More Potential WALK Outs Next Season?

In one of his first interviews for Manchester City, Kyle Walker concluded the interview by saying:

• Interviewer: If you had one message for the fans (City Fans), what would it be?

• Kyle Walker: Thanks for having me, welcoming me and hopefully we win titles. That’s what I’ve come here for.

Danny Rose in an interview during the off season also said:

• “For the next season coming, we have to do a lot better in the Champions League and make one marquee signing that can help us push forward”.

He continued:

• “Someone like Harry Kane, I can tell you that his mindset will be ‘I’m staying at Tottenham, I’m going to break every single record, I’m going to captain this club into the new stadium’ so when you’ve got a player like him with that mindset I don’t think Tottenham have to worry.
• But it depends where the individual is in the stage of his career. He might feel he has done enough at Tottenham and might fancy a change or might feel Tottenham is the nearly club that nearly wins the league and might choose to move on”

Now we can assume a major reason Walker left was to earn more money at City, however let’s run with the idea that it was to have a better chance of silverware. This idea accompanied with Rose possibly laying the foundations for an exit next summer, where does this leave us short term?

No doubt Levy is setting us up with the new stadium and infrastructure to possibly compete with the elite financially in the long term but as fans are we prepared to lose more of our senior players who want to achieve and win things now?

We head into August with our Transfer Incoming column as empty as the away end when we beat our neighbours 2 – 0 in April and the question is, are we in a position to go one better than last season? Which realistically, is what will keep our better players from being poached by the teams who have an ‘open cheque book’ policy.

If our model is spending within our means on a net spend philosophy, simple arithmetic suggests Walker at £50 million plus potential exits of Wimmer and Sissoko could leave us up by £80 million or so. We have enough to cover Sissoko’s absence so that leaves a CB and RB to buy. So why don’t we just put aside £35 million and go for a player like Mahrez?

Our squad lacks a flair player with an unpredictable factor, who can go past his man with ease and produce a moment of brilliance to turn our draws into wins. That player would also aid us in games away from home against the top 6 as we seem to be lacking something when it really matters. A marquee player that shows intent and that we mean business not just to our rivals but also the current squad and fans alike.

My fear is that unless we make real progress next season, our top players will have their heads turned by teams who are paying the market rate for top players in their positions. Is Danny Rose content being paid less than Luke Shaw? Eriksen three times less than Ozil? Toby Alderweireld less than John Stones?

This makes this last month of the transfer window pivotal and the season ahead even more so in terms of the future of our current squad.

#COYS

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