11 Aug 2024 22:52:02
Bid of £20m from Saudi for Sa has come in?
Anyone heard or know anymore, or just rumour?

1.) 12 Aug 2024
12 Aug 2024 07:48:35
I hadn’t heard about the bid but I have heard Rui Patricio is a free agent and we’ve considered it. Seems to fit into place

2.) 12 Aug 2024
12 Aug 2024 11:38:14
Can't find any more on it.
Probably why this might be only fit for the rumour page ?
But also heard it's Sam Johnson they are looking at to replace.
Time will tell I suppose.as always

3.) 12 Aug 2024
12 Aug 2024 20:49:32
I think lack of transfer activity has drastically weakened our squad and with tha outgoings the Sky pundit today tipped Wolves for Relegation.We could well be in a Relegation dog fight.

4.) 13 Aug 2024
12 Aug 2024 22:20:04
How is the squad weaker? OK, I'll give you the defence is not as experienced as last season with the sale of Kilman. Neto is a big loss but he only played until November and although Gomes cannot be deemed to be at the same level as Neto, we aren't any weaker in the attacking areas as we've got a like for like replacement for Neto plus a striker in Strand Larsen. Add to this the fact that it looks increasingly likely that Guedes will be staying, we actually look stronger than last season. At least one experienced defender will come in by the end of the transfer window.

5.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 13:42:23
Sorry Wandering but let's all be realistic about the situation. We've sold our club captain who played in every single Prem game last season and not (as yet) replaced him with a player that has ANY REAL Prem experience! Then this week we have sold our ONLY genuinely top class winger left in the squad. A player who played a direct role in 11 of our 50 Prem goals last season despite being injured half the time. And to REALLY add insult to injury it's becoming increasingly obvious that he wasn't driving the move the club were?!
So to be frank we aren't just weaker than this time last season we are a LOT weaker! It's all well and good Dave Edwards telling us how great the money we've made is but we've sold the two biggest names in our squad and have yet again replaced them with relative unknown quantities! If Guedes is that good we should have sold him and kept Neto. Problem is Guedes isn't that good which is why we can't shift him!
I do admire your positivity Wandering so not having a go; but this bizarre spin the clubs putting on things is baffling! We've sold two players that played a HUGE hand in the points we won last season but it's OK cause we have lots of money in the bank that we almost certainly can't spend anyway?! It's just that kind of progress that has had Fosun over see our transition from knocking on the door of the Champs League places to kicking down the door to the Championship spaces!
Sorry gents but if this is what progress looks like then Jeff is watching a different league/sqaud to me! ?

6.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 16:08:19
We all knew that Neto was going. Why else were we monitoring Rodrigo Gomes since January. I don't think we're weaker. We all complained that when Neto, Hwang and Cunha were injured the back up wasn't good enough. Well this season, it looks like rather than Fraser, Chiwome and Chirewa stepping in, well have Hwang, Cunha, Gomes, Strand Larsen, Guedes, Sarabia and Bellegarde as attacking options.

7.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 17:15:38
Thing is Wandering that what you've done there is listed 7 first team players as an example of our extra depth depite the fact that 5 of those players were on the books last year, how does that equate to extra depth exactly?! So when you swap out Neto for Gomes in REAL terms Larsen is the ONLY addition. And by the way that's also making the MASSIVE assumption that Gomes is as good as the best attacking player that's played for us since we came back to the Prem (Neto) no pressure there then!
And all this talk about Guedes staying is also currently entirely premature! And by the way even if he does he was less than useless first time round so I'm not sure why everyone suddenly thinks he's miraculously up to the cut in the Prem?
You've also skated over our losing the club captain and most used defender, who we have yet to replace?! I was fine when Kilman left because I foolishly thought Jeff might invest half of it on a decent cb, so far that doesn't look to be the case. And an 18 year old coming in to play in the u21s for less than £5m is not a replacement for Kilman.
Again just don't see how anyone can genuinely tell me this squads better than last years?! We better hope it is because the three that went down last year where woeful champ teams, we won't be as lucky this time round I'm afraid!

8.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 17:49:22
Last season Hwang, Cunha, Neto were all injured at the same time. Bellegarde was also out and Guedes was out on loan. So at one point last season we had Sarabia as our only fit attacker.

9.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 18:32:47
But again Wandering other than Larsen how has ANY of that actually changed exactly?! Hwang is always injured every other game, Guedes could still go back out on loan or be sold. Essentially what you've said there is that last year we struggled with injuries then just listed a load of the SAME players who were/are here now but yet could just as easily get injured again this season (please see Cunha currently)?! Larsen really is all we've added, other than that we are a cb down?!

10.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 18:51:26
So what you're saying is that selling 1 attacking player but bringing in 2 and retaining a full international makes us worse off?

11.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 19:26:27
So what are you saying, that clubs who sell there best two players and replace them with players who have never played in the Prem before are stronger than the season before?! Behave! Guedes is bang average, Larsen unproven, Gomes unproven. Compared to Kilman, played every league game of the season and our club captain. Neto the catalyst for over a fifth of all our goals last season also gone. You have a very odd version of stronger! I bet City can't wait to shift De Bruyne and Haaland, cause in your version that makes them stronger?! OK then

12.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 19:42:25
Love it Bully's. Spot on as usual.

13.) 13 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 20:02:59
Kilman was not our best defender last season. Dawson was our best Central Defender who made Kilman look better than he was.

Strange analogy of Man City with Haaland and De Bruyne because I'm sure they didn't start their careers there and they replaced established players Yaya Toure and Gabriel Jesus. In both cases, they proved to be better than their predecessors. Keegan/Dalglish. Another example is Raheem Sterling being replaced by Mo Salah. Teams evolve. Players move on. Even Neto replaced one of our favourites in Adama.

14.) 14 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 21:18:21
I agree Dawson was better than Kilman technically. Sadly he's also MUCH slower and 7 years older than Kilman which is also why last season all he managed was 25 league games whereas Kilman played everyone of the 38 league games! So who else is making up that back line now then? Are you HONESTLY telling me you trust S.Bueno and Mosquera to play half the season together next season, big ask that!
My point on City is that good clubs don't regularly sell their best players. Which is precisely why City sold Álvarez and kept Haaland, not rocket science is it.
I understand that teams evolve but as yet we haven't seen a single one of these new players so much as kick a ball in the Prem but you have somehow already decreed that they are going to be better than two players that have fetched some of the highest fees this club has seen why/what are you basing that on then?!
You seem to be disgressing from your original point which was that you've said we are now stronger and you can't possibly know that! No one can to be honest, all we do know right now is that two of our most prominent players from last season have left and at time of writing niether of them has been replaced with a player of proven Prem quality. So I ask YET again, how exactly can you (or anyone) say we are stronger right with any real confidence beyond a dose of bravado based on friendly matches?!

15.) 14 Aug 2024
13 Aug 2024 22:20:14
My tuppence
In goal and mid we are unchanged so neither weaker or stronger.
Up front we have added 4 bodies, the two new boys and 2 returning from loan and only lost one, Neto.
Consequently we certainly have solved the depth issue that caused us such problems at stages last season. This is regardless of what you think about Guedes and Podence's attitude and their, plus sadly Larsen's, ability - he looks miles off the pace at the moment. Clearly they are all far better than the kids we had to play last season.
But in the first eleven we are replacing Neto with Gomes R. Surely no one expects Gomes R to be one of the best players in the league on day 1 off his career?
So does the additional depth, the optionaility of Larsen - we had no one who can play the target man role he can - and Neto's potential future injury record balance the loss of his brilliance when he plays?
In my mind it is very clear that it doesn't.
Last year when he played we tended to win and when he didn't we didn't.
Yes others were also absent particularly Dawson during our bad run but it was fairly obvious that Neto was the key component of our demise.
Dawson brings us to defence where we have lost 2 players and added 2 but have we also lost Dawson? His age, injuries and abscence from pre season sends a scary message that we might have?
We have bought a 3rd choice RB but lost our 2nd choice LB and in Yerson gained a new totally unproven CB but have lost our captain and first choice CB plus possibly our best defender in Dawson. (Note Dawson clearly can't play in a 2 any more but nor can Toti yet all pre season we have played him and Yerson as a 2).
We now have serious depth issues at CB and LB and are clearly markedly weaker (scarily so!) in defence especially if we are going to try and play 4 at the back!
So sadly for me we are club that came 14th largely on Neto and Daswon's back but quite possibly now have neither and have a much weaker first 11 and at best a squad that is not a great deal deeper.
Wandering that in my view is why Kally and BB think we are weaker.

16.) 14 Aug 2024
14 Aug 2024 02:05:27
For me, the issue of whether we are weaker or stronger than last year turns on whether we recruit a top class CB. The defence currently looks a real worry with inadequate experience and injury cover. It’s too early to panic but I’m starting to get a little scared.

17.) 14 Aug 2024
14 Aug 2024 06:04:31
Without Neto, yes we look weaker but he's gone now. The team moves on. I personally think Cunha is our most important player and our squad is stronger than last season, some don't. Let's just look forward to the new season.