Good result for Forest that.
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Rodri done for the season with an ACL. Major loss for City.
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Wow, that is huge. It looked bad at the time in the way he was holding the back of his knee. As is often the case, from a completely innocuous incident while making a run across the defender from a corner.
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It wouldn't be quite so bad if they could rely on KdB to be fit, but he's in and out these days as well. I don't like City losing midfielders, it makes me nervous for MGW in January.
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If City were in for Morgan, then nobody will (or should) stand in his way because he would have absolutely earned it. That said, with the greatest of respect to our captain, I think they would be shopping at a more expensive store, especially if they were seeking to replace Rodri.
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Think that's right and we can only hope that Man City aren't tempted to throw us in the briar patch with a £70M bid for Sangaré.
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To be clear, I don't think Morgan is in any way a Rodri replacement - he more naturally plays in KdB's role, but those are mighty big shoes to fill. That said, given there have been rumours of City having interest I can see them wanting to sign him as an understudy.
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100 million sounds reasonable. It’s what they paid for Grealish, so you could consider it a slightly discounted rate, allowing for inflation over the last 3 years.
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I know it's tongue in cheek, but...
Jack Grealish had 12 England caps when he joined City, having featured throughout the Euros, including in the final, so could be classed an England regular.
MGW has one cap as a late substitute in the Nations League, so hardly comparable.
But the pricing is a tough one. Top players are still not going for much over £100m.
Since Grealish in 2021, there has only been one transfer more expensive (Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea in 2023 for £106.8m (Caicedo was same price as Grealish, £100m, but with £15m bonuses)).
Most expensive transfer this summer was World Cup winner Julian Alvarez to Atleti for £64.4m.
I think anything around £70m would be excellent business for MGW (and £80m for Murillo, given reports today that Madrid are watching him, along with Barca and Bayern). Unless of course it's Chelsea, when we name our own price. -
I was nervous that Murillo might dip or stagnate after last season. He’s still inexperienced and now has a reputation to live up to.. but over the first few games it’s been the opposite. With a higher quality partner he’s looking very strong defensively, and his vision and ball-playing continue to be top-notch. It’s almost annoying. I love him so much, but if he carries on like this then the absolute giants will be be queueing up and, probably, ready to throw down serious money as early as January.
He must be close to a Brazil call up.
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Yes I was thinking that. It would be very surprising if he DIDN’T get one in the next free months.
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Very different players for me. MGW's primary skill is taking and moving the ball quickly on the move. Grealish was a Fifa dribbling cheat code. That he had that ability to hold on to the ball and manipulate it, is why pep payed all that money to turn him into a cog - he doesn't have a use for dribbling machines in his systems. But he is exceptional and strong on the ball, has assimilated peps decision making preferences, and can be accurate on the offload now he doesn't fall down on every possession.
Not sure Morgan has the chops on the ball, accuracy on the offload, or the finishing, to attract pep at this point. Perhaps he's running a pattern on manure again? In the current squad unbuilding environment in the 'ship anything over 60 would be hard to get. Probably somewhere oil rich?
Murillo is the one who is going to get that step increase in fee over recruitment. Ultimately serviceable centre halves are easier to come by as well, in terms of replacement.
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It's where we are now. The only way for us to survive at the level is to find players like Murillo, improve them and sell at significant profit. It's clearly the going again that's the difficult bit.
Forest's recruitment has been really impressive in the past year but it will go awry at some point and they'll get one or two wrong. It's then how much you can mitigate the impact on the team, in terms of whether you go down or not.
It's a little depressing really but then it's always been so for club of our size. In my lifetime, it was that way with Webb, Walker, Keane, Collymore, Jenas, Reid, Dawson, etc. Just have to hope we can keep finding gems for a bit longer like Brighton have done very successfully.
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Doku and Savinho say he does now.
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I feel like MGW is a bit too jazzy for Pep. But if he was in a side with Haaland, and they were on the same wavelength, that in itself would be devastating cos Alfie’s lad is supremely good at getting himself onto creative passes and doing the rest. He must be the absolute dream outlet for a central player like MGW.. but City, and Alfie Jr, are doing just fine without one.
I bet Pep would fancy Murillo if he had a vacancy, but I don’t think they need him either.
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Morgan isn't a Grealish replacement though, he'd be going as a de Bruyne understudy. In a side like City's where he'd have a bit more space, and where the players around him would be making better and more consistent runs, I can see him absolutely shining. I think he has the talent and the temperament to make it all the way.
