Transfer Talk, Rumours and Speculation

[Dylan]

14 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

I'm not convinced that the club is all that desperate to sign a foreign attacking midfielder / marquee player.  With the focus seemingly on creating a solid defence, I reckon they are going to give Arzani and Mauk a shot this year, with a view to creating another Mooy type scenario.  

 

that would be peak #yoof

[bt50]

25 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

I'm not convinced that the club is all that desperate to sign a foreign attacking midfielder / marquee player.  With the focus seemingly on creating a solid defence, I reckon they are going to give Arzani and Mauk a shot this year, with a view to creating another Mooy type scenario.  

 

With due respect i think the fact the club have tried to sign both Troisi and Palic dispells that theory quite clearly. 
You could be quite right in that they'll give Mauk and Arzani every chance, but clearly they are after a marquee 10, as pretty much everyone has identified that we need.

Edited August 16, 2017 by bt50

[Mr MO]

3 minutes ago, bt50 said:

With due respect i think the fact the club have tried to sign both Troisi and Palic dispells that theory quite clearly. 
You could be quite right in that they'll give Mauk and Arzani every chance, but clearly they are after a marquee 10, as pretty much everyone has identified that we need.

We do seem to be looking for one now that Caceras has left but Torn is a little right in saying that we aren't desperate looking for one. Judging by fact the we are looking for a relatively cheap marquee. If they wanted to splash the cash we would have superstar marquee some weeks ago.

This all comes down to the CFG budgets and our marketing value. 

It shits me sometimes that I keep reading in media that we are a super rich club ready to splash the monies. I honestly believe that the total player budgets (squad plus marquees) of Sydney FC and Victory are higher.

Wouldn't it be nice sometimes if all this had to be disclosed at seasons start.

[Shahanga]

20 minutes ago, Dylan said:

that would be peak #yoof

I think we will see a lot of yoof this year and personally I won't mind.

[bt50]

11 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

We do seem to be looking for one now that Caceras has left but Torn is a little right in saying that we aren't desperate looking for one. Judging by fact the we are looking for a relatively cheap marquee. If they wanted to splash the cash we would have superstar marquee some weeks ago.

This all comes down to the CFG budgets and our marketing value. 

It shits me sometimes that I keep reading in media that we are a super rich club ready to splash the monies. I honestly believe that the total player budgets (squad plus marquees) of Sydney FC and Victory are higher.

Wouldn't it be nice sometimes if all this had to be disclosed at seasons start.

The Troisi rumours were abound well before Caceres left, so I dont think he's even a little bit right. Desperate is the only word you could argue, given we have a pretty solid XI to start and there's no reason to make a panic buy, but i think its pretty obvious to all that our marquee spot is intended to be used on that CAM position.
We had clearly the highest paid squad of all time last year due to the Cahill signing, and on face value it appears likely that even with a $600k marquee we'd likely be the highest paid again given the reported contract of Bruno is more than that of Berisha and Milligan, and Bobo and Ninkovic.
At the end of the day though I don't know why anyone gives a shit. It's not my money, so the clubs can spend it however they see fit. 'Highest paid' hysteria can be left for the salty fans that can't hack commercial reality imo.

[Mr MO]

1 minute ago, bt50 said:

The Troisi rumours were abound well before Caceres left, so I dont think he's even a little bit right. Desperate is the only word you could argue, given we have a pretty solid XI to start and there's no reason to make a panic buy, but i think its pretty obvious to all that our marquee spot is intended to be used on that CAM position.
We had clearly the highest paid squad of all time last year due to the Cahill signing, and on face value it appears likely that even with a $600k marquee we'd likely be the highest paid again given the reported contract of Bruno is more than that of Berisha and Milligan, and Bobo and Ninkovic.
At the end of the day though I don't know why anyone gives a shit. It's not my money, so the clubs can spend it however they see fit. 'Highest paid' hysteria can be left for the salty fans that can't hack commercial reality imo.

I disagree BT, if you take TC out of it, I believe Sydney and Victory spend more on their squads. Bruno can be on more than Bes and Miligan, but that leaves obviously much less than in the marquee kitty hence we are looking for a player on around 600k. 

I'm just trying to point out the perception of us splashing money around which we are clearly not.

[Embee]

Why do we need to leave TC out? Because it serves a certain narrative? Whether you like it or not the club was spending that money on him and a result we were spending way more than anyone else.

The club has shown itself willing to pay fees when required (Caceres) and to offer large contracts when required (Bruno and Timmy). They're clearly not just going to throw around money just because they can but they've shown a willingness to spend when they feel it's necessary, not to mention the amount of money they've sunk into the CFA, which is arguably the best thing they've done for the club to date.

[bt50]

1 minute ago, Mr MO said:

I disagree BT, if you take TC out of it, I believe Sydney and Victory spend more on their squads. Bruno can be on more than Bes and Miligan, but that leaves obviously much less than in the marquee kitty hence we are looking for a player on around 600k. 

I'm just trying to point out the perception of us splashing money around which we are clearly not.

Even using conservative reported figures we are pretty similar to Sydney and Victory. There was suggestion that Bruno was as high as 1.5m. Like i said, we are probably fairly similar, but not so far behind or in front that we can lay claim to not spending as much as them.

For example

City

Bruno             1,200,000
Marquee           600,000
Cap Players   3,000,000
                        4,800,000

Sydney

Bobo               1,000,000
Ninkovic           800,000
Cap Players   3,000,000
                        4,800,000

 

Victory

Berisha            600,000
Milligan          1,000,000
Cap Players   3,000,000
                        4,600,000

[thisphantomfortress]

Fucking accountants

[japiedog]

1 minute ago, thisphantomfortress said:

Fucking accountants

eh, watch your language

the correct term is bean counters

[Torn Asunder]

52 minutes ago, bt50 said:

With due respect i think the fact the club have tried to sign both Troisi and Palic dispells that theory quite clearly. 
You could be quite right in that they'll give Mauk and Arzani every chance, but clearly they are after a marquee 10, as pretty much everyone has identified that we need.

Signing Troisi as a marquee would have been good business on many levels, but we know how that went.  And I think the club believes that Mauk is the player who replaced the Troisi signing. Palic was just a rumour, and we dont know how legit the rumblings were.  

Not saying they aren't looking for players, just that I don't think a gun AM marquee is a priority at this stage.  And to be honest, how realistic is it to land such a player at this time if all our other attempts have fallen over? 

Speaking with Joyce at the FFA cup event, he said they may sign one more player, and this is possibly Bort, which looks like it will pan out.

Also, the publicity on the young guys has been key on a lot of the clubs messaging this pre-season.

I think they have accepted the composition of the squad, they will give Mauk and Arzani a crack in midfield and they will reserve a foreign spot and dip into the transfer market if these young guys cant do the job.

IF they do happen to sign a marquee foreign number 10 marquee, I will be thrilled, as I think we need that player to feed Bruno and run the attack in midfield. 

[Embee]

9 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

Signing Troisi as a marquee would have been good business on many levels, but we know how that went.  And I think the club believes that Mauk is the player who replaced the Troisi signing. Palic was just a rumour, and we dont know how legit the rumblings were.  

Not saying they aren't looking for players, just that I don't think a gun AM marquee is a priority at this stage.  And to be honest, how realistic is it to land such a player at this time if all our other attempts have fallen over? 

Speaking with Joyce at the FFA cup event, he said they may sign one more player, and this is possibly Bort, which looks like it will pan out.

Also, the publicity on the young guys has been key on a lot of the clubs messaging this pre-season.

I think they have accepted the composition of the squad, they will give Mauk and Arzani a crack in midfield and they will reserve a foreign spot and dip into the transfer market if these young guys cant do the job.

IF they do happen to sign a marquee foreign number 10 marquee, I will be thrilled, as I think we need that player to feed Bruno and run the attack in midfield. 

Caceres was still in the squad at that point. Mauk and Troisi were being signed at pretty much exactly the same time, so if the club was looking to bring in Mauk AND Troisi (and let Caceres go to make room) then to me it makes me sense that they still are looking to bring in another player there. If they were that keen on Arzani, why even bring in both Mauk and Troisi in the first place?

It also seems extremely unlikely to me that the club would go into this season effectively wasting a spot they can use on any player they feel they can justify the wage outlay too.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Embee

[bt50]

8 minutes ago, Torn Asunder said:

Signing Troisi as a marquee would have been good business on many levels, but we know how that went.  And I think the club believes that Mauk is the player who replaced the Troisi signing. Palic was just a rumour, and we dont know how legit the rumblings were.  

Not saying they aren't looking for players, just that I don't think a gun AM marquee is a priority at this stage.  And to be honest, how realistic is it to land such a player at this time if all our other attempts have fallen over? 

Speaking with Joyce at the FFA cup event, he said they may sign one more player, and this is possibly Bort, which looks like it will pan out.

Also, the publicity on the young guys has been key on a lot of the clubs messaging this pre-season.

I think they have accepted the composition of the squad, they will give Mauk and Arzani a crack in midfield and they will reserve a foreign spot and dip into the transfer market if these young guys cant do the job.

IF they do happen to sign a marquee foreign number 10 marquee, I will be thrilled, as I think we need that player to feed Bruno and run the attack in midfield. 

The famed Troisi medical happened the Monday after Mauk was signed fwiw and whilst i acknowledge the Palic thing may have been a rumour, Zappa's was on SEN last night saying it had fallen through, not that it had never happened.
I strongly, strongly doubt City wont use the marquee spot. For starters its financial suicide for a club with a rich club image and b ) every single club in the league just about uses both spots, as if we'd be one of the ones that doesn't. European transfer window closes in a couple of weeks, there'll be plenty of opportunity to sign free agents after that.

[Torn Asunder]

I hope you guys are right!

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, Embee said:

Why do we need to leave TC out? Because it serves a certain narrative? Whether you like it or not the club was spending that money on him and a result we were spending way more than anyone else.

The club has shown itself willing to pay fees when required (Caceres) and to offer large contracts when required (Bruno and Timmy). They're clearly not just going to throw around money just because they can but they've shown a willingness to spend when they feel it's necessary, not to mention the amount of money they've sunk into the CFA, which is arguably the best thing they've done for the club to date.

You need to leave TC out of the calculations talking about the most expensive squad ever assembled if you want to compare to other clubs and the willingness to spend. Like you said we didn't pay for the majority of TC his salary. I think we can agree on the same that this club is not splashing random cash around without return, hence it annoys me how we are being pictured in the media.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Mr MO

[Thrillhouse]

the mongs signed matias sanchez, looks like them and sydney will be allowed to play over the cap again  

[jw1739]

2 hours ago, Mr MO said:

We do seem to be looking for one now that Caceras has left but Torn is a little right in saying that we aren't desperate looking for one. Judging by fact the we are looking for a relatively cheap marquee. If they wanted to splash the cash we would have superstar marquee some weeks ago.

This all comes down to the CFG budgets and our marketing value. 

It shits me sometimes that I keep reading in media that we are a super rich club ready to splash the monies. I honestly believe that the total player budgets (squad plus marquees) of Sydney FC and Victory are higher.

Wouldn't it be nice sometimes if all this had to be disclosed at seasons start.

You can get some information by intense Googling. For example, http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/western-sydney-wanderers-spending-more-than-sydney-fc-on-aleague-squad-20170726-gxj50p.html

Last season we were easily the League's biggest spenders.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/melbourne-city/melbourne-citys-aleague-side-the-most-expensive-in-australian-soccer-history/news-story/f5d2ceb9e2fa721bfa377c4f02ab783e

"The Cahill-Fornaroli strike force the most expensive in the league, headlining City’s mega squad.

The Socceroo earns close to $4m in a heavily front-ended deal before he moves into the salary cap next season, while the golden boot winner’s new deal has netted him over $1.4m-a-year. City, who host Perth Glory at AAMI Park tonight, have netted local and foreign stars during an aggressive recruit spree, with Argentine whiz Nicolas Colazo signed as the final marquee for $500,000-a-season.

Fellow Argentine Fernando Brandan, Dane Michael Jakobsen, fringe Socceroo Luke Brattan and former Leeds United midfielder Neil Kilkenny were all signed for $200,000-plus, joining the likes of keeper Thomas Sorensen, Socceroo Ivan Franjic and Anthony Caceres."

[Dylan]

6 minutes ago, Thrillhouse said:

the mongs signed matias sanchez, looks like them and sydney will be allowed to play over the cap again  

How many defensive midfielders do they want?

[bt50]

11 minutes ago, Dylan said:

How many defensive midfielders do they want?

IMO its a good signing, i wouldnt be banking on Valeri this year if it was me.

They do prob have more pressing concerns though, namely LW and LB. And a backup striker for that matter.

[kingofhearts]

22 hours ago, illeatyourheart said:

 

I don't believe you. 

[nah brah]

6 hours ago, bt50 said:

Even using conservative reported figures we are pretty similar to Sydney and Victory. There was suggestion that Bruno was as high as 1.5m. Like i said, we are probably fairly similar, but not so far behind or in front that we can lay claim to not spending as much as them.

For example

City

Bruno             1,200,000
Marquee           600,000
Cap Players   3,000,000
                        4,800,000

Sydney

Bobo               1,000,000
Ninkovic           800,000
Cap Players   3,000,000
                        4,800,000

 

Victory

Berisha            600,000
Milligan          1,000,000
Cap Players   3,000,000
                        4,600,000

why do you assume $600k on our other marquee?  we spent 3.5 million on cahill last year.  

the whole palic thing was based on one tweet wasnt it?  if they do pick up someone like that they will probably try and turn a profit on them.

Edited August 16, 2017 by nah brah

[bt50]

24 minutes ago, nah brah said:

why do you assume $600k on our other marquee?  we spent 3.5 million on cahill last year.  

the whole palic thing was based on one tweet wasnt it?  if they do pick up someone like that they will probably try and turn a profit on them.

We reportedly offered Troisi 550k and according to the SMH article by Dom Bossi we offered Palic $1.1m over two years. Colazo last season was reported to have been on 500k.

I reckon 600k is a pretty good conservative estimate

Cahill is virtually irrelevant to the argument as he occupied a guest spot and was front ended to get under the cap this season.

[Mr MO]

12 minutes ago, bt50 said:

We reportedly offered Troisi 550k and according to the SMH article by Dom Bossi we offered Palic $1.1m over two years. Colazo last season was reported to have been on 500k.

I reckon 600k is a pretty good conservative estimate

Cahill is virtually irrelevant to the argument as he occupied a guest spot and was front ended to get under the cap this season.

Spot on BT

[LB]

For what it's worth Ive heard it was always the plan for either Bratten or Caceres to leave before this season, so I don't think suddenly losing one of them changed our transfer plans.

I think Bratten may have even been offered the Arab offer as well / first. 

Edited August 16, 2017 by LB

[HeartLand]

6 minutes ago, LB said:

For what it's worth Ive heard it was always the plan for either Bratten or Caceres to leave before this season, so I don't think suddenly losing one of them changed our transfer plans.

I think Bratten may have even been offered the Arab offer as well / first. 

Where do you hear these sorts of things?

[Embee]

22 minutes ago, LB said:

For what it's worth Ive heard it was always the plan for either Bratten or Caceres to leave before this season, so I don't think suddenly losing one of them changed our transfer plans.

I think Bratten may have even been offered the Arab offer as well / first. 

He (Bratts) was pretty candid when myself and @thisphantomfortress were speaking to him at the kit night, mentioned there were a couple of clubs interested in him but that he wanted to stay at City and expected it to be done in the next few days, which it was.

[mus-28]

Always interested that most when naming their best XI leave Cahill out. Although he and Bruno never clicked his performances were solid and he chimed in with a lot of goals in a dysfunctional team. His performance against Chile showed he physically can still play at a very high tempo and looked quite good defensively. I think a lot of people look at his age and think he can only be an impact sub when his fitness is probably up amongst the best in the squad.

 

If Brattan doesn't recapture his form I'd prefer Kilkenny - Cahill sitting deeper allowing Mauk the #10 role to support Bruno as his off the ball movement is excellent most of the time and will give link much better with Bruno. Use that marquee spot on a Novillo-esque winger with some power and directness.

 

[Mr MO]

19 minutes ago, mus-28 said:

Always interested that most when naming their best XI leave Cahill out. Although he and Bruno never clicked his performances were solid and he chimed in with a lot of goals in a dysfunctional team. His performance against Chile showed he physically can still play at a very high tempo and looked quite good defensively. I think a lot of people look at his age and think he can only be an impact sub when his fitness is probably up amongst the best in the squad.

 

If Brattan doesn't recapture his form I'd prefer Kilkenny - Cahill sitting deeper allowing Mauk the #10 role to support Bruno as his off the ball movement is excellent most of the time and will give link much better with Bruno. Use that marquee spot on a Novillo-esque winger with some power and directness.

 

For example, I judge him by his technical ability linking up with players around him. It just didn't work unfortunately last season.  With the ball on the ground he broke up fluid play to often and the frustration was clearly visible.

He was very much part of that dysfunctional team, imagine if he couldn't head a ball we would have been doomed last season.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Mr MO

[Heart of Melbourne]

With the current playing list we are fucked this year. If we don't sign a quality number 10 season is over. If we lose the first game at home this forum will go into melt down. Green line now please. 

[Shahanga]

8 hours ago, mus-28 said:

Always interested that most when naming their best XI leave Cahill out. Although he and Bruno never clicked his performances were solid and he chimed in with a lot of goals in a dysfunctional team. His performance against Chile showed he physically can still play at a very high tempo and looked quite good defensively. I think a lot of people look at his age and think he can only be an impact sub when his fitness is probably up amongst the best in the squad.

 

If Brattan doesn't recapture his form I'd prefer Kilkenny - Cahill sitting deeper allowing Mauk the #10 role to support Bruno as his off the ball movement is excellent most of the time and will give link much better with Bruno. Use that marquee spot on a Novillo-esque winger with some power and directness.

 

Agree.

I expect Cahill to be a starter. Just CBF posting it earlier.

[Dylan]

The reason I think Cahill will come off the bench alot more this year is because it reduces his risk of injury and therefore missing out on the World Cup.  Our squad currently is strong but not as good as MV and SFC, even with a maquee number 10, unless its a player that we pay 1.5mil a season and is a shit load amout of levels above the aleague. 

 

For us this year imo its all about Wazza and his coaching ability. If he turns out to be a great coach we will win it, if not, same old season

Edited August 16, 2017 by Dylan

[bt50]

I disagree with any assertion that our squad isnt as good as MV and/or Sydney, particularly once you factor in a marquee CAM. Our squad 100% is the deepest, and our starting XI is comparable man for man as detailed a few weeks ago.

Our gaffer is the key, because as of last year we were a mile behind in that department.

[thisphantomfortress]

43 minutes ago, bt50 said:

I disagree with any assertion that our squad isnt as good as MV and/or Sydney, particularly once you factor in a marquee CAM. Our squad 100% is the deepest, and our starting XI is comparable man for man as detailed a few weeks ago.

Our gaffer is the key, because as of last year we were a mile behind in that department.

1.609344 kilometres this is straya cunt

[bt50]

16 minutes ago, thisphantomfortress said:

1.609344 kilometres this is straya cunt

Arent you a British South African Kiwi???

[Embee]

38 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Arent you a British South African Kiwi???

You forgot Jew

[thisphantomfortress]

48 minutes ago, bt50 said:

Arent you a British South African Kiwi???

No saffer

[[LIBBA]]

1 hour ago, bt50 said:

I disagree with any assertion that our squad isnt as good as MV and/or Sydney, particularly once you factor in a marquee CAM. Our squad 100% is the deepest, and our starting XI is comparable man for man as detailed a few weeks ago.

Our gaffer is the key, because as of last year we were a mile behind in that department.

I don't get the theory that they are miles ahead of us. out Attacking options a ridiculous and he seem to have strengthened in the back with Jamison, Eugene, La Rocca and the high possibility of Bort coming in. You add a quality no 10 to that 11 and you have the makings of a very impressive side who look evenly spread across the park.

People will go and point out that Manny is a weakness on the right, but i'm going to be honest and say Franjic was pretty average at his time with us and never really saw the best of him. Muscat was played out of position in most parts of last season at CB. Not to mention that he rarely got to play with another quality cb for most of last season.

I think we're going along fairly well atm. 

Have MV really recruited that well? They have brought in Milligan and this Sanchez bloke out of Argentina.  Both DM's !!! then you add Valeri to the mix and that midfield lacks pace and will rely heavily on Troisi to create in the middle. Barbarfucksheep is probably a like for like replacement in Kalfala and they have also lost the other sheep in Rojas. Besides Berisha, where do the goals come from??

 

[japiedog]

26 minutes ago, [LIBBA] said:

I don't get the theory that they are miles ahead of us. out Attacking options a ridiculous and he seem to have strengthened in the back with Jamison, Eugene, La Rocca and the high possibility of Bort coming in. You add a quality no 10 to that 11 and you have the makings of a very impressive side who look evenly spread across the park.

People will go and point out that Manny is a weakness on the right, but i'm going to be honest and say Franjic was pretty average at his time with us and never really saw the best of him. Muscat was played out of position in most parts of last season at CB. Not to mention that he rarely got to play with another quality cb for most of last season.

I think we're going along fairly well atm. 

Have MV really recruited that well? They have brought in Milligan and this Sanchez bloke out of Argentina.  Both DM's !!! then you add Valeri to the mix and that midfield lacks pace and will rely heavily on Troisi to create in the middle. Barbarfucksheep is probably a like for like replacement in Kalfala and they have also lost the other sheep in Rojas. Besides Berisha, where do the goals come from??

 

you make some very good , logical, well thought out points there

Wasted in preseason though !

Edited August 16, 2017 by japiedog

[jw1739]

I agree that much is going to depend on Wazza. If he can rid us of our habit of dropping silly points, then that will go quite a way to improving the way we think about the squad and the club.

I'm less sure about what we've done in the transfer market so far. If Schenkeveld is confirmed, he looks quite a good pick-up. Jamieson is OK, and although Mauk ruffles a few feathers IMO he's a pretty good player and can do a job up behind Bruno, and score as already demonstrated. I'm less sure about the signings of La Rocca and Galekovic. I'm disappointed that we've let Caceres go. Overall I rate the signings so far as solid but unexciting and IMO we desperately need a no. 10 to add quality and flair to the squad, and I hope we can get that sorted soon so that we can start the season at full-strength.

In terms of comparisons with the other clubs,  I still see Sydney and MV as the teams to beat. They seem to have already carried the momentum from last season into this pre-season. 

[Embee]

18 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I agree that much is going to depend on Wazza. If he can rid us of our habit of dropping silly points, then that will go quite a way to improving the way we think about the squad and the club.

I'm less sure about what we've done in the transfer market so far. If Schenkeveld is confirmed, he looks quite a good pick-up. Jamieson is OK, and although Mauk ruffles a few feathers IMO he's a pretty good player and can do a job up behind Bruno, and score as already demonstrated. I'm less sure about the signings of La Rocca and Galekovic. I'm disappointed that we've let Caceres go. Overall I rate the signings so far as solid but unexciting and IMO we desperately need a no. 10 to add quality and flair to the squad, and I hope we can get that sorted soon so that we can start the season at full-strength.

In terms of comparisons with the other clubs,  I still see Sydney and MV as the teams to beat. They seem to have already carried the momentum from last season into this pre-season. 

Jamieson is easily the best Australian fullback than any A-League team could realistically hope to sign, he's much better than an OK signing. If anyone else had of signed him there would've been multiple questions on this forum about why we didn't make a play for him.