Essjayess

He will be 30 when the new season has just begun.

If rumous of Jordan Hugill to Forest have any merit and it develops could it even be a loan?..in any case either loan or permanent and then City really would need another striker.

As a 12 year old in '66 seeing England win the World Cup obviously left an indelible mark on me forever but as the years rolled by and the competition grew larger one sensed more and more that back then Englands ride to victory was shorter and easier than it would be these days. I think decades of watching England either suffer bad decisions against them or jut simply not being good enough has worn down my feelings of both patriotism and excitement, but regarding the first reason its a good thing as im much older now and can appreciate more what both teams did last night. Recall watching Sterling's last run very near the end of the game when his shot was saved by a great Schmeichel save once again and his momentum carried him into the hoardings for a camera to pick up his smiling , beaming face..he and the whole team were so enjoying the game, giving their all, as were Denmark..in such a hard fought game is always sad there has to be a loser but bravo to both teams and to all the fans there, they were loud and noisy and never stopped believing.

First definite signs now that 1 or 2 other Euopean nations are now having daily infection rates increase again. Just a week or two ago Spain were steady at around 3-4k daily new cases..over the weekend it hit double figures and Tuesday brings 14k new infections..and The Netherlands were as low as 500 cases...its now gone above 2k today..very early days there but the signs are there. Also medical scientists now looking at another variant, the Peru variant, called Lamda, a few cases of which have already been found in over 20 nations globally, UK included.

To be honest CM Germany have not caught up to the UK simply because of the vast difference in deaths in 2020, but if you take deaths this year...from Jan 1st 2021, Germany have have recorded 57k Covid deaths and UK 53k...so its pretty much been equal this year. Overall there so many factors determining why each nation records their amount of deaths..all we do is look at a complete nation listing such as Worldometer or John Hopkins and compare the differences..but that does not tell us the whys and wherefores..the differences are vast and so are the reasons so its never easy to conclude anything...not even from one nation never mind more than 200. The only winner is Covid, thats all we can say.

All the best Josip and bye. Just Timmy and Tommy to go now.

Yes the crazy CB injury list we had really was the last thing we needed but the nail that really hit our coffin was the start of the Covid era of course..we were bottom when that kicked off and those weeks when everything seemed up in the air was not helpful at all..when the matches restarted we never looked like taking a point of anyone and thats how it proved to be. But look what happened then..a gruelling 46 game season condensed from mid Sept. to first week in May..and City simply were head and shoulders above the rest. We start afresh again in a new Prem season...relegation has become normal for our club so why be scared if it happens again?..but instead why not be positive whatever happens..looks like the crowds may be coming back at last...a raucous Carra that some of our players have not tasted...new faces to enjoy...i dunno..so many ups and downs in this world of Prem / Champs yo yoing but im loving every second of it..the era of DF and SW feels like a million miles away from the Hughton and Neil years.even though those guys did have some good achievements. I agree with Alex above..we are moving forward for sure, season upon season.

Interesting to note that Pfizer efficacy against the Delta Variant has now dropped to 64% in Israel since early June, but still retains reasonably good protection against the worst of symptons caused by the virus.

I agree with Ricardo on this and in all honesty, Boris's decision to arguably shut the door on India by a few days to late is completely and utterly irrelavant. Just means it hit mainly our younger unvaccinated sooner rather than later. Delta is spreading and its ongoing thruout the world..i easily recall most of last year when some were ridiculing many European nations, ours included, compared to many Asian states, yet at the time i said it was early days in the life of Covid and its variants..now just check the daily new infections in places like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, even Vietnam and Cambodia, record daily highs and ever increasing infections..its Delta not Johnson. Even in Israel, a nation that has at times has had a good record against Covid, Delta cases are doubling each few days. Much of Europe so far has small pockets of the Delta variant, but in time it will spread, its inevitable..Delta is Global as Ricardo said and we have to live with it..be it Delta or any other variant. I to, like a few others on these forums are a bit worried or a bit apprehensive about the opening up this month...but this has got to happen at some stage anyway so lets see how things go. I for one and my family will still choose to wear Face coverings out in the public areas as well as inside shops etc and continue to follow more hygenic hand washing that this pandemic has forced upon us but its now to each individual to choose for him / herself what to do.

Really dont know why there is so much talk on getting in a striker. If the team cannot score enough goals with Pukki, Rashica, Cantwell, Dowell and Idah then we may as well give up now. Central defence and midfield absolute priotities and as Beth rightly said City could only likely afford a striker, never mind even finding one, with Max being sold.

Why bother with this topic, Daniel will sign when he signs, im totally fine in what he has said over and over about his love and belief in this football club. He will go some day but until then just wallow in the fact we have the best team head in the whole 92 league clubs and with him at the helm are enjoying the most wonderful ride the club has ever been on.

Agree with that Branston..Ajer looks to be ready for the Prem but the guy Celtic are bidding on is a 19 year old maybe suited for our U23..or Celtic's 1st team.

Ya and the guy who tweeted it must be the Origi-nal Divock.

With Barden going to Livingston for the season he joins Martin and Soto as loan outs and with the 3 G's coming in and Leitner and Stiepe leaving its been a pretty busy old week. More ins and outs to come in the coming weeks no doubt but perhaps not on the scale of the last week or two.

Agreed that vax coverage will never be 100% but if giving vax priority is to be for nations with high infection rates then ...UK now has 3rd highest daily new infection rate in the world, only Brazil and India have higher infections...we are now running at double the daily infection rate of the USA and we have 5 times less population...only those 2 nations named has Delta been more widespread in a nation than ours and so far no sign of any mass increase in rest of Europe.

This just seems a rehash of an old rumour about City being linked to this guy from 2 or 3 weeks ago, likely nothing in it at all.

Welcome to Ben and Dimi as permanents to our squad, we already know what you both can do but real happy you are with us as official City players now, the team is strengthened by you guys in defence. Enjoy the new season in the Prem!

Always tinged with a bit of sadness when players much liked leave but yea...there had to be a cull if we are serious about really having a proper go at being a Prem club. Each one that departs lessens the wage bill. Whether by contracts endings, mutual termination etc guys like Tettey, Vrancic, Leitner, Marco S, Soto and maybe a few more to follow where never going to be part of a City 21-22 Premier squad..it shows that SW and the club mean business and sentiment if any can lay in the hands of us fans.

Looking at the infection map i think Manchester and Edinburgh are the real hotspots and Scotland as a whole is now pretty bad to say the least. Interesting to see Norfolk and Suffolk area as a kind of final area where the Delta variant has not hit hard yet, but its on the doorstep so to speak and expecting that 47.0 for Norwich for example to be in the 100s very soon..next couple of weeks it will hit our region without fail. About deaths, while there has been an increase its been marginal and seems to suggest more and more as time goes by that the vax program has indeed saved counless lives..that above all is the most heartwarming news. Admissions have risen from around 1500 to 1700 per week in the past few days..so rising but not as yet fast. So infections are now back to January highs but seem to be infecting mostly young and unvaccinated but really not surprising that the rate is inceasing so fast now as its a different scenario...we are staying open for schools, shops etc and the lockdown is now very slight compared to the first 2 waves..we are surfing, riding this wave but im hoping July 19th does not make us topple of our board.

Agree with Beth and TGS and said as much already that the rumours about City going for Armstrong are pretty much wide off the mark..in anycase Armstrong wont be going anywhere for under 20 mill. Absolute priority is a CB and midfielder. Wonder if anything has ever quietly been evolving with the Tufan rumours some months ago..especially now that he has exited from the Euros.

Somewhere in him is a very good footballer but it seems he is his own worst enemy...anyways it does free up one wage packet which is good. If the same can be done with Drmic and Trybull, Klose to, then it feels like a decent reduction in wages to players who dont play for us anymore.

Window shuts at very end of August. Trying to view things as they stand i think looking at strikers such as Armstrong is probably lower in the list of priorities compared to other issues. With all of Hanley, Gibson and Zimbo all trying to recover from injuries a CB is of course top priority. With Gimour incoming on loan one would think 1 more midfielder is needed to. While things are quiet right now there could of course be a scenario where Aarons leaves so a position to be filled there...solely relying on Byram to have a fully fit season is a very big risk. So with the limited budget City have, assuming they have around 10 mill-ish set aside for a CB, and maybe needing another midfielder, i see little room for much more to be spent on another striker. We need to remember that Klose, Drmic, Leitner and Trybull are all still on the payroll so that must be a sizeable chunk of money going on wages to players who play no part in City's forthcoming season. Yes to, likely fringe squad guys like Plachets, Hernandez, Hugill etc..will there be any action involved with those guys? This week will see Ben Gibbo, Dimi and Gilmour sign in, two permanent and one loan, but beyond that still a lot of potential action to come, but i dont see a striker as a priority in the near future.

Nationally, new infections have risen by over 500% in a month, daily deaths doubled in a fortnight, but admissions have held steady at around the 1500 per week mark for the past few days.

If the actual one real reason to loan out Gilmour by Chelsea is to give the lad a season of real testing to prepare him for Chelsea's first team and the Premier then there is only one choice...Norwich. Ive no idea if the lad gets a say in where he goes but i look at Ben Gibson...he had a terrible time at Burnley and Boro were interested in him same time as City...many thought the attraction of going home to Boro would help swing his choice but turns out Norwich was his one destination all along...and dont under estimate our pulling power these days, we have a great training complex now and are a Premier outfit...no Scottish club, even Rangers and Celtic, can give a player that. Dont under estimate the pulling power of DF and SW either. We managed to get Skipp in when we were in the Champs...and in a season of 46 games from mid Sept. to 1st week in May..what a test that was for Ollie...and look at the end result...both City and Spurs fans rave about him.

The Ajer saga seems to be pretty messy right now, i think only those involved in the actual talks know the full picture, but whatever the outcome i doubt City will just sit on their laurels and wait for some possible breakthrough, likely they will be looking seriously at other alternatives to. While there is still a good bit of time the weeks do tend to fly by and suddenly a new season begins. Nobody wants a scenario like what Leverkusen had in January when it was reported they had Rashica lined up but the transfer window shut on them before any finalising...City have obviously benefited from that if those reports were true.