Looks like Walker to City for 50M+. Will be interesting to see who Levy/Poch replace him with. Cant start Trippier there all season IMO. Great for short stretches, but not as a long term replacement. I would definitely be concerned with a Trip/KWP RB depth chart in the season and Champions League. Who is your (realistic) ideal replacement for Walker? Im hopeful the deal for Ricardo Pereira gets done.
Well poo. I really was hoping that wouldn't happen. I think if we'd held out for a few more weeks that it could have been a higher fee as well, since City has like zero fullbacks. Reinvest the money into Pereira and some towards Lemar/Barkley and call it a window.
City is desperate as fuck right now so we'll get much more than Walker is worth if Levy sells. His pace is his most valuable attribute and I'm thinking it will start to decline in the next 2 years. I wouldn't mind seeing us go for Aurier if PSG are asking a reasonable fee but honestly I don't see Levy signing another RB in this window anyways
My favorite thing about soccer is the short offseasons (coupled with occasionally watching some MLS), it's like there is always something to watch. Match Day One in exactly one month (minus 52 minutes). Edit: aug 12th, not 13th, so one month minus one day and 61 minutes.
Supposedly we've sold Walker for 50 million to City This one hurts a little bit but I'm happy to see him go get paid somewhere before it's too late.
We will get another RB unless KWP looks downright amazing in training. Trippier had 5 assists in 566 PL minutes last season, Walker had the same amount in 2704 minutes. His delivery is miles ahead of Walker or really any other rb in the league. He will offer us a different type of threat down that flank, one that has more end product. Basically I'm fine with us selling Walker for 50m if we reinvest it in the squad.
Trippier is pretty easily pushed around, though. I'll gladly take the 50, but he isn't the upgrade over Kyle some are suggesting.
I'm not suggesting he is an all around upgrade, but as far as end product goes he should contribute to more goals. He could also be responsible for giving up more goals defensively so hopefully in the end they will at least cancel each other out. 50M for Walker is really good, assuming we reinvest it into the squad as soon as fucking possible.
Kyle Walker Peters was on the scoresheet in a 4-0 win at the training ground over Leyton Orient yesterday too, so we've got that going for us. N'Koudou actually had an impressive goal as well, I really think he could make a big step forward this season.
We aren't Man City finance wise and have a stadium to pay for. Buy low sell high has kind of been our thing in recent history. He was never going to be valued more highly and nobody was gonna pay as much as Man City. I'm just glad that it looks like he will be the only starter that will be poached this summer, given how highly coveted a lot of our players are.
Can't fault him or Levy too much, KW wanted to get paid and $50 mil is too good to pass on. He's got maybe 3 years left of starting XI potential. If you had to pick a starter to lose before the window opened it would probably be Walker
If and only if we don't do something with the money. If it turns into needed depth that we'll require because of all of the competitions we are in, then it is a move in the right direction.
I just don't think our manager sees it that way or it wouldn't have happened. We weren't going to double his wages, so it is a dick move to try and keep him from that kind of payday. With Walker not publicly forcing the move we were able to secure more money in the transfer fee. It worked for both sides. If we don't reinvest that 50m into the team then I will be pissed off, but we won basically every game down the stretch without Walker in the team.
Poch and Walker clearly had a falling out at the end of the season, and there was no drop off in our performances when he was on the bench. I honestly am not mad about selling Walker for a record fee, so long as we reinvest it in the squad as I've mentioned. The one constant since Poch has taken charge is that almost every single player has gotten way better under his tutelage. He has supplied how many of the last 15 players to make England debuts? Walker wasn't the best RB in the league before our manager helped shape him into the player he is today. I have confidence that Poch is more than secure with our options/plans for the position going forward and that if he was desperate to hold onto Walker then we probably would have.
What I really wish is that we made them include Iheanacho in any deal for Walker, now that would have been the tits.
With Nacho having a £25 million price and interest from lower EPL clubs likely to give him significant playing time that wouldn't have been likely
Clearly I didn't mean we should have asked 50m plus Nacho. 25m plus Nacho would have worked. I don't see why you guys are selling him anyway, he is going to be a stud IMO.
I assumed you meant less though I wasn't sure what would've been suitable in your minds. I agree. I love him but he's also clearly 3rd choice at best for Pep with Aguero and Jesus and we often play with only 1 striker so I certainly understand him wanting to leave (if he's pushing for it)
Mixed feelings on Walker. I think as part of the team we ran out a lot last year at that price Walker is the most obvious member of the squad to leave. Not saying that I think it should have come to that, but I think at that price Walker just isn't high on the list of must keeps. If you ran out the team list I think Walker is the one player that exists in the zone of his transfer value exceeding what it would cost to find competent cover or replacements. If we're going to run out a back three then Trippier is perfectly cromulent. The opposite of that is Dier who isn't worth 50 million pounds but is so important to the way the team is set up that it would make no sense to sell him period. If the sale of Walker results in the dude from Porto who excelled at Nice and a player or two that adds to our depth I'm willing to live with Walker being transferred. We also have a coach, who rightly or wrongly (though the evidence with guys like Bertrand, Shaw and the transformation of Walker and Rose suggests he is) is good at finding and motivating full backs to their full potential. Walker under AVB and Sherwood was good going forward but an incredibly flawed right back. Also under Sherwood he was a terrible central attacking mid, I still have nightmares of that Chelsea match, but that is neither here. I think Walker will be good at City but I want to see him playing in a system next to Stones or Otamendi instead of Toby/Dier/Jan.
As someone who has only been watching the game for 5 years or so, I felt he made a horrid mistake for every great play. He's obviously a very good player but frustrated me to hell.
We reportedly had an initial offer for Pereira turned down by Porto, just pay the 22m release clause.
Best of luck to Kyle except when they play us. He was a consummate professional during this entire process, and this club, and his former teammates obviously mean a lot to him. Hopefully we reinvest well and use the money to strengthen our squad. The only way I'll be upset is if we just sit on it.
He's probably been the 10 we've been linked with most. Need a backup for Eriksen + depth on the wings, and he can do both. Hope we make it work.