Probably means he has been awful, normally you get tweets etc of his exploits if he has been good but none have been forthcoming.
Heās done ok but if he wasnāt a record signing for us, no one would be taking any notice of him.
When we bought him, he wasnāt a young player with potential, he was supposed to be the finished article and turned out barely good enough as a bench player, so heād suit West Ham.
Although with his wages itās unlikely weāll get more than 20m for him.
Wish I could remember which podcaster was saying it, I think it might have been James at Gunnerblog but it was suggested that Arsenal might be looking to cancel Pepeās contract. The last of the truly shockingly bad transfer decisions left on our books.
Surely not, if Chelsea can get money for Pulisic we can get money for Pepe ffs.
Pulisic actually has a bit of clout. Probably a better player too.
More of a sick note though, at least pepe can be fit and shit every week.
We need a top quality striker, we canāt go into another season with Jesus as our main striker heās just not at that level. And we badly need someone to challenge Saka on the right.
The more I see of this side in the last few games the less Iām convinced weāll make top 4 if we donāt seriously spend in the summer.
For me Iād want a proven PL CB to challenge Gabriel and Saliba, number 8 and 6, and a top quality striker. Even one or two others (right back and left back). I donāt think this is a one or two signings and weāre set job at all.
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Might as well have had Lacazette 
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Donāt often do this but feel I want to see:
Pepe
Holding
Xhaka
Balogun
ESR (looks finished here. Cash in whilst he has value)
Elneny
Nelson
Vieira (loan at a minimum)
Tierney
Off the books this summer. Itās hard to calculate the cost but Tierney, Balogun, Xhaka and ESR is comfortably Ā£100m+ worth of incomings. That could be pivotal to us being able to shape and mould the squad.
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Any negotiating team worth their salt should be able to get around 20 for Holding. 10 for Patino, and around that for Pepe. Thatās another 40 into the pot. Add another 5-10 for Elneny. All adds up.
My guess is 10-15m for Holding, 5-10m for Patino, and Pepe goes essentially for free to anyone who will take on the last year of his wages/give him a new long term deal.
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Elneny is going nowhere
I donāt usually do one of these but Iām gonna choose a few players that Iāve seen play rather than some random YouTube clips.
And the only English football I watch is when Arsenal are involved.
Definitely need another top striker and my preference would be Vlahovic or Ramos from Benfica.
My midfield choices are SMS from Lazio and Joao Mario from Benfica.
Defensively Iād like Antonio Silva and Alexander Bah both from Benfica.
As you can see I want to do a mini raid on Benfica because they will always find replacements, and also because I had a fucking great time at the derby match last night with Benfica getting a last minute equaliser after being 2-0 down.
I still donāt think a striker is on the agenda. SMS would be a very good option IMO. Likely to move this summer as well and expect the fee wouldnāt be too high.
Antonio Silva looks like he has future potential as opposed to being able to come straight into the team if required. Next summer we really need to start stacking up some further younger talent that we have on the books but send out on loan as part of longer term succession planning.
I donāt think we will buy much from abroad though this summer. I think Arteta is showing a clear preference for PL ready players. Personally Iām all for that. While you may pay more of a premium, we know what we are buying unlike speculative buys from abroad, aka Vieira. Hopefully this trend continues this summer.
Of positions we need to improve upon Iād say striker is the least of our worries.
CM, RB, CB are more pressing in my eyes. Goals werenāt our problem this season.
Thatās not to say I donāt think we need one itās just that the urgency isnāt quite there for it like it is fixing our midfield and defence
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Not all buys from abroad are speculative, look at Ruben Dias. Made a huge difference to City in this run in and been one of the best CBās in the prem since he arrived.
Also cost a premium cos he came from Benfica but this āPL readyā rhetoric is just made up imo.
Look at Grealish - he was āPL readyā but had a shit first season getting used to playing at City. Second season he banged, just like any player can. Bissouma was PL ready but had a wank season at Spurs (also injured), Cucurella was PL ready but wank at Chelsea. Meanwhile, Saliba came in and dominated in his first season in the PL.
Itās talent and adaptability to a team setup, more than itās anything to do with the league. Physically this league can get you, Iāll accept that, but most players can handle that these days (just not vieira).
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Good points. One thing we donāt want is shortening the parameters of recruitment. The talent is all over the world and in the prem era has come from every continent.
Letās not get hung up on this PL tested stuff. Been bad enough arguing about age related players on here for a few years.
Taking some solace today seeing the Gundogan links.
This fall on the run in was in partly because of lack of experienced players.
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Agree with you, and perhaps didnāt put the point I was trying to make as well as you. It was more the physicality and intensity of the league, with players like Vieira, that I was commenting upon. Dias was an absolutely amazing signing by City.
But notwithstanding, I do think with Rice, Mount and Caicedo, we know what we are going to get, appreciating that they need to adapt to our system of playing.
Donāt disagree, but the young players we have in the squad will learn from the experience of being in a title race this season, just as they learnt from last years experience of missing out on the CL. Building a young squad of top talent, that will grow and develop together is the way we challenge and beat City in the years to come.
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Agreed.
One of my strongest arguments a couple of months ago was ālook at how good Trossard is. Thatās because heās PL tried and tested. Look at how crap Fabio is and Mudryk. They need time to bleed in.ā
Trossard has let me down since.
We do need worldwide shrewd recruiting, youāre absolutely right.
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Right now a striker probably isnāt the most pressing of our problems, but we are just another Jesus injury away from no one reliable up front and to tell you the truth Iām not overly impressed with him so far and certainly not with his sulky little tantrums when it doesnāt go his way .
Balogun seems to be on his way out, Trossard and Eddie arenāt the answer either. Saka desperately needs the pressure taken off him and who knows how long Martinelli will be out for.
Id just like to see some of those crosses Saka and Martinelli are whipping in to be met from a towering header, because lately our attacking threat has become fairly predictable