In a slow week for Club, with most away on Intl. duty, I wanted to get opinions on the TWO players Manchester City should target the most. Obviously, we would hope to be realistic with the choices. Mine would be: Joe Cole (Chelsea): He can play the wings and would bring considerable talent to our club. A team can never have enough left-sided talent and he has played on the right as well. Fabio Quagliarella (Udinese): He's a smaller striker but has had moments from the Azzurri squad on the national level and also has a lot of potential being that he's still 24. Picking him over Huntelaar because high price and competition from United. Who would your choices be?
Marco Bresiano from Palermo played so well for Australia against Argentina.. Man City is a target to get him abroad...
gdub, I don't think Fabio Quagliarella be in the list for transfers. Since he left Sampdoria for Udinese, the club from Udine has had a death grip on him...and well worth the energy too. He's an excellent player. However, the though of Bianchi and Quagliarella teaming up sounds great.
yeah he'd be really hard to get. Is Amelia still wanted? He made it clear that he isn't happy at Livorno, but Casper is doing a good job
Thats quite a shame... after looking more into it, his contract is quite long 4-5 years. I've just seen him play and thought he and Bianchi would be a great match up front, especially with SGE's Italian background. Huntelaar should be a good pickup if we can steal him from United. Otherwise, I can't see too many targets at Striker for Citeh and I'm sure Sven wants 1 in January.
For midfield, I'd go with Bresciano. He is versatile and attacking minded as well as defensively sound. Sven's signings so far seem to have worked like a dream so I'd trust him again on this one. For a striker, personally I would go for Defoe. Hes not played much at all for Spurs and I can't see where he will get many chances but he is proven at this level, he is pacy and the only striker we have at the moment who has that is Vassell but his finishing skills are erratic. I doubt he would be that expensive, £8m-£10m I reckon and I would prefer to buy him than another foreign striker because in January we want to make signings that will make an immediate impact. Having someone who already knows the ins and outs of the league will help a lot and Defoe would be a good strike partner alongside Bianchi.
I remember 2 years ago Stuart Pearce really wanted Steed Malbranque. He's a pretty good Midfielder and knows the EPL a lot better than Marco Bresiano. Another good thing is that he's not frequently on international duty, which means he's more focused on the league and less chances of uneccessary injuries.
Malbranque just went to Spurs this season, and he's playing almost every game there. Highly doubt Spurs will let him go without a hefty price tag.
but if the spurs' poor performances continue, they might have to sell something. i think they're more likely to sell him than dafoe
Steed seems to have an automatic spot on the squad at the moment. He's hardworking but definitely runs hot and cold. But if a bid was made for him for more than he was bought then the board would sell. That's how they are. I wish I could give you a figure for how much we bought him for, but I can't remember. Defoe is gone in January. He hasn't signed the extension and it's the last chance to get max value for him. So you would be able to buy him I am sure. And seeing as I like you guys, that would be okay, because Defoe is a hard worker and generally nice guy. So I could wish him well I personally think that Asamoah at Schalke would be a good fit for your team. A hardworking bull of a striker that can play midfield, works well with with more flare type forwards and can get wide.
Can't find a suitable thread, so thought I'd just place it here. Has anyone seen Jozy Altidore, striker, for the Red Bulls? 17 yrs, old, 6' 1" and built like the back of a bus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFu5VdS9QLY Comments from another BigSoccer EPL club (entertaining football is the owner's goal) say that he should be looked at now by clubs outside of the US. His talent is obvious, he loves the game and in order to improve, he should be looking to move on from the MLS. What a great talent for SGE to get hold of and coach for the future. Get in there Sven.
I personally think there is nobody better for ManCity than Michael Owen, Sven can keep him fit if he's keeping rather injury prone Mpenza fit, Just imagine Michael Owen staying fit a whole season without no injuries IMO he would be top goalscorer easy!! especially with the service he would receive from Petrov and Elano not to mention possibly Bresciano!! Not only that, Mpenza posses alot of similar qualities to Emile Heskey and could work up a similar relationship that could work in Owens favour. Michael Owen :- Newcastle - ManCity 7M not to mention if he stayed fit he would easily outscore anything Defoe could come up with Also ManCity now have especially a great chance to win back SWP, And also a holding midifelder like Hargreaves to come in for the ageing but wonderful Hamann and I would call it a day at ManCity
Lynne, Jozy is definitely an excellent young prospect. But he has been playing against substandard competition in the MLS. I prefer to get him on loan and run him through some reserve matches to see what level he is up to. He had a good run in the U-20 World Cup though, and has been working with Juan Pablo Angel.
Well, strategically, we need a leading striker, realistically speaking, like SWP(I stated earlier, he will be welcomed back) or Benni McCarthy (I think he is a brilliant player). I would like to see someone like Joe Cole join especially to fill our wing problems, but it's not very likely. For right now, we need to find players that can keep a constant fluid performance. I'm looking forward to players like Bresciano, I haven't personally watched him but I've heard he is quite the footballer.
I was literally thinking the same thing...he would be an excellent long term investment, and in the future if we had players like him and our other youths like Michael Johnson, Schmeichel, and Stephen Ireland, we would have a very strong squad (and also if we had a top-form Elano still playing, along with a stronger team chemistry). It's been only about 5 months since our big overhaul but we have done a pretty job after just one transfer window. I think SGE is just trying to get his "squad" that he knows will be top notch. I follow the same strategy when I play soccer video games (I know they aren't exact reflections of life, but from personal experience...they have taught me so much about the game and the complexity of being a manager and being a good one at that.)
I go along with that Kevin. Let's get him on loan, tie him up in a contract that can't be broken (so other clubs can't poach him!) and see what he can do. I'm sure he's being looked at from clubs outside the US.
Yep, we're lacking a goalscorer badly and although I'd like to see Bianchi given a real run out in the team, there are still question marks about him. Owen would be a quality signing and the only doubt about him is his injury record over recent years. I'd take the risk, theres only a few strikers in the world who possess his finishing skills. Perhaps get someone else as well and sell on Samaras as we should have quite a bit to spend in January.
I passed by an article that said something on Sven considering recruiting striker Macauley Crisantus, who showed up in the U-17 World Cup with Nigeria, who went on to win. Some youth strikers would be a helpful bulk to this team. A lot of our strikers now are near their peak or past and we need some promising youth for our forward lineup. http://www.premiershiplatest.com/news/man-city-race-past-chelsea-arsenal-liver-555706.html
Injured most of the season, Sven says he is still in the plans when he is healthy. http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?p...mmonth=8&fromyear=2007&tomonth=10&toyear=2007
Newspaper de Telegraaf (Holland) reports that Man City have agreed a transfer fee with SC Heerenveen for Afonso Alves. Other dutch media are picking up on the story so could very well be true. However, according to this story, Man City would pay more then 20 million euros for the brasilian striker.