KaKa

Think in the Villa setup he can go on the right or on the left, and can even play upfront too. Can just see the through balls to him from Tielemans already.

My God ... that's really decent business for Villa. Could really see him doing well in the Prem in that Villa team.

In his age 20 season Isak moved to Sociedad for £12.5 million. He then established himself as their lead striker over the next three seasons. With one particular standout season where he scored 17 goals. During this period he showed plenty for us to determine the kind of striker he could be in the Premier league, with his speed, athleticism and technique. We paid £60 million for him after those three seasons. In Hojlund's age 20 season you spent £64 million on him. The year before he was brought off the bench at Atalanta mostly, and was not their lead striker. It was his first season there. He scored 9 goals. Prior to that he was in the Austrian league and scored 6 goals in 13 games. What on Earth was that £64 million fee based on? At a similar stage and level of experience Isak moved for £12.5 million to Sociedad, and had previously scored 13 goals in 16 games on loan in the Dutch league as a lead striker. In my opinion your move for Hojlund seems very forced and it was made way too early before he really had a chance to show what he could be. Joining you so early means he misses out on the development Isak benefitted from during his 3 years at Sociedad. So as far as him reaching any sort of similar levels to Isak, I think it is very unlikely. Your fans are already calling for a more established striker, and it looks like the club is thinking the same. This means over the next few years he is now likely to be a bench player for you, and you are not likely to be in Europe for at least next season, so his minutes will be limited. If I were to guess I think he ends up reaching the level of an Alexander Sorloth, who he shares some similar traits with. I think you have ultimately stunted his growth if anything. Unless he leaves altogether and goes to a different league of a decent level where he starts every week.

Saw a report linking that Akliouche at Monaco with Man City for £60 million! Seems like Dibling's price is only heading upwards and is going to end up around £45 million. Kuhn was bought for only £3 million a year ago, and he's doing really well, but I agree, £30 million is steep! Especially coming from that league.

That Nicolas Kuhn at Celtic has been mentioned as well now, for the right wing. No idea how realistic or true that is. He has terrorised in the Scottish League and has also performed at a high level for them in the Champions League too.

Liverpool would never pay what it takes to land Isak. It's a big part of the reason they brought Michael Edwards back, to go back to identifying prospects they can sign before they cost a bomb. They're even hesitating to sign VDV and Salah to big contracts because of their age, and seems like they'd rather move on to kick start a new era with a new generation of players. Seems like those two re-signing will be more down to the outside pressure from the fan base.

Think they were asking this last summer. And he's having a heck of a season now, so I think they'll now be looking for more.

Can't afford him now. Too late! The way the season is going for him they will probably be asking for £60 million in the summer.

Mbeumo just keeps racking up the goals man. Ridiculous.

Don't stress man. It will be Rashford on the last day of the window

Haven't seen much of him, but wouldn't be surprised!

I remember Pep saying at some point that Palmer had been asking to leave for two years prior to that. All these clubs that spend loads, but that also have good academies, usually end up not giving enough of their young talent opportunities to come through. They are very impatient. Palmer, Lavia and Delap are serious talents that they let leave, and there will be plenty more to come. We should be keeping a close eye on that continuously.

I mentioned his contract situation in my post. It's going into its final year. Palmer still had another 3 years to run on his at the time he left. In addition, he is not an actual clone of Cole Palmer! Despite being a promising prospect himself, he probably isn't as far along as Palmer was when he left for Chelsea.

There were no clauses for Palmer to Chelsea. He wanted out and it's a similar scenario here. The fee being mentioned is £25 million, as his contract is up in 2026, so it won't be a big fee. When Chelsea signed Palmer no one was saying he was a potential mega talent or sure thing, that wasn't said about Delap either, and we weren't saying that about Hall. It's going to come down to being a judgement call by the scouts. He's highly thought of prospect and so hopefully we've got decent info on him.

Just been reading an article about James Mcatee being unsettled at Man City. Not enough playing time and wants to leave. Similar situation to Cole Palmer and oddly enough similar sort of profile, as far as being a lefty that plays number 10 or on the right. Has also played CM and CF, so pretty versatile. Tends to look really good for the under 21s when he goes away with them too. Looked good coming on the other day against Leicester. I wonder if he's on our radar and if we'd be interested. Having seen what's happened recently with the likes of Palmer and Delap, I'd be very tempted. Especially with how the Lewis Hall transfer has worked out for us too. I'm a big fan of nicking these highly rated prospects from Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal, if they are looking to leave for more playing time, as their academies are so good. 22 years old too, so a good age to really kick on now. Could he be a right wing option perhaps? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-14230571/Man-City-James-McAtee-Cole-Palmer.html

Think it's just clubs abroad he can agree a summer move with in January. Or did they change that?

I just think the potential is undeniable really, and so getting carried away is perfectly understandable! They've only just started playing together and so this should only go from strength to strength. Fingers crossed, but it's also looking like they are all pretty durable sorts, and so hopefully that remains the case. I also think that Bunce guy we brought in has made a difference. The squad seems to be in a better place in general injury wise, and we're not seeing as many longer term injuries where we are losing key players for long periods.

Very interesting to hear this from a staunch Man City fan, who has been privy to watching some seriously good midfields in recent times. I posed the question earlier today in a different thread, if we had the best midfield in the Prem. Not surprised to see others are thinking along the same lines too. Think it will become more of a discussion over the next few months. It's just such a robust three with a nice variety of elements that compliment each other so well. Very exciting indeed. Funny how flabbergasted he is that we aren't further up the league already. We were just waiting for that final Tonali piece!

That makes him even more evil and cruel! Peddling that nonsense because of his goofy baseball caps man. Hope he's enjoying the Ratcliffe era.

Yeah, I think there is talent there for sure. Pretty tough to nurture it as the lead man at Man United though, especially when the team isn't firing on all cylinders. I think for it to work at your club he needed to come in behind a more experienced striker already doing the business, that he'd eventually take over from in a couple of seasons. Would have been less pressure. Think you could still pull that off to be fair, if you go for that more experienced striker in the upcoming windows.

That's the whole point though, you went way too soon for Hojlund. He hadn't even established himself as a starter in a top league yet and you spent that fee on him! To come in as your starting striker! Isak had already played at least three full seasons at Sociedad by the time we went for him as our starting striker. And had shown a lot more at that level, to then make a reasonable assessment on. It's really not comparable at all.

Rio was so cruel when we were suffering under Mike Ashley man. Just talking complete nonsense. It's unbelievable how things have flipped and they are now the ones stuck in a rotten situation. Makes me so incredibly happy. It's good and healthy for other fans bases to suffer a similar fate. Too many of them think they are invincible and speak so recklessly.

Wow. Missed this yesterday. Think Concecaio is going to do really well there. Sad for Fonseca. Just wasn't doing a good enough job.

It's a strange thing just looking at a players numbers/output. Isak's size, speed, athleticism and technique have always stood out and he was really starting to have some significant showings for Sweden about a year or so before we bought him, in the Euros I think it was. He was clearly going to be far more dangerous in a more open and faster paced league than he was in Spain, and I imagine we recognised that. It's a similar story with Cunha at Wolves. At Atletico he wasn't even a consistent starter, and really didn't have much to show as far as numbers go. In the Prem he looks like a star, because of how well suited he is to the higher tempo and more open style. And now every fan base is thirsting after both Cunha and Isak!

Totally agree. It's really great having such a good set of players and characters that make up the team. I really think it's going to culminate with them winning things at some point too. It's coming.