Manchester City signing news and rumours all in one relatively convenient place, with commentary and opinions thrown in for good measure.
Transfer rumours are much like the buses, you wait an age for one to arrive and two come along at once. Naturally you feel confusion and rage over the inconvenience of the timing, but honestly it’s just been so long that you’ve been standing there looking for anything that we’ll take it. That feeling of famine to feast and back again has been all the more prevalent this summer, for reasons that aren’t easily explained.
Manchester City certainly have the resources to sign any of the top talent available, indeed they have the resources to buy their old clubs as well, but of course there’s a lot more to it than all that. Many will complain about the slow progress of acquisitions with only Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito and Oleksandr Zinchenko through the door so far. Yes, there’s the Euros to account for, but when we see other clubs roping in Euro talent, such as Chelsea’s acquisition of N’Golo Kante, it makes it difficult to argue the more patient approach.
It’s obvious that, from the beginning, this wasn’t an average Manchester City summer of signings. Instead of going after the biggest names and personalities in the game, we have systematically eschewed them. All interest in Paul Pogba, a player the club have tried to acquire for years, has been dropped entirely. Not for lack of funds to acquire him, but lack of desire. A whole bunch of clubs, notably including Arsenal, are in the mood to panic spend £80million or more on Gonzalo Higuain and City couldn’t care less.
I put that down to Pep Guardiola’s influence. Unlike the directionless picking off of talent and throwing superstars at the wall to see if they stick, as we were once wont to do, Pep actually seems to have a plan here. He has his players that interest him and that’s it. They play his way, or look able to adapt to it, and have all the talent without the ego of the more widely known and sought-after signings.
These things do take time, but it’s a difficult process as Pep has very specific players in mind and there’s very little leverage for finding a suitable equivalent. This allows the selling club to be, well, jerks about the whole thing and continually move the goal posts. We discussed last time how Torino got just a little bit too greedy with Bruno Peres and it has caused City to cool their interest at least temporarily. The same can easily happen with other clubs/players, until they realise that the Blues won’t accept being gauged.
Anyway, the good news is that we’ve waited this long and there’s at least two on the horizon. Confusing and enraging? Perhaps, but relieving nonetheless. Let’s climb on board…
Next: The Curiouser and Curiouser