Kyle Walker

[DubaiSpur]

Afaic I know and accept our position in the food chain and know that until we can pay the money our rivals do there's not much we can do about having players getting their heads turned - we could win cups and titles every season but as long as our players can get paid two/three times as much elsewhere, some of them will still want to leave - that's just how it is. Dortmund lose players to Munich even when they pip them to the title and if PSG wanted players from Monaco they could take them with ease, the only clubs which don't lose players to rivals are ones that can match them financially...

Yes, but we managed to prevent selling players domestically despite our status in the food chain - our last big sales were abroad, and it seemed a clever way to avoid strengthening domestic rivals for negligble losses on our end. That precedent has now been broken, so the domestic clubs are clamoring to be added to the list of players above us in the food chain that we are willing to sell to.

Winning trophies will help offset that *to a degree* - that's all I'm trying to say.

 

[El Guepardo]

My last words on the subject...I hope Walker's move to City 'to win things', works out as well for him as Carr's nice to Saudi Sportswashing Machine did. I'm unhappy about the transfer and hope that my

the number is irrelevant

I don't think it's totally irrelevant. In my mind, if I was earning £80k per week in the right job, I'd be more inclined to stay when offered double elsewhere. Why? My life would be set and I would have what I needed, and could afford most things that I wanted.

If someone offered me double what I'm actually on now. I'd be more prepared to make the move as it would have more potential to transform my life.

 

[parklane1]

In the recent past it was okay to finish top four without landing silverware but that has now changed dramatically imv. The landscape has changed, it's now imperative that we win at least one big trophy this coming season. But as I have said before I very much doubt a mere domestic cup would be enough to do the trick.

Well we do disagree over the bolded bit which we have discussed before, i understand that some trophys are more important then others but most players ( if not all) want to win medals and if you were to ask most players would they be happy to keep trying to make the top four but have no medals to show at the end of their playing days i doubt you will find many ( if any) would say yes.

 

[Libero]

My personal take on this whole affair is this; Ideally, it would have been better to keep Walker and get him back onside with the manager (if at all possible) just purely for continuity purposes and to stop this soundbyte of being a small and selling club. That hasn't been possible due to factors that none of us are privy to but have been subject to conjecture and discussion with varying levels of accuracy.

The reality is that pursuing a policy of saying we will never sell to any club in this country we see as a rival is short sighted. Every potential transfer should be treated on its merits. We have been offered a world record fee for a defender who whilst very good and fits our system, isn't irreplaceable and has fallen out to some degree with the manager.

I don't see why it is such a big deal to accept that fee in the circumstances described. I fully appreciate that it strengthens Emirates Marketing Project but we have managed to get that massive fee which we can put back into the side and removed a potential problem from within the camp. The fact it enhances Emirates Marketing Project

In aspects relating to replaceability, we have levels of player that fit different categories imo. Walker is not in that top band that you literally would sell purely as a last resort because of the fee, relationship with the player etc. In that situation I could understand people being unhappy with selling say Kane or Eriksen even for a record fee because the type of player they are, they are genuinely irreplaceable to us at this moment in time. Walker doesn't fall into that bracket.

Whether we replace him adequately is another matter but for me the gamble is worth taking if the Manager has decided he can do a job with that money that leaves us in a better position than having an unhappy Walker within the squad for the next 6-12 months. I completely trust the Manager and Chairman to deal with this situation and leave us stronger and will always criticise if I feel they have done something I don't agree with or I feel doesn't make sense but to me, despite the unfortunate media hype around us being a selling club, it was the right thing to do at this moment in time.

 

[Baleforce]

"Fine, you wanted a world record transfer fee to consider a domestic deal. United are offering 120m pounds for me, Dele Alli - a world record. Now let me go - Kyle had four(?) years on his contract and you let *him* go."

it's not about it being a record, it's the worth of the player to the club

Walker is a great player, the best RB in the league, but, he wants to earn more money, he wants to live up north, he's 28, he's got a dodgy hip and isn't on the same page as the manager, it's a number on a spreadsheet

Alli has a number too, everyone does

 

[Baleforce]

My last words on the subject...I hope Walker's move to City 'to win things', works out as well for him as Carr's nice to Saudi Sportswashing Machine did. I'm unhappy about the transfer and hope that my


I don't think it's totally irrelevant. In my mind, if I was earning £80k per week in the right job, I'd be more inclined to stay when offered double elsewhere. Why? My life would be set and I would have what I needed, and could afford most things that I wanted.

If someone offered me double what I'm actually on now. I'd be more prepared to make the move as it would have more potential to transform my life.

fair enough, I couldn't stay with a company that had so little respect for me that they only pay half what I'm worth

 

[El Guepardo]

fair enough, I couldn't stay with a company that had so little respect for me that they only pay half what I'm worth

What if that was the limit of their budget and so it wasn't about respect? Otherwise the question is why we didn't pay Walker more, maybe we didn't respect him enough?

 

[Jordinho]

fair enough, I couldn't stay with a company that had so little respect for me that they only pay half what I'm worth

Or maybe the other company is running a loss because they pay their employees more than they're worth?

 

[Baleforce]

What if that was the limit of their budget and so it wasn't about respect? Otherwise the question is why we didn't pay Walker more, maybe we didn't respect him enough?

it's still time to move on, employment is a two way relationship, either side can outgrow the other

 

[Baleforce]

Or maybe the other company is running a loss because they pay their employees more than they're worth?

fair point, ultimately the market will normalise I guess

in the meantime, it's relative, in this example Walker is worth more to City than he is to us, that's fine, that can happen, it's not necessarily that City are frivolous or that we are tight, it's just business

a players career is short, Walker is doing himself and his family a disservice if he doesn't maximise his earning potential

 

[Jordinho]

fair point, ultimately the market will normalise I guess

I suppose it's quite common for new businesses with massive financial backing to try and steal highly regarded people from their competition or sell their products at a loss to steal market shares.

 

[Baleforce]

I suppose it's quite common for new businesses with massive financial backing to try and steal highly regarded people from their competition or sell their products at a loss to steal market shares.

it's disruptor 101

 

[braineclipse]

That task is harder each time we sell key players though....

Was Walker a key player though? If so every player in the starting 11 is a key player.

Exactly - the owner of this club and many before him view us as an Ajax or a Dortmund. To them the trophy is buying small and selling big.

This is what needs to change. People need to be in charge of our club who see us as a Real Madrid and tell people who show interest in our best players (especially our direct rivals) to fudge right off.

I know a lot of people on here are going to call me a child etc etc and that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but my sole focus is on this disease that has gripped this club since the mid 80s and directly resulted in us winning hardly anything since then.

I thought the disease was gone but now I know it hasn't.

Why was Hoddle sold to Monaco? He wanted to try something different no doubt but the owner of the club who's sole aim should be OUR clubs progression should have said no your not going. Same time and time again; Waddle to Marseille, we were happy to sell gazza before the injury. Why? Absurd decision. Even Klinsmann. Why didn't Sugar say I don't care what you want you are staying. And then Levy comes on board a few years later and time and time again amazing players sold to clubs who don't share our small club mentality.

All you apologists who come out with nonesense like 'oh but they'd down tools' absolute load of bollox.

32 damn years since the mid 80s and we have 1 f.a. Cup to show for it.

The above is why that pathetic record is reality and why I'm absolutely furious to see it continue.

You seem to think that if only we had the attitude of an elite club we would become an elite club? I think you have the causation the wrong way around. The elite clubs have their particular attitude because they're the biggest and richest clubs around.

I would argue that having the attitude of a club very different to where the club actually is could be very harmful. You mention Dortmund, they've been very successful with their approach and attitude. They might even be on the way to taking another step up the ladder, but such things take time.

 

[braineclipse]

He's a fantastic player and will be missed.

If the rumors about his ongoing fitness issues are true it's a tremendous deal for us financially. His physique is the biggest factor in his overall ability and if that is showing signs of deteriorating selling now might be selling at the perfect time.

If the rumors about a falling out or disagreement with Pochettino are right and Pochettino is happy to see him go... I really don't see a single issue selling him for that kind of money.

Will be interesting to see what we do with the money and what we do with the right back position.

 

[metalgear]

all things considered - extended contract, long term youth player, first teamer falling out with poch, selling to a direct rival and price - still a bad outcome in my opinion.

to all those who think guardiola is a poor coach, suggest you suspend judgement untill he get the players he wants.

 

[DubaiSpur]

all things considered - extended contract, long term youth player, first teamer falling out with poch, selling to a direct rival and price - still a bad outcome in my opinion.

to all those who think guardiola is a poor coach, suggest you suspend judgement untill he get the players he wants.

This is why people think he's a bad coach, though. All he does is go from megarich club to megarich club, signing the world's best players for great big bags full of cash and then putting them on the same field together.

No sh*t you can build an attractive, free-flowing, successful side with unlimited money - anybody can. Pardew can, Allardyce can, Mourinho can (although he chooses not to ).

Okay, Pep is undoubtedly tactically intelligent and has a bit of a track record of more than just buying players wholesale - he brought through Busquets and the like at Barca, if nothing else. But if you can only see this man's undaunted brilliance in the Premier League after he's allowed unlimited backing and 500m pounds to spend on transfers, is that really brilliance? Can any bog standard top-flight coach not do that?

 

[SteveAWOL]

https://twitter.com/x/status/885889858358702080

 

[metalgear]

yeah that's pep and he wins titles that way. we can't feel good selling to a direct rival to fuel success. what if dele, harry, eriksen and loris followed walker's example?
true pep is a bad coach but if he wins titles and destroys us in doing so, so is good at what he does.

 

[metalgear]

https://twitter.com/x/status/885889858358702080

who is alan dingdongson and roberto that walker refers as the backbone of the club?
good video..seems like a decent chap.

 

[Rorschach]

This is why people think he's a bad coach, though. All he does is go from megarich club to megarich club, signing the world's best players for great big bags full of cash and then putting them on the same field together.

No sh*t you can build an attractive, free-flowing, successful side with unlimited money - anybody can. Pardew can, Allardyce can, Mourinho can (although he chooses not to ).

Okay, Pep is undoubtedly tactically intelligent and has a bit of a track record of more than just buying players wholesale - he brought through Busquets and the like at Barca, if nothing else. But if you can only see this man's undaunted brilliance in the Premier League after he's allowed unlimited backing and 500m pounds to spend on transfers, is that really brilliance? Can any bog standard top-flight coach not do that?

No you're wrong there mate . Allardyce can't. Nope. No way. He's a clown shoe and he can't "build an attractive, free-flowing, successful side ". It is not in his nature.

On the question of Guardiola. Can he bring City to the top of the pile? Well time will tell. I will say though that he is not tactically naive. And he is not defensively naive either, irrespective of what happened at city last year. The barca high pressure defensive game from X seasons back is his baby. The 5 second rule. The 3-1 rule. It is a template for the high press game now employed many teams, including us.