chrismada9

Who the hell is Michael Criscitiello, and what part does he play in all of this? This sounds ridiculous I know, but I hope we're not using a 3rd party associate to try and tap him up or anything like that

You'd think with the Financial Fair Play situation they're under, they could be tempted to sell! Plus... where would Johnson fit in the City squad?? They have Silva, Milner and SWP already at the club!

Hahaha that is very true actually

I would seriously choose Adam Johnson over Juan Mata to be honest. At least he's one more English player to join us, and at least he has Premier League experience

I guess it's up to Pastore where he goes. As I said earlier, if he goes to PSG it's purely because he wants money. If he joins us, he has a real chance of winning trophies and playing in the Champions League. If I was Pastore, I know what I'd want!

18 for Argentina at the Copa America

Spot on!! :goodpost:

El Blueso

PSG may have the money, but they only offer the Europa League for a European competition. Pastore wants to play for a bigger club than that surely! We offer Champions League football so that's perfect for him. If his eyes are not bigger than his head, he would choose us!

I just saw this on twitter.... @Swagadore: Noises coming through sounds like El Flaco has chosen #CFC phhhhew. "El Flaco" is Pastore's nickname!

I said it once, I'll say it again... ... what a total waste!!

We just can't be beaten by another group of rich Arabs again!! Please god, let Pastore join us instead of the French frogs!

Unforunately I won't be able to watch most of this match as I am picking up my proper uni results today, so I shall be relying on the others here to keep me up to speed on what's going on!

Pleeeeeease tell me you're joking Randall

I see your point when you say that actually! We used the 4-4-2 diamond on various occaisions whilst under Carlo, and it never worked! Teams would just dominate our midfield time and time again. Lampard played the more attacking role, and you had Mikel as the DM, which was okay, but there was no real enforcer in there, nobody to take midfield domination by the scruff of the neck and just run with it until there's someone available to pass it to. Ramires is that player, that's primarily what a box-to-box player does in that sense. We need someone to provide, someone to break play up and create space in the middle, and an extra man to protect the back four. That's why we've always used a 3-man midfield, as opposed to 2 central mids, and 2 wingers. And as for Drogba and Torres, I don't think they work well together, I believe Torres works better when he's up front on his own, the same applies to Drogba.

That's a good question! If the fee had been agreed while Piazon was 17 at the time, Chelsea could have a viable case of claiming him to be homegrown. But unfortunately I don't think it works like that.

What I meant to have said in the article before, was the fact that they are all home grown players. I deliberately didn't mention Van Persie because Arsenal signed him from Feyenoord while over the age of 18, so he couldn't have been labelled as a home grown player. At the end of the day, that's one of the main factors that UEFA look at when teams are eligable for the Champions League. A certain number of home grown players need to be submitted in order to comply with the rules! Fabregas is qualified as a home grown player because he joined Arsenal at the age of just 16. Wilshere also qualifies because he was 17 when he joined. But that's only half my point. The fact that Ferguson and Wenger have enough knowledge to find the best young players and add them to the squad, understanding how to use them and in the process, getting the best out of them, makes up the other half. I reckon Boas can do the same for McEachran and Romeu because he understands their qualities, otherwise why sign them in the first place?

I'll follow that up by stating that before City beat us 4-2 in 2010, they haden't beaten us at the Bridge since 1993 by the same scoreline!

I'm not sure if I like that kit! Looks too flourescent! :unsure:

Van Persie was a young product at Feyenoord, not Arsenal!

You do have a point actually! :mellow:

as i said, poor quality of camera phone... and it's meant to say "my handwriting sucks"

Okay, there's something that I've been meaning to start a discussion on for some time, and now that it seems Man City are about to agree terms to sign one of my prized hopefuls, Sergio Aguero, it's about time I started a thread about this. What I want to know is... can Chelsea's idea of biding their time in the transfer market be as effective this season as City's frantic spending?? I can see where Boas gets his ideas from. The fact that McEachran gives us more fresh, young ideas, and the idea of agreeing a deal with Barcelona for Oriol Romeu, a 19-year-old holding midfielder with bags of promise (so Barcelona say). The fact that Boas wanted him while he was at Porto, obviously tells us that he recognises his true potential. By saying all of the above, I believe I speak for everyone when I say that Boas is building not just for this season, but for the future as well! I can definitely see McEachran filling Lampard's boots if he stays for long enough and gets the games that he has been playing so well for, and I could definitely see Romeu (and later, Piazon) working alongside him, fitting the pieces of our perfect midfield jigsaw. Hopefully, if either Modric or Pastore joins us this window, it's adding to the creativity we need in our midfield, and hopefully, this will provide to Sturridge and Torres et al up front, to get us the goals. It's almost very similar to the way Ferguson or Wenger go about their work as United and Arsenal managers respectively. How Rafael and Fabio have established themselves as well known products. How Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Niklas Bendtner and even Cesc Fabregas have worked from the ground upwards to become the players they are today. With the idea of biding our time, finding the right players, and analyzing the squad sensibly, I can see why Boas is known as "the group one" Compare with what's going on at City. What are they doing at the moment? Spending, spending, and spending some more it sounds like. It seems as if every single talented player out there, you wouldn't be suprised to see City's name being linked with those players. All they have to do City is wave some money in their faces and they come running. Aguero seems to be the latest victim of that scandal because he clearly stated last year that "Chelsea are the most feared clubs in Europe, and that City are not ready yet". Petr Cech touched on the fact that, the more players City sign, the more hard work the manager has at building the team chemistry all over again, and I agree with him. Because some players have different playing styles to others, it's hard work at making the team click properly, and then there's the concern about how much these players are costing their side. There could be a lot more pressure on the more expensive players in the squad to deliver. But one question I have to address, and while we were freely spending all those years ago, we never cared much about it. How are City going to control their youth development? If they're buying so many players in the market, they'll have no chance of breaking into their team! Which brings me to one other question. Are City really an evolving youth recognition policy, or are they just a circus act who dream about winning sorry buying the league? ....discuss!

Love the Glazers... Hate United

Man United's interest is bollocks because Ferguson said that some of the players he wants to sign aren't available. Also, he said he doesn't expect to sign anyone else until after the community shield match... and I suspect any kind of agreement for Pastore will be made before then.