Summer Transfer Speculation and Shit

[Power n Glory]

Yeah, of course. I'm not saying that it doesn't go on all throughout the game at different levels - I'm just saying that I disagree with this idea that City's money isn't quite as big of an advantage as we make it out to be. My personal view is that's it's every bit the advantage that it's made out to be, and probably more besides - not only can they casually build squad's that the rest of us can only dream of (which benefits them not only in terms of quality on the pitch, but also in terms of freshness and fitness across the season), but they can also systematically pick apart (or at least disrupt) a lot of their rivals at the same time.

That's the part I disagree with. It's not a superstar squad but the price tags has everyone thinking otherwise.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

That's the part I disagree with. It's not a superstar squad but the price tags has everyone thinking otherwise.

Silva, Navas, Toure, Nasri, Aguero

I'd say that's pretty star studded

[Power n Glory]

Silva, Navas, Toure, Nasri, Aguero

I'd say that's pretty star studded

Besides Aguero, we could have signed all of those guys. There not unattainable players. We had Nasri.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

It's accumulative though, besides Ronaldo, Messi there isn't a player we couldn't get individually but we couldn't have all those players in our squad collectively

[Power n Glory]

It's accumulative though, besides Ronaldo, Messi there isn't a player we couldn't get individually but we couldn't have all those players in our squad collectively

We had Cesc, Nasri, RVP, Adebayor, and Song in our squad at one point. Throw in Rosicky, Sagna and Theo, that’s a dangerous attack. The difference is, those guys weren’t bought for £20-£30m a piece. We just sold at that price to clubs like City.

[Özil's Panoramic View]

Nasri is a star

[I am invisible]

That's the part I disagree with. It's not a superstar squad but the price tags has everyone thinking otherwise.

On an individual basis (bar one or two) I totally agree - we can certainly find players of a similar standard, and probably for a lot less money than they've paid for theirs (point of fact: we did find several of their players for a lot less than they paid for them). But I still think the sheer size and depth of their squad is something that's beyond us, and most clubs. At some point, most of us have to start falling back on lesser options, whereas clubs like City can keep wheeling out players of nearly the same standard. It doesn't mean that it's impossible to compete with them, of course, but there's no denying that it's a big advantage. Most clubs would have to work incredibly hard and have everyone working right on top of their game to produce the sort of side that they can simply throw together with very little effort...

[I am invisible]

We had Cesc, Nasri, RVP, Adebayor, and Song in our squad at one point. Throw in Rosicky, Sagna and Theo, that’s a dangerous attack. The difference is, those guys weren’t bought for £20-£30m a piece. We just sold at that price to clubs like City.

True, although the other difference is that most of those guys were young, inexperienced project-players when they first came to this club, whereas the teams they moved to were getting players that were ready to go straight into their first team squads.

Going off on a slight tangent, when you look through that list, and chuck in some of the guys we still have, you can kind of see where we were trying to go with the infamous 'youth project' - if we could have kept everyone together, then we'd have a seriously good team right now! What a shame for the fans that the players had no patience (or loyalty), and the club had no backbone...

[Power n Glory]

On an individual basis (bar one or two) I totally agree - we can certainly find players of a similar standard, and probably for a lot less money than they've paid for theirs (point of fact: we did find several of their players for a lot less than they paid for them). But I still think the sheer size and depth of their squad is something that's beyond us, and most clubs. At some point, most of us have to start falling back on lesser options, whereas clubs like City can keep wheeling out players of nearly the same standard. It doesn't mean that it's impossible to compete with them, of course, but there's no denying that it's a big advantage. Most clubs would have to work incredibly hard and have everyone working right on top of their game to produce the sort of side that they can simply throw together with very little effort...

Yes, they do have a huge advantage being able to assemble a squad quickly and they have depth. They’ve been able to plug gaps quickly. It sure as hell worked to their advantage this year with the strikers on the bench. But they were lucky to win the title this year and we need to ready next year because I think they’ll squabble and complacency will set in. Money is a factor but it doesn’t always work out that way. Just look at Spurs.

[Power n Glory]

True, although the other difference is that most of those guys were young, inexperienced project-players when they first came to this club, whereas the teams they moved to were getting players that were ready to go straight into their first team squads.

Going off on a slight tangent, when you look through that list, and chuck in some of the guys we still have, you can kind of see where we were trying to go with the infamous 'youth project' - if we could have kept everyone together, then we'd have a seriously good team right now! What a shame for the fans that the players had no patience (or loyalty), and the club had no backbone...

It’s a shame we couldn’t keep that team together but when you have a club that are so inflexible with their policies and never learn from past mistake, what options do they have? They lost faith in the club and manager. We try to keep our players on the lowest salary for as long as possible, so the financial perks aren’t there either. Most former players that have left can look back with no regrets because we still haven’t won a trophy and showed them why it was a mistake to leave. Hopefully, we get things right this time around. We’re tying down players to contracts and I’m hoping for an active summer. We can’t rest on our laurels like last time. It’s a bit much to ask a player to commit the best of his playing years to a club with no ambition.