The problem I have looking at our squad right now is that lots of people have 2 years left on their contracts.

Which means if it was me, I only have 2 choices with those players - a new contract or sell.

And we were in this position with Origi once upon a time and the deal we
gave him has made him impossible to sell since then, despite our efforts to do so.

Phillips is probably the best case of this where the fanbase's opinion on this range from 'never good enough sell' to 'should start the season with Virg'.

Talk about differing opinions.
With Emre Can, we didn't offer him a new deal.

Do you pay Emre the rate of your top players? Or sell him despite having potential and wanting to realise it.

We got stuck between the two. Held on one season too long and he ran out his contract.

And don't even start me on the
Aquilani - loan with an OPTION to buy - deals.

So whatever we do this summer needs to include a long-term solution for anybody with 2 years on their contracts.

Rhys Williams (?)
Adrián (0)
James Milner (1)
Caoimhin Kelleher (1)
Ben Woodburn (1)
All rest = 2023 expiry
Jordan Henderson
Xherdan Shaqiri
Roberto Firmino
Virgil van Dijk
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Mohamed Salah
Sadio Mané
Fabinho
Naby Keïta
Nathaniel Phillips

That is a LOT of new contracts we need to sort out which means pay increases + agent fees. Some we
won't care about the deal running down (e.g. Milner, Hendo). Others we might feel renewing isn't going to give us good value and need to be moved on.

But either way we are going to have a lot of expensive renewals &/or a large turnover of players.

Difficult summer
IMO... I wouldn't extend Hendo this summer. There is no need. He will be 33 when his current deal expires and his injury record is a concern. At that point it is probably a rolling 1-year deal.
On the Naby question, I mentioned elsewhere why I think we need to consider not falling into the 'sunk costs' fallacy here.

But I also think there will become a point where we get so little out of a deal (small fee/loan with option? & supplement wages)

that it becomes a case of we can either pay for him to maybe come good on someone else's pitch and get a small fee or risk losing him on a bosman in a year... or we can keep and pay slightly more and hope he can put the last 2-3 years behind him. So the opportunity to benefit is
better from keeping rather than selling. His situation is certainly the hardest to call of them all but I suspect he stays simply because age (just turned 26) and potential gains outweigh whatever we could get for him this summer.

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More from @babuyagu

31 May
Guy has a point.

Serious question, what do Madrid have over Everton?
Okay, but apart from a stadium that doesn't stink of catpiss...

what do Madrid have over Everton?
Okay, but apart from a stadium that doesn't stink of catpiss and A Brazilian attacker who doesn’t search his own name on Twitter.

what do Madrid have over Everton?
Read 21 tweets
31 May
If Trent doesn't get picked, I'll be angry for him for about 5 minutes because it is just a daft fucking decision from a shit fucking manager.

But then I will remember that it means he can't get injured in England's archaic training sessions like Gomez or in their matches
like Sturridge.

One of our key players will get a full and complete rest this summer. We have seen in the past that he has a tendency to go up a level after every setback to prove his doubters wrong.

A full fit, well-rested, fired up Trent for next campaign. Fucking sign me up!
It also has the added benefit of me no longer giving a single shit about the England side this summer which I would probably have watched just for Trent.
Read 7 tweets
31 May
Pep sycophants in the media are weird are nauseating, man.

To read them you would think footy was shit before he rocked up with his ideas and now literally every coach in the world is in a desperate rush to play Pep-ball.

Then try to act as arbiters oh who is and is not
allowed to be criticised and for what. We see the same bollocks with fucking everything these days with the media who have decided to be gatekeepers on who is and is not criticised.

Pep is allowed to be criticised. City can and were winning domestic titles without him. Bayern
too. That will NEVER be a problem for a club that dominates the spending in their domestic league. Sure, they are winning with a little more pizzaz and consistency now... they are also spending a fucktonne more money.

City want to carry that dominance into Europe. He has utterly
Read 6 tweets
29 May
Walker appealing the foul on Thiago Silva.

He crossed a ball into a box with literally nobody in it, so for his sake he should be happy it was given.
Werner with his first big miss of the game.
Werner with his second big miss of the game.
Read 9 tweets
29 May
I have no doubt this is true. We have heard the reports on Rashford's injuries

But isn't this the fault of Ole and the staff at United? Did they learn nothing from playing Rashford while injured the previous year when he later picked up a much more serious injury? You can't just
keep playing guys who are needing a rest because either they eventually just breakdown and then you are without them when you need them most (for example, is Maguire one of those he mentions?) or it takes that 5-10% off the top of their game that sets apart good and great players
We all praise guys for being brave playing through injuries but ultimately it is just rolling the dice each time. Will this be the 'one more game' you get out of them before they are out for months? Yes? What about the next one? The one after that? Just let them rest and recover
Read 5 tweets
29 May
Lots of reasons. Firstly, we are generally a small team. I am guessing maybe the smallest in the EPL given that Man City have bigger full backs in Mendy and Walker. So, our full backs are going to need to do more than most at defensive set pieces in their zones. Not to mention
on attacking set-pieces. We need some height from somewhere. You have seen this season who much less of a threat we look once we lost Virg. Gomez never really looked a threat on set pieces. Looking at this, I am not sure Konate is either. Just 18 shots in 3 season and rarely gets ImageImage
anything on target. But that is definitely something you can help him with on coaching. If nothing else though, he is a big unit that the opponents need to worry about - even as a decoy he is taking the attention of one of the opponents best defenders. Image
Read 11 tweets

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