Superblue

Will be frustrating to lose out on Kounde to Barcelona if we're indeed after him but we could have tied this deal up if we wanted to weeks ago. He clearly wasn't a priority for Tuchel and the board, but does pose question marks over what now if he doesn't come.

With the contract lengths of Broja and Colwill we're not in the same situation as the likes of Livramento. If they want to leave to play regularly, encourage them that the pathway is still there and a loan is in their best interests instead of leaving permanently. Compared to all the other top teams, our squad is already brimming with academy players. I feel Gallagher will get quite a bit of game time this season and I think Ampadu will stay in the squad too due to his versatility to play multiple positions. After Chalobah last season, and the likes of Mount and James before them, this should be more than enough evidence to point to players that there are opportunities in our squad if they are good enough. Ironically we seem to be hoovering up a lot of highly rated players in the 16 - 18 age bracket around the league this summer.

If we get a midfielder this summer it needs to be a genuine holding midfielder, not just someone who could play that role in a pinch like Kante and Kova 'could' do. Having someone like that would give Tuchel greater flexibility to use both 4 and 5 back formations depending on opposition and players he has available but also opens some players up to being potentially more helpful. Mount, Gallagher and RLC are all better suited to playing in an 8 role than in the pivot.

Kounde can also play RB so could potentially take over the role that Azpi fulfils on that right hand side of defence covering for James. I think in terms of the makeup of the defence he makes more sense currently than Kimpembe and I'd also be less worried about him playing centrally in a back 4 if it's alongside someone like Koulibaly. However it's still huge money what is being asked for both players. Part of me is hoping someone steps up in pre season like Trev did last year to make it less of a need to strengthen for Tuchel.

When a lot of posters on this forum are having to rack their brains to come up with potential winger and striker options, it's an indication to leave that now this window and roll with what we have.

Think it's safe to see why Kimpembe rumours are now heating up. This might very well still suggest also we only sign one more defender and Colwill stays within the squad.

Let's see how this all plays out. I think its clear that Boehly has been a busy boy the last few weeks with regards to meetings, enquiries, bids, etc and it looks like we have been working on multiple deals at once which doesn't necessarily mean we'll pull the trigger on all of them. The Sterling deal has essentially been confirmed as good as done for the last couple of weeks, but the deal to sign Ake doesn't really seem to have progressed. It makes you wonder whether during Sterling negotiations we also looked to get something in place with Ake at the same time but perhaps as an alternative option to what other choices we might have. Since the Ake links, we had the strong De Ligt links, then the Koulibaly signing went from what seemed not much more than interest to suddenly everything agreed. Now the rumours of Kimpembe are heating up. I'd be very surprised if it was both, even more so if Tuchel wants to transition to a back 4.

This will get lost amongst the Sterling and Koulibaly deals, but my understanding is this kid is extremely highly rated and has an absolute sledgehammer of a left peg. From what I've read, Boehly and the ownership have been backing Neil Bath and the academy with quite a few players they wanted to sign up this summer. Add to the women's deals and now the men's deals starting to go through and everything is starting to look very promising at the club after the doom and gloom that we weren't "doing anything" in recent weeks.

If we're talking for immediate impact it would be De Bruyne or Rudiger. If we're looking at long term it would be Musiala for me.

Chelsea haven't even announced him yet so he's hardly going to be the one confirming this - he hasn't even put Chelsea in his twitter handle yet having removed City. He's been given the chance to say his goodbyes to City and their fans and done so, in my opinion, in a respectful way. Once Chelsea announce the deal I'm sure he'll be doing an interview or the customary social media posts to say how excited and hungry he is to be here. You've already seemingly made your mind up about him though.

Do you not think if he was going to go through the motions only here, that he would bother leaving City in the first place? It's been widely confirmed that City would rather have renewed his contract and kept him at the club. He's 27, what he considers to be in his prime and he's motivated to leave a comfort zone to test and prove himself further. Everything that has been written suggests he's highly motivated to be the man that helps get Chelsea back to where we should be. Regarding the comment, I have no problem with it. Whatever he does at Chelsea, he'll still hold a strong affinity to City now and after his career is over. I'd be more concerned with Sterling if he didn't put out a statement to Man City and their fans to be honest. Do we think less of Fabregas because he holds Arsenal still in his heart like he does Chelsea? Would we be disappointed if the likes of Hazard, Rudiger, etc hadn't put out a statement when they left thanking the club and wanting fans to know how much the club means to them despite leaving for new pastures?

Huh?!

Not only do Koulibaly and Sterling walk straight into our strongest XI and instantly make us stronger on paper, but they both bring elite, leadership mentality. Whilst some circumstances seemed to conspire against us last season, I don't think it's been lost on Tuchel how we fell apart in December (and Tuchel will know full well at the very least we'd suffered the same fate the year before which led to his own appointment) and the drop off in standards towards the end of the season when the club seemed to be spinning wheels and just wanting to see the season out. He's bringing in players with a lot of experience and leadership who are primed to come in immediately and make an impact. Personally pleased about both.

Personally would have liked De Ligt as I felt his age and profile would have been ideal but his price tag seems to be heading incredibly north. It seemed a real opportunity when there was talk of perhaps lower cash and Werner but when it's almost essential we bring 2 centre backs in this summer and they can probably be signed for the same fee combined as De Ligt, it makes sense to step away (of course on top of the seeming preference for Bayern) I get the risk attached to Koulibaly spending £30-35m on a 31 year old but I think in some circumstances you just have to worry about the present and if we can get 2 top years from him then for me, he's proven worth the money right there. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Thiago Silva's signing was brilliant but in hindsight now the two years we already have had from him, if we'd have paid £20-30m for him I'd argue it will have still been value for money. We have a lot of talented players in the 18 - 24 age bracket including two defenders in Colwill and Chalobah who still need to continue to grow and develop. We needed some players to add to the group who are in their prime years and add some experience and leadership to the club (bearing in mind who we've lost and look set to lose this summer). Sterling and now potentially Koulibaly tick those boxes. What Koulibaly provides is a presence and aura in our backline that walked out the door with Rudiger and we need back. He can play roles in a back 3 or 4 (I think he's essential if we want to revert to a back 4 system) and he should provide the transition the club needs to move away from Silva over the next season or as he starts to wane as he won't go on forever. It's short term but I'm in favour of it.

And they were both right to. Being Pep Guardiola, and so sought after by Roman, he probably would have survived his first season at Chelsea scraping into the top 4 like he did at City but I think his position would have been a lot more precarious and he wouldn't have been given as much authority on transfer targets as he was at City. Klopp wouldn't have lasted as long as he has at Liverpool without trophies at Chelsea. For both their stock was high and Chelsea was just far too of a high risk proposition for them to take. Given the circumstances of leaving Dortmund and then PSG, Tuchel didn't really have anything to lose by trying his hand at Chelsea. It's been widely reported that if it went wrong here, he'd happily go back to managing a less stellar club in the Bundesliga like a Leverkusen. I feel that the club under Roman was trying to shift away a little more from that hire and fire mentality and you feel that Tuchel would have been given a longer stint so long as the wheels wouldn't completely fall off. But ultimately that perception won't change over night, it'll take years to change. Fortunately the new ownership can help change that perception much quicker, but until they show their hand with how the club will be run, there will still be those question marks. We're fortunate that despite the above, we've ended up with Tuchel who in my opinion is a top 5 manager in world football and someone that can hopefully smooth that transition from the old to the new ownership.

The bigger point within this though is we shouldn't even need to go for these big name, 'top' players if our recruitment and planning was efficient through the club because we get burnt time and again when doing so. This is what needs addressing because we'll never establish ourselves to compete for pulling power with Madrid and Barca. United and Liverpool can't even compete with them. Our best signings during Roman's tenure have been a mixture of either players with the potential to become top players but not currently there, and players maybe at one of the top clubs but looking for a move due to a new challenge, seeking more minutes or more appreciation. Players such as Maka, Ballack, Pedro, Fabregas, Kovacic would fall into this bracket, and hopefully Sterling would too given where City are in comparison to us at present. But the more important one is locating players early that can be developed in house to become top players. I know even in this current climate, a player only needs to play a few good games and he seems to be worth £30-40m but our recruitment has to improve to be getting players on our radar much earlier. It's only a few years ago we were buying De Bruyne and Courtois from the Belgian league and Salah from the Swiss League. I feel our recruitment drive has moved far away from that now and we wouldn't even bother looking directly into those leagues and we'd much prefer players of that ilk to move to another club first and become more proven (but in doing so become 3 or 4x more expensive). There is a major reboot needed at the club which is why I'm not hugely fussed if we don't end up buying huge volumes of players this summer. This season feels like a need to consolidate our position in the top 4, and maybe try and win a cup, which I feel we are very capable and very much in the mix to do. If that gives a grace period for the new ownership to properly get their feet under the table and plan ahead on the scouting and recruitment side towards next summer then I'm all for it.

Taking it in isolation away from our club potentially being interested in either player, I actually find it madness from Barcelona's end to sign both. The debt position is real and so is their wage bill. They continue to kick the can down the road to bring players in. Having managed to re-sign Dembele on a large wage cut, the sensible thing if they were looking to buy players would be to strengthen a terrible defence and a midfield completely dependent on two very talented but very young players. They've got no spine in their team to build around which is why they currently are where they are, which is nowhere near Madrid and in no state to compete at any reasonable level in the Champions League. Kessie and Christensen are good free transfer signings to beef up their squad. But if they're pinning hopes on those two becoming first choice players in their positions so they can throw another 120m on their attack in Raphinha and Lewa, I think they'll continue to struggle being so top heavy. They're a club amongst everyone that I'd actually enjoy to see run into greater problems than they currently have. They had an incredible crop of talent through their academy, pocketed 200m from Neymar and have mismanaged the club beyond believable levels in the last 5-10 years. And it just feels like their arrogance won't get them out of that position any time soon.

There's actually an art form to scoring tap ins. The appreciation and awareness of space, the understanding of team mates and the timing of runs. Opposition fans for years have said similar about Lampard and a lot of his goals being the same runs into the box or the ball breaking into his path. Well if its that easy why doesn't everyone do it and why can't opposition stop it? That part of Sterling's game is massive for me. There's a lot of times we simply don't have enough people in the box attacking the six yard box.

I posted yesterday my thoughts and reasons why I don't fancy us making a move for Ronaldo or Lewa. I'd take either without blinking over Neymar.

Maybe its the hope that kills you but I actually have this gut feeling that CHO might make a step up next season. What that step up might be, I'm not yet quite sure but I think if he stays fit I see him becoming more entrusted by Tuchel and jump above Pulisic and Werner in the pecking order. The achilles injury he suffered definitely had a lasting impact on him. His confidence, his explosiveness to take players on. It sounds promising that he's come back to pre season fit and in a shape that it seems he hasn't been before. I think despite the two possibly in competition for some game time I also feel he'll benefit from Sterling coming in. Everything that I've read about Sterling suggests he's a huge influence as an experienced player within the England set up, and I think that should rub well with the young England boys we have in our squad.

Can't remember where I've seen it but the last day or two it just seems to have gone from Dembele and Raphinha to a feeling it'll be one or the other and in Barcelona's situation Dembele is much easier to do and seems to be the one Xavi is pushing to be done. I wouldn't say I'm confident at present of signing him, but I do think we're closer than we've ever been to getting him.