Manchester City Transfer Targets: Who will City sign? TIOC's Predictions

We've already been linked with a number of players, one thing that makes me feel extremely happy is that finally we are being linked with a large number of Defenders. While I acknowledge that our defence has been poor this season, it's worth highlighting that they haven't really done a bad job considering we are still in the top four and a Champions League position. So while they have been unworthy of the Premier League title, they don't deserve any level of abuse. Peps Philosophy has after all left our ageing Defenders in their 30's, open to counter attacks from much younger and fitter opponents.

These are the Players below who are rumoured to be Pep's targets, I'm going to run the rule over them for you.

Goalkeeper

Ederson is a Keeper I like the look of, he ticks all the boxes and I've been aware for some time that City are seriously showing significant interest in the lad, I think this one will happen for sure.

Ederson Morae (23) Market Value £10 million, Ederson is a Brazilian Keeper who can play as a Sweeper Keeper. (Probable)

Defenders

Unfortunately we're a few seasons off producing any Wing backs ready to step up with a few of them learning their trade out on loan, so we'll have to go in to the transfer window looking for them. It's no new news that our wing backs are all over 30, We've been linked with Spurs left back Danny Rose aged (26) but his market value is currently around £17 million and to prize him away from Spurs we're looking at over double that fee with inflation on English players sky high.

Jose Luis Gaya (21) Is a Spanish Left back who can also play in left midfield. Market Value £15 million. (Probable)

Álex Grimaldo (21) aka Alejandro Grimaldo is a Spanish Left back who can also play in Center Midfield and Left wing. Market Value £6 million. (Probable)

Sead Kolašinac (23) Bosnian Left back who can also play in Defencive Midfield and Left wing back. Market Value £7.7million. (Possible)

Benjamin Mendy (22) French Left back Mendy can also play at Left Midfield, has impressed for AS Monaco. Market Value £8 million (Possible)

Benjamin Henrichs (20) is a German Right back who also plays at Left back and in Attacking Midfield. Market Value £9 million. (Possible)

Jury is out on Virgil van Dijk for me, while he has promise he hasn't exactly improved since leaving Celtic, I view Celtic as a mid table club and I mean no offence by that, mid table in the Premier League is still a tough position to hold. We really need to find a player capable of replacing Vinny Kompany, I don't see van Dijk as the one to do that.

Virgil van Dijk (25) Market Value £21 million (Unlikely)

Juventus Defender Leonardo-Bonucci (29) Market Value £34 million, for 29 the figure upwards of £34 million is quite a steep number, if Juve were willing to sell at say £20 million then I'd support the signing of Bonucci. The Media have swarmed all over this one with Guardiola saying he likes the Defender, to Bonucci saying he's flattered and happy. But that doesn't mean to say we're going to sign the player, or that he's worth the current asking price. I suppose this one boils down to whether our Owner Sheikh Mansour and City feels Bonucci is worth the huge investment, will it happen? I'm not so sure it will. Reports are in that Juve would be demanding around £60 million, ludicrous.

Leonardo-Bonucci (29) Market Value £34 million (Possible)

For £4 million Portuguese Pepe he still has a season or two in him at the highest level, he's an immediate solution if we struggle to find a younger defender to replace Vinny. Pepe will want to end his career on a high, and there's no one better to follow than Patrick Vieira who ended his career at City successfully. Although Real Madrid are preparing to offer their Defender a new one year deal, City offering more could land the club a short term fix.

Pepe (34) Market Value £4 million (Possible)

Midfielders

Didn't want to cover this one as I believe it's just a joke, Wilfried Zaha who plays In Leroy Sane's Right back position makes no sense, he is no where near good enough to even play in our reserves and nothing more needs to be said.

Wilfried Zaha (24) Market Value £10 million (Unlikely)

We've been linked with Real Madrid's James Rodriguez (25), an Attacking Midfielder who can play both left and right but, his market value is a high £42.5 million. It's unlikely that Pep would consider signing Rodriguez when we already have Leroy Sane and Sterling able to operate on both wings.

James Rodriguez (25) Market Value £42.5 million (Unlikely)

We've been linked with German Center Midfielder Joshua Kimmich (22) Market Value £22 million, to pry him away from Bayern Munich it would take over double that fee and I don't see Bayern even selling the player. Besides we already have David Silva who has more seasons in him, and Kevin De Bruyne in his position.

Joshua Kimmich (22) Market Value £22 million (Unlikely)

AM Brahim Diaz (17) a Manchester City Attacking Midfielder, Diaz will end up a far better player than Dele Alli and cost us nothing while he's at it. He can also play at Right wing giving us a replacement for Jesus Navas who is clearly not good enough. I strongly believe Diaz is ready to step up even at such a young age, he will no doubt to on the Plane to the States with City in the Summer. Diaz has made 30 Appearances in all competitions this season for City's reserves scoring 9 Goals and 9 Assists.

Brahim Diaz (17) Free

Then we have Paolo Fernandes (18) a Spanish Central Attacking Midfielder in our youth ranks, he's made 27 Appearances for City, scoring 12 Goals and 5 Assists. Another player deserving of a place on the flight to the US with City.

Paolo Fernandes (18) Free

Real Madrid's Isco rumours just won't go away, City reportedly tried to sign him but he snubbed us for Real Madrid. I'm of one mind with players like this, never go back in for them but luckily for me I don't think Real Madrid are willing to sell him anyhow, so this ones dead in the water for me thankfully. Besides we already have Silva and De Bruyne.

Isco (24) Market Value £30 million (Unlikely)

Forwards

One striker light up front I'd say with only Aguero, Jesus and Iheanacho. I'd send Iheanacho out on loan to a Champions League club for one season, with a premature termination clause in case of injuries and sign Griezmann. While I see Iheanacho having a future with us, I think he deserves to play regular and we can't offer that currently with Aguero and Jesus ahead of him.

I think it's pointless going into the market for Alexis Sanchez when we already have Sergio Aguero,both aged (28), Sanchez's market value doesn't look all that great so unless Aguero was to leave City, then Sanchez is a pointless waste of cash. With Sanchez able to operate on both wings, he would prove a hindrance to Sane and Sterling also. There's still a strong possibility that we will sign Sanchez, but I don't think we really need him so to me he'd be a luxury buy.

CF Alexis Sanchez (28) Market Value £55.25 (Possible)

Same with us being linked to French Secondary Striker Antione Griezmann (26), he lacks the one thing we need in a secondary striker, height and he lacks it at 5ft 9 inches.

FW Antoine Griezmann (26) Market Value £68 million (Unlikely)

Torino's Italian Centre Forward Andrea Belotti (23) has been linked with Manchester City, while he's has a successful season at Torino scoring 26 Goals and Assisting 5, he can only play in that one position and is only 5ft 9 inches and doesn't fit the Guardiola mould. It's being touted that Joe Hart could be used as part of a deal for Belotti but, I just don't see this one happening.

FW Andrea Belotti (23) Market Value £26 million (Unlikely)

CF Lukas Nmecha (18) a Striker for Manchester City, English International who was born in Germany and another player I tip to make the Plane to the States in the Summer. I've been raving about this kid since joining us, he could still choose to turn out for Germany in the future. He joined city's academy in 2009 and earned his full scholarship in 2015, Nmecha's made 25 Appearances in all competitions this season for City's reserves scoring 18 goals and Assisting 2 goals.

Lukas Nmecha (18) Free

Lyon's French Center Forward Alexandre Lacazette (25) has had a super season making 38 Appearances, scoring 30 Goals and Assisting 4. Market Value £34 million While he is prolific he is only at 5ft 7 inches and right footed exactly like Aguero.

Alexandre Lacazette (25) Market Value £34 million (Possible) With Jesus Navas hopefully on his way out, English Attacking Midfielder Patrick Roberts currently at Celtic, can fill his void and play backup to Raheem Sterling, no brainer saving us some money.

Patrick Roberts (20) Free

FULL LIST

Ederson Morae (23) Market Value £10 million (Probable) Video  TIOC says sign him up

Jose Luis Gaya (21) Market Value £15 million (Probable) Video

Álex Grimaldo (21) Market Value £6 million (Probable) Video  TIOC says sign him up

4 homegrown player listed below added to our player roster with only Gael Clichy and maybe Fabian Delph set to leave.

Brahim Diaz (17) Free

Paolo Fernandes (18) Free

Lukas Nmecha (18) Free

Patrick Roberts (20) Free

Pepe (34) Market Value £4 million (Possible)

Sanchez (28) Market Value £60 million (Possible)

Alexandre Lacazette (25) Market Value £34 million (Possible) Video

Leonardo-Bonucci (29) Market Value £34 million (Possible) Video

Benjamin Mendy (22) Market Value £8 million (Possible) Video

Sead Kolašinac (23) Market Value £7.7million (Possible) Video

Benjamin Henrichs (20) Market Value £9 million (Possible) Video

Virgil van Dijk (25) Market Value £21 million (Unlikely)

Wilfried Zaha (24) Market Value £10 million (Extremely unlikely)

James Rodriguez (25) Market Value £42.5 million (Unlikely)

Joshua Kimmich (22) Market Value £22 million (Unlikely)

Antione Griezmann (26) Market Value £68 million (Unlikely)

Andrea Belotti (23) Market Value £26 million (Unlikely)

Isco (24) Market Value £30 million (Unlikely)

Right back is a concern for me, Henrichs is the only Right back with a solid link to City that I'm aware of at present. I'm sure we'll be linked with many more player between now and the Summer window, intriguing times.

Reluctancy for Video Refs? I predicted Marriner would screw City again, Referee bias.

Andre Scumbag Marriner
Before we played Arsenal I predicted Andre Marriner would screw us over, as this evidence shows.

@Andre_Marriner I'd like to know if you're going to screw @ManCity over against Arsenal, like you did against Spurs? PGMOB advised again?

— Jason Halfpenny (@MCFC_TIOC) March 28, 2017

With the game tied at 2 goals a piece, Arsenal's Nacho Monreal handled the ball in Arsenal's 18 year box as Jesus Navas went to kick the ball.

Monreal even goes as far as to admit it, Andre Marriner witnessed it all but refused to award a penalty.


Sergio Aguero brilliantly tricks Monreal into... by Spanish-Football
I freely admit we haven't done ourselves any favours this season but, I feel strongly that we have been unfairly treated by Match Officials this season and the 'these things even themselves out over the course of a season' excuse doesn't fly I'm afraid, it certainly hasn't evened itself out for Manchester City now.

On to my point with Video Referee's and why the Football Governing Bodies are reluctant to introduce it, I believe it is because it takes away the ability for Referee's to manipulate the outcome of games. In previous articles I've covered the problem in English football with the FA, PGMOB and match officials.

About how Match Officials are threatened to keep quiet or lose their severance package and face consequences, about how former Premier League Referee Mark Halsey became whistle blower after admitting to being asked to ignore incidents, waving his right to his severance packet to write his Autobiography. How it was all brushed under the grass by the Political Elite and Football powers that be.

Andre Marriner and Anthony Taylor have screwed Manchester City over this season and got away with it, Referee's are protected far too much these days. Clubs and Businesses are losing millions if not billions over time, due to corrupt Governing Bodies and Match Officials. It's high time football clubs join forces and fight this injustice against the governing bodies and the established old elite who profit from it i.e. the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. The Football Association have their hand up the puppet named PGMOB, who appoint Match Officials and their teams and instruct them into doing their bidding.

Why hasn't English Football been ousted like Italian Football once were? Because the political power and money of English football, and powerful broadcasters are more than likely paying corrupt Fifa to keep their mouths shut.

Sorry but I'm not gullible enough to believe or think every mistake a match official makes are human error, Anthony Taylor and Andre Marriner have officiated 3 out of 4 title fight matches for us against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea, all of which we have drawn or lost because of blatant bias towards our opponents.

I love Manchester City but,right now its the opposite for English football. I can accept that we haven't been good enough to win the title this season, I can accept that we are in transition and Pep Guardiola needs more time to weed out the pap average like Otamendi, Navas, Nolito, Delph, Fernando and Bravo, along with letting go of the OAP's in Clichy and Sagna. I can accept losing fairly but, what I will never accept is unfair bias and corruption at all, not even if it was ever for us and not against us.

Against Chelsea Anthony Taylor showed blatant bias towards them, allowed David Luiz to run riot over Sergio Aguero, shirt pulling, clipping his heels, man handling him resulting in Aguero getting frustrated. Sent Aguero off rightfully but failed to send of Nathaniel Chalobah for violent conduct, sent off Fernandinho but failed to send off Cesc Fabregas for violent conduct. The game ended 3-1 to Chelsea thanks to his blatant interference.

Against Spurs admittedly in October we didn't do ourselves any favors but Andre Marriner showed Spurs a lot of favour, that game resulted in us losing 2-0.

Again in the return match against Spurs Andre Marriner should have awarded Manchester City a penalty and red carded to Kyle Walker. Instead with the match at City 2 - 1 Spurs, rather than award City a stone wall penalty and send Spurs rightly down to ten men, Andre Marriner helped Spurs back into the game. Former Referee Graham Poll blasted Marriner for it, I like Poll as he will defend Referee's but also blast Referee's if he believes they got it wrong. As far as Manchester City goes, Graham Poll has blasted both these Referee's in favour of Manchester City. Resulting in a 2-2 draw.

And now against Arsenal Andre Marriner has screwed Manchester City yet again, by failing to send off Nacho Monreal and award City yet another penalty, 2 lost points ending 2-2.

I make that an 8 point loss in the title race, we'd be in the top 2 had these two Referee's not of screwed Manchester City over this season.

I suspect foul play by the Football Association and the PGMOB.

Corrupt Puppets, Don't be fooled by Sky Documentary on Referee's, British Media are bias.

Nobody picks on my little friend.

Today Sky Sports will be airing a Documentary interviewing corrupt Referee's like Anthony Taylor who famously screwed Manchester city over this season against Chelsea.

Taylor blatantly allowed David Luiz free reign, to push, shove, man handle, shirt pull and finally play Sergio Aguero for 90 minutes with out consequence, that is ultimately why Sergio Aguero got frustrated and decided to lunge at Luiz, that is ultimately the real cause of the fracas between Manchester City and Chelsea.

PLAYERS SENT OFF UNDER LAW 12 (4) and (5)
A Player who is dismissed from the Field of Play for denying a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity by physical means or by handling the ball, will be suspended automatically from FTCM commencing forthwith, until such time as his Club has completed its next FTCM.

That is exactly what David Luiz did to Sergio Aguero prior to the Fracas, Luiz new that Sergio Aguero had him beat and was in on goal, so Luiz decided to take Aguero out by running into Aguero and throwing an elbow. Anthony Taylor should have sent off David Luiz as his Linesman had clear line of sight.

Now Daivd Luiz has proven previous for going down theatrically, he was famously caught curled up on the floor laughing while his opponent was sent off. Now after the incident Chelsea and Luiz himself reported that his injury wasn't all that bad, yet the British Media made a right meal of it. Despite the fact David Luiz was stilling racking up minutes for Chelsea.According to them it was a knee injury, yet Sergio Aguero never touched Luiz's knee. Footage and clips show that Aguero caught him well below the knee on his calf muscle.

Now that can't be put down to human error, neither can Taylor's other corrupt acts. This was a high profile title fight clash and Anthony Taylor exposed himself more than any other Referee have ever done before, yet still the British Media said nothing and it was all brushed under the carpet like it always does if it's about little old Manchester City. All the British Media could highlight was Aguero's tackle on Luiz and Fernandinho's altercation with that dirty little play acting cheat Cesc Fabregas, but i'll get to that in a moment.

First Anthony Taylor watched on as Nathaniel Chalobah ran onto and launched Sergio Aguero across the pitch, after David Luiz theatrically hits the pitch.

(e) PLAYERS SENT OFF UNDER LAW 12 (1), (2) AND (3)
A Player who is dismissed from the Field of Play for Violent Conduct, Serious Foul Play or spitting at an opponent or any other person, whether he has previously been cautioned in the match or not, will be suspended automatically from all Club football, except for any match sanctioned or regarded by The Football Association as a Friendly Match, including non-First Team matches commencing forthwith and until such time as his Club’s First Team has completed its next three matches in approved Competitions.

Now if a player is handed a Yellow card, this protects him or her from retrospective action by the Football Association as the Referee has been deemed to have dealt with the incident. This is exactly what Anthony Taylor did, to protect Nathaniel Chalobah from being banned. Had he not yellow carded Chalobah, then the Football Association would have had to have punished Chalobah for his actions under their own laws.

Then we come to the theatrical cheat and coward Cesc Fabregas, he slapped Fernandinho around the face and as a result Fernandinho shoved Fabregas by the throat. Fabregas invited Fernandinho by walking backwards towards the advertising board, looking over his shoulder for the board, resulting in throwing himself over it theatrically. Every single bit of it was caught live on Camera, either Taylor or one of his team saw it. Otherwise why would Cesc Fabregas get a yellow card? A yellow card for violent conduct? See above, players sent off under law 12 (1,2 & 3)

That's right Anthony Taylor decided to protect another Chelsea player from retrospective action by rewarding him with a yellow card, surely you see the pattern? If not then you will now. Fernandinho was red carded and sent off for the exact same offence as Fabregas in the same incident, in the same match.

Sergio Aguero was red carded and sent off for a foul on David Luiz in the exact same match, despite the fact David Luiz had been constantly fouling Aguero in the same match by Luiz?

Yet the British Media were all over it in defence of Chelsea, Anthony Taylor is a corrupt referee and no different from any other Referee. The English Football Association have their hand up the arse of the PGMOB, the governing body in charge of appointing Match Officials their Matches. The Neale Barry and Mike Riley are FA Employee's, the PGMOB have been ousted as corrupt by retired Referee's and it's all been swept under the carpet by said FA and the British Media. They are being told what to do and not to do, to show favour and ignore certain incidents.

English football is corrupt, if it wasn't for my love for Manchester City and the fact that I enjoy being the under dog taking it to the old elite, then I'd probably give up on Football in a heart beat.

Skysports are running a Documentary after our match with Arsenal, I'm sure you won't be fooled by the Referee's excuses of human error etc as I certainly won't be. Referee's are being glamorised and protected when they should stay impartial and keep as low a profile as possible.