City sign Bridge !

Its a done deal, fee of around £12m ! Im very happy to sign him, a great start to the transfer window. Some people will say we paid over the odds but we can afford it and we have now strengthend our weakest position. Plus when you consider we sold SWP for £21m and bought him back for £8m and Bridge for £12m we have done well.

Plus he should be fresh from not having played for a couple of years

110% wrote:Plus he should be fresh from not having played for a couple of years

Absoloutly mate

Amazing how City can convince players to come out of retirement.

borocooper wrote:Amazing how City can convince players to come out of retirement.

was just about to get that in.

apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

&#1044&#1080& wrote:apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

Don't forget Crespo, Tiago, Veron & Kezman.

borocooper wrote:Amazing how City can convince players to come out of retirement.

Bloody hell if i were you id just worry about keeping O'Neill

The HuddFather wrote:

&#1044&#1080& wrote:apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

Don't forget Crespo, Tiago, Veron & Kezman.

Crespo, Tiago, Mutu and Johnson wouldnt be bad signings

You can have O'Neill if you want

£9m

&#1044&#1080& wrote:apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

You forgot Crespo...

President Darkie wrote:

&#1044&#1080& wrote:apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

You forgot Crespo...

*cough*

borocooper wrote:You can have O'Neill if you want

£9m

No way....£25m is our final offer plus we will give you £50m to take Vassell as well? ( thats how we deal)

I wouldnt take Vassell if you offered us £100m and Robinho.

The HuddFather wrote:

President Darkie wrote:

&#1044&#1080& wrote:apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

You forgot Crespo...

*cough*

Sorry, I don't speak black.

I'm not sure about Bridge. I imagine he's had plenty of offers during his five and a half years at Chelsea - in which time he hasn't played much at all given how many games Chelsea have played each season - and offers from clubs in better positions at the time than Man City are in now. So he's grown older and he maybe doesn't have all the experience he could have had, and I understand that he's supposed to train very hard, but still it is easy to speculate that he's only moving now because Man City will continue to give him a big wage. Which is fair enough, but I'm not sure he comes from Chelsea looking like a particularly ambitious sort of player.

And today's result probably throws Hughes's future back into question - will he ever even get to play Bridge, his son and his heir, who he sat side by at Southampton now stands in front of at City? - I guess Hughes will probably stick around for a while longer, but I don't see Man City getting where they want to be with him in charge. It seems obvious that Man City need to mix a few relatively big signings with the talents, like SWP, Sturridge, Richards, Ireland, Johnson (and I like Hart and Kompany a lot too), that are already at the club - not especially because they need to maintain a sense of identity, but just because these are all very capable players that shouldn't be wasted, that have a head start because they are at the club and they know it and fit it, and a successful team can be built with them a part of it. Hughes might perhaps be good for giving the youngsters their chances, but I don't think he's strong or clever enough to build a cohesive team at Man City.

Whatever, in a word, I think Bridge will prove a solid if unexceptional left back for Man City - I think he's a good player but not worth £10-12 million.

Good post Bash - i always respect your opinion even if i dont alays agree with it. Yeah Hughes will be given the season and i still think he will get us playing well. Today was terrible, some players have shit attitudes at the moment (Elano and Jo the main two) and we need to sort them out. I love Elano but im not sure his head is right and it might be best for the club to mve on. I think Hughes will bring in some more quality player and if you look at what we have in the likes of Hart, Richards, Zabaleta, Bridge, Dunne, Kompany, SWP, Ireland, Petrov, Johnson, Bojinov, Sturridge and obviously Robinho then im sure it should just be a matter of time before we aredoing well.

Yeah, I think you already have a really good group of players, a strong core in Hart, Richards (who I rate even if he's not having a great season), Kompany, Ireland, Johnson and Sturridge, who should make for a very good team in the coming seasons. And Bridge and SWP still have plenty of years left, and Robinho is still young. I haven't noticed Zabaleta much this season - I wondered, or speculated a few weeks ago that maybe Corluka added a bit more composure to your back line, but I don't know - how has Zabaleta been doing? I thought Jo would prove a better buy than he's shown himself to be so far. And why do you think Dunne and Richards have struggled this season? How easy would it be to replace Dunne given that he's been your captain?

Anyway, if things haven't worked out so far this season, I certainly see you really progressing in time - the league is closer in general this time around, at the top and at the bottom, and it's nice to think that six or seven teams could compete for the top places next season and in the years to come. I'm just not sure that Hughes is going to prove the man for the City job. I think his success with Wales was largely overstated, and he didn't convince me for a long time at Blackburn because, for a time, results and performances weren't any better or any more consistent than they were under Souness's reign. He won me over a bit in his last season at Blackburn, as he found more good players and took them to another good finish. But I'm not sure if he's up to the more high profile, high pressure job; I'm not sure if he's going to be able to harmonise the players at his disposal. I'm not a huge fan of Hughes, because I have a few doubts about him, but I do like City and I'll be happy to see them do well.

All the money in the world, so who's your number one target ?!

Well ?







.....Wayne Bridge !!!

Bashmachkin wrote:Yeah, I think you already have a really good group of players, a strong core in Hart, Richards (who I rate even if he's not having a great season), Kompany, Ireland, Johnson and Sturridge, who should make for a very good team in the coming seasons. And Bridge and SWP still have plenty of years left, and Robinho is still young. I haven't noticed Zabaleta much this season - I wondered, or speculated a few weeks ago that maybe Corluka added a bit more composure to your back line, but I don't know - how has Zabaleta been doing? I thought Jo would prove a better buy than he's shown himself to be so far. And why do you think Dunne and Richards have struggled this season? How easy would it be to replace Dunne given that he's been your captain?

Anyway, if things haven't worked out so far this season, I certainly see you really progressing in time - the league is closer in general this time around, at the top and at the bottom, and it's nice to think that six or seven teams could compete for the top places next season and in the years to come. I'm just not sure that Hughes is going to prove the man for the City job. I think his success with Wales was largely overstated, and he didn't convince me for a long time at Blackburn because, for a time, results and performances weren't any better or any more consistent than they were under Souness's reign. He won me over a bit in his last season at Blackburn, as he found more good players and took them to another good finish. But I'm not sure if he's up to the more high profile, high pressure job; I'm not sure if he's going to be able to harmonise the players at his disposal. I'm not a huge fan of Hughes, because I have a few doubts about him, but I do like City and I'll be happy to see them do well.

Zabaleta has been great this season and one of our best players, i wouldnt swap him for Corluka.....thats how well he has done.

Its hard cos Dunne has been awsome over the last number of seasons and is our captain but if he doesnt perform then we cant just keep him in. It will be a big call and i dont ink he will be dropped (if he is) until the summer when its easier to make the change.

Axeslammer wrote:All the money in the world, so who's your number one target ?!

Well ?







.....Wayne Bridge !!!

Yeah thats right cos we can only be in talks with one player at once apparently Villa's agent was there yesterday.....so that deal is probably dead now

The HuddFather wrote:

&#1044&#1080& wrote:apparently you're after Scott Parker too.

May as well go the whole hog and go after Duff, Geremi, Mutu and Glenn Johnson

Don't forget Crespo, Tiago, Veron & Kezman.

It's been said that Winston Bogarde was also spotted near the city stadium...

Sgoater1 wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:All the money in the world, so who's your number one target ?!

Well ?







.....Wayne Bridge !!!

Yeah thats right cos we can only be in talks with one player at once apparently Villa's agent was there yesterday.....so that deal is probably dead now

Best start crying then

This shows that he is on his way tomorrow...

http://www.goal.com/en/news/722/la-liga/2009/01/04/1040544/valencia-categorically-deny-villa-will-leave

to our training ground.

There are rumours linking Adriano to City. Now that he is out of favour at Inter, quite likely that he is on his way out this Jan.

However, he is cup tied. Maybe Inter and City will wait till the summer to complete this.

Also rumours about Jo moving the other way. I am not sure about Jo, so hope these are just rumours.

No offence goater, but £12m for Bridge is laughable. He probably cost an extra £10m because of a half decent performance for England. Otherwise, the £12m fee is inexplicable!

He was good five years but I personally think he's gone the way of Damien Duff.

I think Dwarf made the point on the other thread - the value of pound against Euro will push up the price of English players, as options abroad are relatively more expensive. i.e. £12m will now buy a player in Eurozone worth ~12.5m euros, whereas 6 months ago it could get a player worth 16m euros.

I'd still say it's over the odds, but Chelsea selling to Man City is itself not going to be typical. Chelsea being able to afford to hold out for big money - and City willing and able to pay it!

Can't believe we've made a £5m profit on him. Would've been sad to have seen him go for a small fee but £12m for a back-up player is too good to refuse.