Here's the Retain/Release list Contracts Toby Albertine Alderweireld Bamidele Jermaine Alli Luke Ayodele Amos Brandon Anthony Austin Keanan Chidozie Bennetts Nabil Bentaleb Cameron Carter-Vickers Benjamin Thomas Davies Mousa Dembele Eric Jeremy Edgar Dier Jonathan Toko Lema Dinzeyi Dylan Duncan Marcus Edwards (Extended) Christian Eriksen Timothy Joel Eyoma Federico Fazio Anthony Michael Georgiou (Extended) Thomas William Glover Cy Goddard (Offer) Shayon Harrison Heung-Min Son Vincent Petrus Anna Sebastiaan Janssen Harry Kane Erik Lamela Hugo Lloris Ryan Loft Christian Maghoma George Owen Marsh Luke Paul McGee William Miller (Extended) Clinton N'Jie Georges-Kevin Nkoudou Mbida Tashan Oakley-Boothe Connor Stuart Ogilvie (Extended) Joshua Onomah Joe Cameron Pritchard (Extended) Jack Roles Daniel Lee Rose Samuel Shashoua (Extended) Moussa Sissoko Kazaiah Sterling Japhat Manzambi Tanganga Shilow Tracey (Extended) Kieran John Trippier Nicholas Tsaroulla Jan Vertonghen Michel Vorm Kyle Andrew Walker Kyle Walker-Peters Anton Walkes Victor Wanyama Alfie Whiteman Kevin Wimmer Harry Winks Scholars Jaden Brown (Extended) Jonathan De Bie Charlie Freeman Reo Revaldo Griffiths Tariq Devontae Aaron Hinds Matthew Joseph Lock Moroyin Omolabi Jamie Joe Reynolds
A couple of bits and pieces floating around... With the status of Fazio's potential move to Roma unclear after Luciano Spalletti left the club, Zenit St Petersburg have expressed an interest - although it's worth noting that, with Spaletti taking the Inter job, there is a chance he may try and gazump his former club (although that's just me speculating at this point) Meanwhile it's been reported that we won't be taking up the option to bring N'Jie back from his loan with OM, an option which would override any attempt by OM to make his loan permanent...although there's no sign of his loan being made permanent, so as it stands the story is that N'Jie will be headed back to us in a few weeks. Meanwhile, since we're going to be linked to right backs for the rest of the summer, the latest to add to the pile is Porto's Ricardo Pereira, who has been on loan at Nice for the past two seasons, with reports in Portugal saying we're going to pay his £22m release clause
I think we have a front runner for the Summer 2017 Saga... Bouhafsi has a reputation for being spot-on for French league transfers, so if he says we've sent out feelers we most likely have - although it's worth mentioning that Barca, PSG and Arsenal are in the mix (as were Roma, but Nice rejected their first offer) and that's before the liklihood of this being the annual saga. Also there's the price: Nice are supposedly open to bids of £20m, but something tells me they're also happy to stall until somebody comes in and pays his £33m release clause. That being said, as Seri is best described as a hybrid of Dembele and Kante, that's a player we definitely need.
I'm intrigued to know what plans Poch has for the central midfield area next season. We already have Dembele, Wanyama, Dier and Winks competing for those spots, so is Seri an addition because Poch wants to play Dier solely as a CB next season, I wonder? 5 players competing for 2 positions seems quite overloaded...
There is a thin line between overloaded and having sufficient depth. Dembele is also on his way to being beyond his peak. One or two injuries at the same time in that department and we simply aren't gonna be effective. Especially if we want to compete on all fronts.
Will Winks be fit for the new season? Besides, Dembele's unfortunately on the decline mate, can't seem to play 90 minutes regularly and also can't seem to play twice in quick succession. Similar to what you've said, we don't know if Poch sees Dier as predominantly a CB or a DM, my guess is if Seri is indeed a genuine target then CB would be the answer. Still might be five competing for two spots if Dier plays CB though because after Onomah's performances for England U20s in the deeper role, he will have surely given Poch something to think about.
As we are competing in CL and the PL we will need quality in depth Wanjama And Dembele are a serious defensive midfield setup that needs proper backup. ATM we have Dier one more would make sense. Winks is more a creative midfielder than defensive surely. I think of the defensive pair in front of back line as a separate entity to the more attacking midfielders like Eriksen and Dele, and dont forget Lamela who will be back by then I think.
Our academy is smashing out talented CM's at the moment, Winks and Onomah we all know about but Oakley-Boothe is meant to be pretty promising, Marsh gets decent reviews though if I'm honest whenever I've seen the u21s I've not seen that much from him, Roles bossed it last season and Madueke (albeit I think he plays more advanced) is another great prospect in the younger groups. In terms of natural ability, I think Onomah is far beyond any of them from what I've seen. However, the thing that massively works in Winks' favour at the moment is that he seems much more mature than Josh, doesn't allow the pressure to get to him and implements his game like he did at youth level. If Onomah builds his confidence to do what he's done at youth level and what he just done for the U20s at the world cup (and gets played in his natural role!) then he'll be a first teamer in years to come.
Josh Onomah was excellent for the U20's - a real revelation as far as I am concerned and will be the first to admit that from his few apps last season I was in no way convinced he had it in him. Yes, its a level below, but still his composure and precision playing in that deeper role was very impressive. He is clearly learning from both Dembele and Wanyama, as you can see a few similarities in their play. Hopefully he will take this forward and cement a place in the first team squad next term - and save the club a few £m into the bargain!!
Those Walker to $ity rumours won't go away, does anyone think that there might be something there or just hopeful journalism.
Definitely something in it, I'd say. As to whether a deal can be done, I think it'll depend just how highly City rate him, can't see Levy accepting less than £50m.
As I've said previously, any deal wuth a rival needs to be based on a player swap first and foremost. If they strip us of an asset, we do the same to them. Unfortunately for City, very few of their players would actually improve us, which is why Itchy Nachos plus a large pile of cash may be the only option. Aguero seems to have played his way back into Pep's plans. I really hope this doesn't happen, but Kyle doesn't strike me as the type who would want to move abroad.
Ideally that's the second best case scenario (first being to keep Walker). Nachos plus £30m/£40m or so would be great business, shame to see Walker go but in Tripps and KWP, we're stocked with a good and promising RB. Selling him for straight dough should be no less than £50m, maybe even £60m when considering the current market and we should make them sweat until deadline day to ensure he has no pre-season with them. The cynic in me would also then hope that Walker rediscovers his pre-Poch form and thus City realise they've bought an expensive dud.
