HazardousChoice

I think Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge is the perfect example. I don't rate Chilwell as high as most he's definitely more Wayne Bridge than Ashley Cole and that's before you factor in such a bad injury which could impact his level long term and we had to act. If Tuchel has identified that Cucurella can be an Ash level of improvement for us it makes perfect sense to sign him. Despite Bridge being decent bringing Ash in worked out pretty well for us didn't it? If Cucu performs half as well for us I don't think anyone will regret us spending 50m

I don't think Cucurella is signing to primarily be a centre back.... Though I'm sure he will play there on occasion.

Cucurella wouldn't be both City's best left back and a starting centre back for them like he will be here. We need him more City have Diaz - Laporte and Canelo We have Sarr, Chalobah and Chilwell coming off one of the worst injuries a footballer can have. If City were in our shoes they'd have signed him for 60m and had him settled in the team to start this weekend.

Given our current attacking players rarely get a chance to do any celebrations I'd put that in the pro column.

Yes. Pros - Striker we desperately need Proven goal scorer. 11 goals in 17 la liga games is a great return for his 6 months there. Knows the league Flexible enough to play multiple positions across the front line. Can play on the left wing and isn't Pulisic. Biggest pro of all Will have a point to prove to Arteta and Arsenal so will be highly motivated. Cons. Old as f**k and should have been signed years ago. Providing it's on a free or a minimal fee I'd take him.

Don't think you can group Kepa in with Fofana and Havertz. Kepa wasn't showing potential. He was extremely medicore in Spain which is what makes the transfer so bizarre. He wasn't some young talented hyped up prospect he was a crappy lower midtable standard keeper who no one wanted for his 18m release clause 6 months before we signed him.

Bissouma doesn't even play for Brighton anymore Lamptey was great before his Injury but he's not got back to his previous level yet.

Sterling had 1 year on his contract was on 300K a week and City had replacements. Cucurella has a long term contract and is by far Brightons best player who they have no hope of replacing. The selling club sets the Value We paid 58m for a player who had never had a good season in a weaker league. Cucu looks like a bargain at 50m in comparison.

That's assuming the option to buy gets triggered. It isn't an obligation. We all know no one is paying 12m for the Sarr we saw last season.

When is the last time we bought a really highly rated top young attacking talent that other clubs wanted? Hazard?

Think you might want to learn what the word profit means.

RLC isn't infront of anyone. I'd actually say Chuk is being brought in to be what we thought RLC could be before his injuries.

We already have one Sarr in our backline we don't need to move the Sarr of our forwards back there as well.

Wait what? A villa fan was telling me the other week he's the most talented youth prospect he can remember seeing at the club in 20 years and he was going to play a lot for them this season. I had no idea they'd even consider selling him let alone our interest.

Probably much less than the amount of physical strikers who held off Azpi in the buildup to their attacks because he didn't have the size or the strength to get round them like Rudiger did so couldn't match his aggression. I don't understand how anyone can watch Rudiger for us last season, Koulibaly in pre season or Forfana before he got injured and not value the physicality, Size and aggression top class big strong centre backs can bring or think we can replicate that dominance with a Wingback there. If we lose that not only are we much weaker at set pieces we're giving limited opposition an easy way up the pitch. I can see the 70 yard diagonals played up to Benteke against Cucurella now. If you want us to be more open and have an easier time breaking down weaker opposition then look at replacing dross like Pulisic and Ziyech in our front line and or adding a long overdue goal threat to our midfield. Silva Koulibaly and Forfana are all great with the ball at their feet anyway there's really no benefit to benching them to try to shoehorn another Wingback in the backline.

No I'm saying we shouldn't be absolutely brain dead and think we can stick 11 strikers in the team and blow the weaker teams away without showing them even the slightest bit of respect. Starting centre backs at centre back isn't some kind of caution or pragmatism. I understand our forwards are dross but trying to populate the backline with offensive options is pure Fifa muppetry.

Ah what a genius idea. When facing a defensive team who's only real threat comes from set pieces leaving out our centre backs to play some midget wingbacks seems like a winning idea. Playing wingbacks at CB will and should be a rarity. A quality core of 3 centre backs Koulibaly/Silva/Fofana is our core.

I just really don't want to see our best player arguably the best player in his position on the planet moved to CB. I could accept a backline of James - KK - Silva - Cucu - Chilly But for me Reece absolutely has to play at Wingback. If we sign Fofana as well I'd be inclined to move Cucu to LWB to start over Chilwell. There's no player I can see who would offer us enough on the right to justify moving Reece.

If Thiago Silva had more pace that would be a great fifa back line. But a 38 year old defender and 4 Wingbacks back 5 while Koulibaly sits on the bench is one of the most horrific defensive set ups I could imagine. Having our centre backs and wingbacks interchange sounds like more chaos for us. It's like we're begging to be hit on the counter with very little actual benefit.

Marina masterclass. It's crazy to me some people pretend she was some kind of top negotiator when almost every contract she handed out had us paying players 50 to 100K more than they would have earned anywhere else. Would Sarr really have turned down 110K a week? 100? 90? 80? Some of the salaries we pay are beyond absurd.

Trippier without a doubt. Livramento also starts at RB ahead of him at club level Wan Bissaka I'd also take Lamptey And James Justin over him.

I like how you say for an England International. Like he isn't the countries 12th choice right back who played 2 meaningless friendlies and can't make a competitive squad.

The wrong Kyle Walker

50m for Cucurella seems reasonable. We paid them same for Chilwell and I felt Cucurella looked far better at Brighton than Chilwell did at Leicester. Wan Bissaka went for 50m, Maguire for 80, Ben White for 50, Ake for 40 Buying from other prem clubs isn't cheap but Cucurella looked head and shoulders above all of them.

Our season tailed off because we don't have adequate replacements at Wingback. 2 slow players players in their 30s or RLC were absolute disastrous replacements so of course we missed Chilwell. But Ben himself is nothing special, he's very much on the same tier as Tierney, Shaw, Reguillion, Digne etc. Decent but certainly nowhere near the likes of Cancelo or Robertson which Is the standard of our competition. He's far more Wayne Bridge than Ashley Cole. Good but not necessarily untouchable.