Page 1 of 2

(Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:14 am
by Gooner Girl
100 million for Grealish?! City will be pretty unstoppable this season. Doesn’t seem that long ago that I remember Chris Sutton moving from Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers for 5 million.

I feel like Arsenal have paid a bit over the odds for Ben White. 50 million. Young and English and clearly has potential I suppose.

Any other transfers caught people’s eyes yet?

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:00 am
by Bruce Rioja
Gooner Girl wrote:
Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:14 am

I feel like Arsenal have paid a bit over the odds for Ben White. 50 million. Young and English and clearly has potential I suppose.
Oh, you'll soon balance that out by nicking George Johnston off us for trinkets ;)

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:02 am
by boltonboris
Messi has finally left Barca - HE agreed to a paycut from €865,000.00 per week to €400,000.00 per week, but they were still way over the FFP and probably couldn't guarantee he'd actually get paid

Interesting to see where he pitches up.. Maybe Pep will have him over Kane and he may have to stay put for another year..

Ings to Villa looks a good move for both players, but not sure how many minutes he'll get with Watkins ahead of him

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:10 am
by BWFC_Insane
I don’t really get the Grealish thing. Insane fee. Does he make City better? Not for me. But perhaps he will finally show what all the fuss is about. If you are paying that money then you need that player to be someone who makes the difference and wins you a champions league. So Messi, Ronaldo or Zidane level. Is he that? We will find out.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 11:34 am
by Gooner Girl
BWFC_Insane wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 10:10 am
I don’t really get the Grealish thing. Insane fee. Does he make City better? Not for me. But perhaps he will finally show what all the fuss is about. If you are paying that money then you need that player to be someone who makes the difference and wins you a champions league. So Messi, Ronaldo or Zidane level. Is he that? We will find out.
He struggled to start for England. Did he stand out for Villa because he was so much better then those around him, which won’t be the case at City, or will his game be raised because he has better players around him?

City spending £100million on him and still looking to purchase Kane too, just shows how much money they have to throw around. Reckon they will be pretty uncatchable next season.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 1:13 pm
by Bruce Rioja
I'd say absolutely nowhere near the level of City's current midfielders. I stand to be corrected of course, but he isn't even nearly at that level for me.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 1:38 pm
by BWFC_Insane
Bruce Rioja wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 1:13 pm
I'd say absolutely nowhere near the level of City's current midfielders. I stand to be corrected of course, but he isn't even nearly at that level for me.
That’s how I see it. Perhaps not ‘nowhere near’ but I don’t see him as better that’s for sure. And for that money……

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 3:05 pm
by Gudnib
£100m for Grealish is about the same percentage of turnover as the £3.5m we paid for Dean Holdsworth. Anelka was cheaper as a percentage of turnover.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:23 pm
by Prufrock
Grealish is top drawer. Because of his hair and socks everyone thinks he's flash but he's the complete modern midfielder. Created second most chances in the league last year, more than De Bruyne, and only played 2/3rds. Far better off the ball then he gets credit for too. Looking at their squad you'd say the big places to improve were CF and LB, so not sure they "need" him (do they *need* anyone) but he's a top player.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 6:16 pm
by BWFC_Insane
Prufrock wrote:
Sat Aug 07, 2021 4:23 pm
Grealish is top drawer. Because of his hair and socks everyone thinks he's flash but he's the complete modern midfielder. Created second most chances in the league last year, more than De Bruyne, and only played 2/3rds. Far better off the ball then he gets credit for too. Looking at their squad you'd say the big places to improve were CF and LB, so not sure they "need" him (do they *need* anyone) but he's a top player.
Top drawer is making the difference and winning a side the champions league. For 100M. I don’t see it with Grealish. I really don’t, perhaps he will prove himself at that sort of real top level and be undroppable for City. But for that money you have to be first name on the team sheet and the man expected to win you the big trophies. Personally I think he’s not even their best player in his position. Time will tell.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:39 pm
by boltonboris
So is De Bruyne not draw because he’s not won the champions league?

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:49 pm
by boltonboris
Ronaldo (R9), Buffon, Thuram, Totti, Batistuta, Nedved

Just a few who were never “the difference between winning the champions league”

Grealish is world class and only De Bruyne in that City team is better than him

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:19 pm
by BWFC_Insane
boltonboris wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:39 pm
So is De Bruyne not draw because he’s not won the champions league?
If you are spending 100M to add a player into that City team then you’d best believe they are the player to make the difference and the only thing City haven’t won is the champions league.

You don’t have to win the champions league to be considered top drawer - it’s completely contextual. But if you sign for a side like City for such an insane fee then you should be that good that you are the difference. If not then I’m sorry but you aren’t a 100M player. Simple as that.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:27 am
by boltonboris
BWFC_Insane wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:19 pm
boltonboris wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:39 pm
So is De Bruyne not draw because he’s not won the champions league?
If you are spending 100M to add a player into that City team then you’d best believe they are the player to make the difference and the only thing City haven’t won is the champions league.

You don’t have to win the champions league to be considered top drawer - it’s completely contextual. But if you sign for a side like City for such an insane fee then you should be that good that you are the difference. If not then I’m sorry but you aren’t a 100M player. Simple as that.
Is it as simple as that, because you said it is? Because I don’t think it is as simple as that.

You can’t doubt his ability until he wins a champions league. It’s like Messi with the World Cup in that case. There are so many evenly matched teams

Grealish is an exceptionally talented, driven player and I can’t wait to see him shine

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 8:36 am
by BWFC_Insane
boltonboris wrote:
Tue Aug 10, 2021 7:27 am
BWFC_Insane wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 10:19 pm
boltonboris wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 7:39 pm
So is De Bruyne not draw because he’s not won the champions league?
If you are spending 100M to add a player into that City team then you’d best believe they are the player to make the difference and the only thing City haven’t won is the champions league.

You don’t have to win the champions league to be considered top drawer - it’s completely contextual. But if you sign for a side like City for such an insane fee then you should be that good that you are the difference. If not then I’m sorry but you aren’t a 100M player. Simple as that.
Is it as simple as that, because you said it is? Because I don’t think it is as simple as that.

You can’t doubt his ability until he wins a champions league. It’s like Messi with the World Cup in that case. There are so many evenly matched teams

Grealish is an exceptionally talented, driven player and I can’t wait to see him shine
He’s going into a City side that are one of the best in Europe and only just missed out. He’s cost £100M. For that to be worth it he has to be the main man who you can look to in huge games to produce and he has to do that consistently. That’s the measure for such a player. Not doing well against West Ham. I think it’s quite clear if you are worth that money then you produce at the highest level. It amuses me that you seem to not want that test applied to Grealish. Surely he will rip the champions league up for £100M in a great side like City?

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:54 am
by boltonboris
Yeah he will rip it up. But it doesn't necessarily mean that if they don't win the Champions League, then he's not as good as they think.

They have brought him in, to give them a better chance at doing that and they're spot on, he will give them a better chance, because he's exceptional.

But you've hedged your bets in a way that it so that if City don't win the Champions League, which is the hardest thing to do in the world, you can sit there and smugly say "told ya", because that's what you're like.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:12 am
by BWFC_Insane
boltonboris wrote:
Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:54 am
Yeah he will rip it up. But it doesn't necessarily mean that if they don't win the Champions League, then he's not as good as they think.

They have brought him in, to give them a better chance at doing that and they're spot on, he will give them a better chance, because he's exceptional.

But you've hedged your bets in a way that it so that if City don't win the Champions League, which is the hardest thing to do in the world, you can sit there and smugly say "told ya", because that's what you're like.
Assuming City get to the latter stages we can see what Grealish's impact is. I don't think he's a £100M - make the difference player, especially not to City. But we'll see. Kane is because he solves one of City's weaknesses which is taking chances but I'm far from convinced that Grealish is better than what City have. He adds a different dimension to it which is always good but for me personally if I'm picking the City side to beat a major team in a final or whatever I'm unconvinced that Grealish is the man you'd build that team around and therefore the fee seems extortionate in my opinion. Its not about 'whether they win the champions league this season' its that for £100M you would need that player to be one of the best in Europe and make one of the biggest contributions in key moments in the biggest of games. That has to be the test for his value really. You can't for that sort of a fee be happy if he just has a solid premiership season - given City are the best team already - has to be more than that IMHO.

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:52 am
by Worthy4England
I think Insano, that you and Sheikh Mansoor might have differing views on "worth" :-)

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:27 pm
by Worthy4England
Also - PSG look to have just announced Messi...So it's quite possible that City aren't the "strongest team" in the CL despite their expenditure...

Re: (Non Bolton) transfer thread

Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:29 pm
by BWFC_Insane
Worthy4England wrote:
Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:52 am
I think Insano, that you and Sheikh Mansoor might have differing views on "worth" :-)
City have to work within FFP so whilst clearly its pocket change - to the club in the current rules its an absolutely huge investment.

As for other point - if you've spent 100M on Grealish then surely you do so believing he's a better bet than Messi on a free?