Fabinho

[Fuzzy]

Is he not constantly injured?

[Exiled_red]

The Kalvin Phillips who played for England in the last Euros would be a good addition, the guy Guardiola said was too fat to play is not

I agree with this, he was good upto the Euros, looked really good in his first season in the PL, 2nd PL season was fairly meh, but the team he was in was really poor, injury, and poor fitness, plus he's also 27 at the moment, 28 in December, he should be at his peak now, so not really age profile we are looking at. probably requires at least a few months to get back to fitness and it's questionable as to whether he will be good enough, coupled with the price City will want to sell to us, not worth it, and that's the positive spin on it.

Not worth the hassle

[SB]

Yeah I’d steer clear of Philips too. Not what we need at all.

[Corndog]

He was always overrated.

He isn’t quick enough on the turn when his back is to goal.

[Doc_Piptorious]

He's a decent player tbh. Can't understand why people don't want him.

Maybe because folk may be thinking that at his best he is just that, and not any better?

[Bender]

Seems he’s set for his medical today according to Saudi tweets

[Paul12]

Seems he’s set for his medical today according to Saudi tweets

If we are going ahead with the sale immediately, does it mean we are very very confident of replacing him? Or that for some reason he has us over a barrel?

[Frog83]

Such a bonkers decision allowing our 1st choice DM to leave. The only logical answer is we've got someone equally as good/better to replace him. Doesn't make any sense otherwise. Putting money to one side who is actually gettable that would fit this criteria? Caicedo has had a great season and could be a great option (although likely to go to Chelsea). Who else is there? If the answer is nobody (at least for now) then why the hell would we entertain this move? Unless Fabinho is really pushing for the move and leaving us with little choice.

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[Bender]

If we are going ahead with the sale immediately, does it mean we are very very confident of replacing him? Or that for some reason he has us over a barrel?

It would make sense but that's not always the way... I mean it's common knowledge the club is after Levia but who knows...

[Charly]

Its unlikely we have a replacement lined up from the start. We probably have a few longer term targets, but I assume we are trying to sign one of those. Time will tell, I guess. It is one where we will have to sign someone, but the later it gets the more desperate we will become...Balotelli style.

Or we might have someone lined up from the start. It does seem strange we are letting him go. Considering we had the other two ready for preseason, Im not confident this is going to strengthen the team for next season

[Exiled_red]

Its unlikely we have a replacement lined up from the start. We probably have a few longer term targets, but I assume we are trying to sign one of those. Time will tell, I guess. It is one where we will have to sign someone, but the later it gets the more desperate we will become...Balotelli style.

Or we might have someone lined up from the start. It does seem strange we are letting him go. Considering we had the other two ready for preseason, Im not confident this is going to strengthen the team for next season

Yeah panic buying at the end of the window is my concern too, as I have said before I feel we needed a DM before the Fabinho move was on the cards so feel we need 2 now, but the parameters have changed. With Fabinho here someone like Lavia I could have seen coming in, Lavia learns from Fabinho and eventually (in a year to two) has fully replaced him in the side. From that point of view Lavia is signed as a promising youngster/backup in the short term with a clear path to regular position. That doesn’t work if we are bringing in another DM who is younger than Fabinho, so I don't see us going for Lavia as plan A, maybe if he hasn't moved by late in the window and our other option haven't worked out... I just feel If we were that keen we would have done a deal by now.

[Bender]

Yeah panic buying at the end of the window is my concern too, as I have said before I feel we needed a DM before the Fabinho move was on the cards so feel we need 2 now, but the parameters have changed. With Fabinho here someone like Lavia I could have seen coming in, Lavia learns from Fabinho and eventually (in a year to two) has fully replaced him in the side. From that point of view Lavia is signed as a promising youngster/backup in the short term with a clear path to regular position. That doesn’t work if we are bringing in another DM who is younger than Fabinho, so I don't see us going for Lavia as plan A, maybe if he hasn't moved by late in the window and our other option haven't worked out... I just feel If we were that keen we would have done a deal by now.

Andy Carroll

[Fosterbloke]

Its unlikely we have a replacement lined up from the start. We probably have a few longer term targets, but I assume we are trying to sign one of those. Time will tell, I guess. It is one where we will have to sign someone, but the later it gets the more desperate we will become...Balotelli style.

Or we might have someone lined up from the start. It does seem strange we are letting him go. Considering we had the other two ready for preseason, Im not confident this is going to strengthen the team for next season

Or we know his legs have gone and he can't sustain another PL season at a high level.

[Charly]

If the plan was to sign a Dm all along we would have sorted it before the return to training, imho.

If we sell we will sign a replacement, but I reckon that will be it, unless ayounger player suddenly becomes available.

[Doc_Piptorious]

If the plan was to sign a Dm all along we would have sorted it before the return to training, imho.

If we sell we will sign a replacement, but I reckon that will be it, unless ayounger player suddenly becomes available.

Unless we initially had in mind to buy a young guy to be Fabinho's understudy for a season and now the chance of Fabinho(and maybe Henderson) leaving has us holding off as the extra funds (and wages) might be the difference between getting that younger understudy and a bone fide starting level guy.