ponsaelius

It doesn't matter what the owner says, you cannot demolish Grade I listed buildings. It's simply not going to happen.

A lot has been made about Anderson not getting enough gametime and he's a player who can play in all three midfield positions and either wing. In the modern game central strikers are second only to goalkeepers in competition stakes - because there is only one position you can play on the pitch. I can't think of any club who play one forward who retain three central strikers within the squad. Doing so is either wasting resources or stunting a youngsters development. Gordon played central striker for Everton and England U21s. I think he will be our third choice.

It's not just Man City though. Arsenal have two (Jesus and Nketiah), Man United only really had Weghorst this season with Rashford who can also play through the muddle. Spurs only have Kane/Richarlison and Son who is more versatile. Very few clubs have more than two out and out centre forwards in this day and age. In fact even keeping two happy can be hard (look at the difficulties Arsenal had with Nketiah's contract for example). Teams have other players who can also play through the middle when needed. We need a long term replacement for Wilson IMO, not just any kid to fill a squad place who won't get game time.

If you only play with 1 striker then two strikers in a squad is pretty normal for most clubs. Even City only have Haaland and Alvarez (who can play other positions). Isak and Wilson with Joelinton/Gordon as emergency options is fine for now.

Thanks, but no Yanks. Works better imo.

Calling him Your Excellency man

Think the most impressive thing about this signing, when you're used to how we operated under Ashley, is how we've quickly co-ordinated the whole process despite the player being at the Euros. I know this operation is probably the kind of thing that top clubs all do - but after years of Charnley and co running it and needing so many stars to align to make the simplest of signings it is such a culture shock.

If we want another Italian signing then Giorgio Scalvini is the player to go for. Right footed centre back, more modern footballer than a traditional Italian CB. Already played 50 games in Serie A at 19 (this is a league that rarely drops kids in at the deep end).

Don't know how accurate this is. Hopefully if true some daft friendlies against local teams if so.

Yeah his game is totally different to when he came through. His season on loan at Blackpool he scored loads of long range goals, and when he first came into the team at NUFC there were some comparisons to Carrick because of his passing range. Now he plays like a workhorse cog in the system. Endless running, overlapping, short passing patterns on that side to allow Trippier and Bruno to be more expansive. That's fine. It's probably perfect for what we need him for as a squad player. The one thing that would be great is more goals in the box but I'm not sure his role in our system is ever going to require him to do much more expansive work because other players are better at it.

If we got high offers for either ASM or Miggy and they were open to going I think we'd sell them. I don't think we're going to actively shop them around, just like we weren't with Wood, but if above value offers are there for players then the club will act in a business like manner. They've already said on multiple occasions we will have to get used to unemotional player trading.

Think Milan would be asking for even more for Theo Hernandez than we've paid for Tonali. Can't see us going in that heavily on a left back. Also while Theo is a great player, he's very attacking. I think while I think we're wanting more from any new LB we'd be expecting more balance. It's why I'm not completely convinced by the Dimarco links either - a player who has never played much in a back four at club level.

The reffing in this game has been so bad

Home kit is superb

16 is a bit De Rossi, which works.

Yeah even if Italy go out in the group stages of this tournament I think he won't be in pre-season until we go to the US.

Have they not announced the PFA Team of the Year yet btw? Seems ridiculously late compared to usual - even acknowledging the later finish this year.

Tbf it's a bit like Sunderland being down at that level. Brescia are a quintessential biggish Serie B side with the odd spell in the top flight. Think it's only the second time they've played regional football.

Brescia are down in Serie C now. Decent financial boost for them getting 15%

Joachim Anderson makes sense in some ways because he's a very similar player to Schar. However he is slow and I was hoping we'd be looking to add more pace at the back.

Hutchison commentates on Serie A all the time and is genuinely reasonably knowledgeable about the league tbf.

Interesting to see Bernardo, Gundogan and Walker looking at new challenges after achieving all they can at City. You'd imagine it makes City far more active in the transfer market than previously expected.

Yeah there's a chance he does, but I'm not sure 100% In the school system of the German speaking cantons you will learn written Standard German (the native spoken language is Swiss German dialect), English and one other national language (so French or Italian). My ex was fluent in German and English with very high proficiency in French. However only spoke very minimal Italian phrases (not really much more than I know).

I think Krafth is probably the only one in the squad who speaks any Italian. Translator duties.

To be honest we're spending £60 million on an established player and by the sounds of it offering a huge financial deal in terms of wages. Obviously he's got age on his side but this is not unearthing some gem or developing a player. To me it feels far more like a Chelsea/Man Utd type signing than I expected us to make this summer. To be honest I think we're probably overpaying, too. It has the chance to be the first misstep we've made in the market IMO. But the club have obviously decided we need to seize the day and add elite level first choice players - which is probably the right move.