16 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I must admit if we are willing to offload Azpi but need a repalcement first then Kounde certainly fits the bill, even if it was a Marina deal. Buying another left sided defender does seem a bit strange and will leave us light on the right if Azpi does go.

Kounde was dropped from the process because of 1. his injury and 2. he preferred Barcelona.

8 hours ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Some of the comments about Ake here would make you think we're signing him from league 1. Is he the best defender in the world? Probably not. But he's a decent enough defender to improve our squad in comparison to an error-prone Andreas and an ageing azpi. He's also bound to improve under Tuchel and other experienced defenders like Thiago and Koulibaly. 

Because he is piss average and we are getting suckered into buying Pep’s 4th choice CB at the price they paid for him, sticking him on ridiculous wages, and making him 1st CB just because he played under him. 
To put things in perspective, Pep only played him in 2 big games last season. 1st game of the season against Spurs, which I reckon was due to fitness issues for his other options, and the game in Jan 22 when he had no cover at LB. The other 8 games he started was against your Norwich, Burnley type teams. Even against the mighty Villa and West Ham, he opted for Fernandinho a 37yr old DM at CB.

Let’s be honest he is 27 now, probably at his peak so this might be how good it gets. Sure he might look decent in a back 5, but it will be in a system where he is heavily protected. 

I know us signing City B or back up players is a sore spot on here, however I really think Gabriel Jesus would have fitted our needs beautifully as well and now Zinchenko is linked with Arsenal. A versatile very good player.

Personally think he and Gabriel would have been really great additions especially if Chilwell needs time or gets injured again. Out of those two, Sterling and Ake, Nathan seems well short in quality by comparison.

26 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

I know us signing City B or back up players is a sore spot on here, however I really think Gabriel Jesus would have fitted our needs beautifully as well and now Zinchenko is linked with Arsenal. A versatile very good player.

Personally think he and Gabriel would have been really great additions especially if Chilwell needs time or gets injured again. Out of those two, Sterling and Ake, Nathan seems well short in quality by comparison.

I’m surprised City are considering selling both Zinchenko and Ake. Both fulfill utility roles that crucially gives them flexibility. 

If what is Simon Philips is saying is true, who would you guys prefer?

 

- Ake is PL proven and is more composed on the ball (although not enough game time to give a fair assessment). 

- Kimpembe is a great passer of the ball, has great height and recovery speed, but is error prone. (Although is coachable give what Tuchel has done to AC and Rudiger) 

24 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

If what is Simon Philips is saying is true, who would you guys prefer?

 

- Ake is PL proven and is more composed on the ball (although not enough game time to give a fair assessment). 

- Kimpembe is a great passer of the ball, has great height and recovery speed, but is error prone. (Although is coachable give what Tuchel has done to AC and Rudiger) 

Back 3 Ake, back 4 Kimpembwe. If we're not signing a new LB or improvising with Gallagher there i may be Ake regardless (anyone but Emerson at this point).

31 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

If what is Simon Philips is saying is true, who would you guys prefer?

 

- Ake is PL proven and is more composed on the ball (although not enough game time to give a fair assessment). 

- Kimpembe is a great passer of the ball, has great height and recovery speed, but is error prone. (Although is coachable give what Tuchel has done to AC and Rudiger) 

@BordeauxBlue has shown himself to be reliable when it comes to his opinion on players in the French division, and as he stated he is not a fan and is error prone.

Ake has versatility at least and while he lacks in physicality and height the league has mostly moved away from Andy Carroll like CF. On this basis alone I would go with Ake.

Edited July 14, 20224 yr by axman2526

To Re-CAP. Are we seriously going to spend 40 million quid on Ake?  Am I missing something with Ake?  I mean is he technically the most gifted Libero since Beckenbauer or something?

4 hours ago, ducavis said:

Because he is piss average and we are getting suckered into buying Pep’s 4th choice CB at the price they paid for him, sticking him on ridiculous wages, and making him 1st CB just because he played under him. 
To put things in perspective, Pep only played him in 2 big games last season. 1st game of the season against Spurs, which I reckon was due to fitness issues for his other options, and the game in Jan 22 when he had no cover at LB. The other 8 games he started was against your Norwich, Burnley type teams. Even against the mighty Villa and West Ham, he opted for Fernandinho a 37yr old DM at CB.

Let’s be honest he is 27 now, probably at his peak so this might be how good it gets. Sure he might look decent in a back 5, but it will be in a system where he is heavily protected. 

I know he was on the bench but there was question marks about whether his ankle would hold out in those games in question.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-city-west-ham-preview-23948003.amp

Posted on his instagram him in training saying “back to work”..

Interesting what does it mean.

12 minutes ago, IliyaKrostin said:

Posted on his instagram him in training saying “back to work”..

Interesting what does it mean.

He is staying at City Hopefully?

Supposedly City won't be selling Ake until they have secured his replacement. So for now Ake's "Back to work" is simply him returning to training with City.

2 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

If what is Simon Philips is saying is true, who would you guys prefer?

 

- Ake is PL proven and is more composed on the ball (although not enough game time to give a fair assessment). 

- Kimpembe is a great passer of the ball, has great height and recovery speed, but is error prone. (Although is coachable give what Tuchel has done to AC and Rudiger) 

If I gotta take one I would probably take Aké.

- He counts as homegrown and knows the club and League.

- He is more versatile and has a much better offensive output(G/A stats) and card stats than Kimpembe over his career.

- He is on a lower wage right now, would likely be overall cheaper.

- From what I've seen of both, I think he fits our system better.

I admit that I don't watch PSG much, so don't know Kimpembe's ceiling, based on the infos given, the points speaking for him would be that he has better speed, is less injury prone, has more experience in the CL and playing with Thiago Silva, plus he has played under Tuchel.

Overall I would prefer if we give the players we already have for this position a fair chance, primary Colwill and with Koulibaly signed I think it would be wasteful to sign another central defender for the leftside for 50m or how much they would cost.

I think people like Ake only for the return home comeback story more than his actual footballing ability. 

He's backup level at best, maybe a starter for Everton/Brentford-level at best

No Ake then. I am relieved.

 

I’m ok with that if we don’t sign him. As the 40million they want is over the top for him .

Interesting development. Now we need to convince Kimpembe to sign at the very least.

 

9 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Interesting development. Now we need to convince Kimpembe to sign at the very least.

 

He is unlikely as well according to Si...he is thinking we can rely on Colwill...

10 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Interesting development. Now we need to convince Kimpembe to sign at the very least.

 

He is an average player already on ridiculous wages at PSG (£160k/w) who wants parity with Marquinhos on (£230k/w). We sign him & we will be paying £200k/w+ which he isn’t worth.

There are quality Left footed CBs available like Pau Torres, Bastoni, N’Dicka, G’Vardiol,  & Botman (just signed for Newcastle but he is brilliant).

Maybe time to go back for Kounde.

 

Back to Kounde. Right footer is what’s needed. 

Well that was a fun few weeks LOL.

I think a result that we can all get on board with ... Viva Levi !

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

 

There are quality Left footed CBs available like Pau Torres, Bastoni, N’Dicka, G’Vardiol,  & Botman (just signed for Newcastle but he is brilliant).

Can I say it? Please let me be the one to say it: I want N'Dicka.

7 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Can I say it? Please let me be the one to say it: I want N'Dicka.

It is hard for me not to laugh with that preference. 🤭

I shouldn't have used the word 'hard'.