it right now but release clause of what, £38m????

25m to buy and 10mpa in salary. Job done.

GIROUD :pal:

Also whats wrong with having a bit of a nutter in our team? flamini is a bit of a cunt and we need more cunts. balotelli takes no shit so wont be intimidated by defenders giving it and that will pass through the team as well. may give everyone a fighting edge

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Originally Posted by Jeebus

The Sun (ahem) say we are close to a shock £2m deal for Berbatov.

Not sure how I feel about that if true. He was a good player at Man U, but now......meh, I don't know :shrug:

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He'll do as a stop gap, would be a very nice signing IMHO and a good squad addition once we sort a worldie in the summer.

Would be happy with this.

Balotelli is a pretty explosive striker who would add a new dimension to our game, he's also strong and tenacious enough to do the work Bif does in terms of hold up play. He's undoubtedly a lunatic but sometimes it's easy to forget he's only 23. He doesn't need 'taming', he just needs to settle down somewhere and play for a club who appreciates and accepts him for who he is. What does taming even mean anyway? Rooney has needed it for 10 years but it hasn't stopped him being one of the best in the league, sometimes it's these eccentricities that give a player their edge.

We won't be getting him anyway. He'll go to Chelsea if he ever decides to come back here.

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Originally Posted by footloose, the wanderer

Loan would be good if possible with a view to permanent deal.

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That would be safest and best option but I am not so sure Milan would entertain that. I think Balotelli has "world class abilities", I also think he is a headcase both on and off the pitch and he is what he is.

I don't think he can and will change.

If he kept his wild antics off the pitch, and kept on the "right side of the law" then I think he would be a world class addition. This boy will score 25+ a season for us if he is feeding off Ozil, Ramsey et al.

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

Balotelli is a pretty explosive striker who would add a new dimension to our game, he's also strong and tenacious enough to do the work Bif does in terms of hold up play. He's undoubtedly a lunatic but sometimes it's easy to forget he's only 23. He doesn't need 'taming', he just needs to settle down somewhere and play for a club who appreciates and accepts him for who he is. What does taming even mean anyway? Rooney has needed it for 10 years but it hasn't stopped him being one of the best in the league, sometimes it's these eccentricities that give a player their edge.

We won't be getting him anyway. He'll go to Chelsea if he ever decides to come back here.

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He would never go Chelsea, not as long as Mourinho is managing the club.

No way will we go for Balotelli. Too much much work required to get him on track and we need ready made players with their heads screwed on in Jan not projects.

I think we'll sign Berbatov.

Interesting thoughts on the striker options we are left with.

Balotelli is someone I'd be hesitant to sign. There's no question that he's talented, but hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard, and he doesn't. His best ever goal scoring league return is 13, and he's only got into double figures twice in the league after seven years of playing for clubs like Inter, City and Milan. Having said that he's still obviously still young, so can't be blamed too much for his poor return so far. Our squad right now is actually a model of professionalism, hard work, teamwork, and team spirit. Non of these are words I'd associate with Ballotelli. I'd far rather go for someone like Benteke who smashed in 23 goals in his debut season last year for a struggling Villa, despite being on a bit of a current drought.

Pragmatically, signing Berbatov for 2m and then going all out for Costa/Falcao over summer would obviously be the best idea, and would certainly be my preferred choice all things considered if we can't get a superstar in now.

Morata on loan I wouldn't bother with. What can you expect from a kid in a new league, only here for a few months? I'd be far more interested in a permanent deal, purely based on how highly rated he is.

Pato I'd hate us to sign, for reasons I've explained previously on GW.

Berba would be a great and realistic buy this January. Whoever it is, lets conclude the deal ASAP. No point dilly dallying around like muppets till the last minute! Berba will give us the extra edge when we look clueless around the opposing box. Sure, he can be lazy but for all that talent, I can look past that!

And WHY havent we got Sanga signed on an extension yet?!! If we let him leave on a free, it will be stand out among the many shit decisions our club has taken in the last few years. Sagna has been tremendous this season and us not having a super deal for him seems stupid and senseless!

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Originally Posted by Globalgunner

Balotelli, it's a no brainer for me as he is basically, the most talented and more importantly, the only quality striker available in the known football world. Don't forget that we are in desperate need of his quality as I can see our bid for honours stalling if we refuse to improve the squad. Also and this is important. Balotelli himself is fast running out of options. Outside ourselves and the 2 Spanish giants, there are really no A grade clubs left that the can go to. In England he would feel at home and free of the racist B.S in Italy.
It's a big risk I know especially as he would easily be our highest earner, I believe he was on 180k at City, so there's that, but if available, even on loan, I think we should.

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That's a little OTT don't you think....
There's nothing to be gained from AC's point of view from a loan deal.... and as much as we think he is some desperate lost soul just waiting for Wenger to turn him into Pele, he has openly stated how much he loves AC Milan many times and before he was back there he was quite candid about that too. He's not exactly seeking a way out and with his undying love for our media I'd suggest getting him over here would be slightly more difficult than a few think.

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Originally Posted by I_Killed_Kenny

gotta say I am a big fan of Balotelli's. yes he is a nutter but is top top talent. no one can tame him but I think he is worth it. considering he may be available for around 20m I think its a great deal ( I just pulled that figure out of air btw). costa is smashing it right now but release clause of what, £38m????

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Costa's clause fee is 32 million of your Queen's gold nuggets gov'nor.

One thing I do love about Balotelli - that technique!

There are some good youtube vids of Man City training - him vs Joe Hart from outside the box. No one was smashing it as consistently, ferociously and emphatically past the GK more often than Balotelli.

I'd LOVE to watch a similar sort of training session with our team. I reckon Chamberlain, Poldi and Rambo would be pelting the goal. I'd love to see if Walcott really does bury free kicks in training like you'd assume he does.

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Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

That's a little OTT don't you think....
There's nothing to be gained from AC's point of view from a loan deal.... and as much as we think he is some desperate lost soul just waiting for Wenger to turn him into Pele, he has openly stated how much he loves AC Milan many times and before he was back there he was quite candid about that too. He's not exactly seeking a way out and with his undying love for our media I'd suggest getting him over here would be slightly more difficult than a few think.



Costa's clause fee is 32 million of your Queen's gold nuggets gov'nor.

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Costa is no saint and comes with baggage as well. He's just as much of a risk.

Every promo/training session/clip I see Chamberlain in, he looks like he is banging them in from all over the place. With the recent hype around Barkley I have actually been wondering how people feel the two compare.

I would be slightly concerned about Berbatov's ability to keep up with our counter attacks.....such is the lethargy of his game at times these days. I'd still take him over nobody though, because if you give him the ball in front of goal, he is capable of coming up with that little bit of skill, footwork or a strike to make the difference.

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Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

Costa's clause fee is 32 million of your Queen's gold nuggets gov'nor.

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Cheers for that blink. Even at 32m i would still take balo. Someone has said about his strike rate not being great but as also pointed out, he is young. Plus was he a starter at all those teams? He wasnt a definate at city and still got a 1 in 2 record for them i think. Proven to hold his own in the prem. Physically strong, tekkers, eye for goal. Can play lone man.

I dont think he is project at all. He will come in and get right in there. Unlike a costa or someone who will need the time to adjust. Cant afford that if we are going for title this year.

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Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

Every promo/training session/clip I see Chamberlain in, he looks like he is banging them in from all over the place. With the recent hype around Barkley I have actually been wondering how people feel the two compare.

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I think they're fairly similar. Both quite powerful runners and physically very strong for their age. Barkley is playing in his natural position though while Oxlade was cutting his teeth on the right before his injury. Would be good to have him back ASAP because he's more direct than our other midfielders, so he'd add something new and fresh hopefully.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Costa is no saint and comes with baggage as well. He's just as much of a risk.

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Costa is a petulant, just as bad if not worse than Balotelli.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTeVf0I_JmA

Watch 01:05, dirty fucker and I am not Ramos's fan at all.

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Originally Posted by Power_n_Glory

Costa is no saint and comes with baggage as well. He's just as much of a risk.

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I would politely disagree with the final part mate, but yes I hear Costa struggled with disciplinary problems last season, which doesn't seem such a big deal this season.

I don't want to make it sound like I want holy than thou players all toeing the line.....but I just think when you get a player who is pretty much disruptive in area of his football on and off the field, collectively it just amounts to too much.

I think a lot of what Dr Singh mentioned about team spirit and the camaraderie amongst the group rings true. The other day Mertesacker blasted Ozil in full view of everybody. Ozil didn't try and challenge him about it, he just accepted it, apologised and everybody moved on.

It would be a shame to have a player who turned something like that into a bigger thing than it needed to be. We don't need mutiny amongst the ranks or factions emerging and I like the feeling of unity you get within the club these days. This is just a small example.

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Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice

Every promo/training session/clip I see Chamberlain in, he looks like he is banging them in from all over the place. With the recent hype around Barkley I have actually been wondering how people feel the two compare.

I would be slightly concerned about Berbatov's ability to keep up with our counter attacks.....such is the lethargy of his game at times these days. I'd still take him over nobody though, because if you give him the ball in front of goal, he is capable of coming up with that little bit of skill, footwork or a strike to make the difference.

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My concern too. Great on the ball but fast counter attack? Nope. Yes he cud feed the likes of theo for that but thats if he is fit. And esseentially we want someone to score not play the ozil role which berbs is good at. If we dont play with theo, gnabs, pods or chambo then we have no pace at all with berba

And cheers. Quite enjoyed seeing Costa mug off Ramos who is well on course to break the record for red cards in La Liga. No he actually is, look it up.

Never seen that video of Costa. Quite enjoyed it in a bizarre way. Costa comes with a reputation of being a monster to play AGAINST. Balotelli has a reputation of being terrible to play WITH. Costa is the type of guy you want in your team for sure, like Suarez. Balotelli? I'm not so sure.

Very surprised people would rather have Balotelli here over Costa. I get that he hasn't played EPL football, but he's a big nasty bloke and certainly looks like he'd have no trouble settling into the EPL from the little I've seen.

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Originally Posted by I_Killed_Kenny

My concern too. Great on the ball but fast counter attack? Nope. Yes he cud feed the likes of theo for that but thats if he is fit. And esseentially we want someone to score not play the ozil role which berbs is good at. If we dont play with theo, gnabs, pods or chambo then we have no pace at all with berba

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I think we'd be signing Berba purely as an alternative for Giroud. They are both pretty damn slow, but Berba is light years quicker mentally.

I don't want to turn this into a comparison between the two (Giroud comes out on top for me), but quick thinkers are devastating on the counter attack generally. Arsenal fans need no finer example thank Dennis Bergkamp to remember that.

I'd also disagree that he will clash with Ozil. He does drop deep, he still maintains his position as the focal point of an attack. He'd be lethal if flanked with Poldi and Theo for me.

Costa doesn't seem that impressive. I can't see him pulling out anything special when teams park the bus. I could be wrong but that's just how I feel. Balotelli is a risk but he has the potential to be a sensational striker. I can't see Costa leaving sunny Spain for England. We also need a player that will have an immediate impact. I have my doubts about Costa.

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Originally Posted by I_Killed_Kenny

Cheers for that blink. Even at 32m i would still take balo. Someone has said about his strike rate not being great but as also pointed out, he is young. Plus was he a starter at all those teams? He wasnt a definate at city and still got a 1 in 2 record for them i think. Proven to hold his own in the prem. Physically strong, tekkers, eye for goal. Can play lone man.

I dont think he is project at all. He will come in and get right in there. Unlike a costa or someone who will need the time to adjust. Cant afford that if we are going for title this year.

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I agree.

I sorta want him at Liverpool.

Him and Suarez, if only for a few months, could be proper :popcorn:-worthy.

Costa only has a bad rep on the field (and its got alot better this season, as far as i know), have never heard of him being a nutcase off the field. Isnt he just kinda like Suarez? Doing anything to win on the field, even if it means acting crazy?

Balotelli just needs to grow up, i think most of his stupid shit will go away with age. Wouldnt mind him here, i think he will become a beast when he gets older and sorts out his childish behavour.

:lol:

Are we debating Costa again? :haha:

This is the winter transfer speculation thread and there is no chance in hell he will be coming here. Let's talk about realistic targets please... ktnx!