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Omar Berrada laughs.
Manchester City’s leading operations officer spent 50 minutes discussing the club’s past, supply and long-term moving activities when asked if it was ever time to take a break.
The answer, of course, is no, and he thinks that’s exactly what Berrada likes.
The City has just reached the end of a movement window in which it has achieved all its objectives, reinforcing the key spaces of the team that were planned before the pandemic hit the game and the overall in general, but “executed in the context of Covid in a sustainable way”. However, attention has already changed; Crucial decisions lurk for Pep Guardiola and Sergio Aguero, while Lionel Messi may be a lazy agent in months after being closer than ever to leaving Barcelona this summer.
The initial verdicts on the recent maximum window have been mixed.
The city spent more than 120 million pounds for themselves, but also posted 75 million pounds in player sales, leaving a healthy net spending of forty-five million pounds. It is sometimes accepted that they made 3 correct acquisitions, but some fans looked for an additional boost. On the left back, midfield and forward, while outside the club and the sport, the focus has been more on the morality of football groups spending millions of pounds at a time when the world is in crisis.
The coronavirus temporarily printed on the city’s radar in the early months of 2020 and recognizes that they will have to continue monitoring it: the more enthusiastic they cannot return to Etihad, the more likely it is that lost revenue can have an effect on budgets, but at the same time, this may not boost their thinking in the summer. before next season and therefore cannot be allowed to queer the number one purpose of making sure they have a team capable of winning the Premier League.
More importantly, window creation plans are made months and years in advance, such as the signatures of Zack Steffen and Bernardo Silva to upgrade Claudio Bravo and David Silva respectively, and the possible consequences of the pandemic have updated the long-term approach to conscious spending.
If there was more scrutiny this summer about clubs that didn’t overspending, City was in a position to do so.
“We spend smart,” Berrada M. E. N Sport.
We have a transparent plan, we don’t respond to safe situations, we have a very transparent concept of the player’s price, we have said it and I think it has been shown that when we think an agreement doesn’t work. makes sense, we walk away from him and when we think it doesn’t make sense to sell a player because it can be priced, we don’t sell.
“Our moving plans were developed long before the Covid crisis and we had to execute them.
“When you communicate about optics, we have been for many years that our purpose is to be financially sustainable and that we have been financially viable and that Manchester City has been profitable.
“If our net spending is low compared to other rivals, I think we’re seventh in net spending this season and it’s also been one of our lowest net expenses in recent seasons, it’s not a reaction to anything, it’s a component of our strategy.
“We knew the position we were looking to get, which players would potentially sell, but that’s also the paint that’s been done in recent years to build a very strong team that doesn’t require as much investment to be at the highest level. “. “
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This summer, City demonstrated 3 of its basic principles in the market: setting prices for all purposes that might not pass over, assessing the merit of promoting existing players as opposed to the price of maintaining them, and assessing how much a new signing can be. get on a team that already has a lot of talent.
Ruben Dias is the club’s new record with 62 million pounds paid in advance to Benfica and has only reached 3 matches in the season, the center is a precedent after not updating Vincent Kompany last year. Less difficult to get Dias, Kalidou Koulibaly or José Giménez for more money and before at the window?
“It may have been a temptation, but it wasn’t. When you make such investments, when you’re wrong, it has a significant effect for many years, which is more important to the right player. “
“Just as we didn’t rush to buy a central defense last season after refusing to point out [Harry] Maguire for this review, this summer we had a very transparent concept of what we were looking for and luckily we got the player. we seek the valuation we seek. “
City’s net spending would have been higher if they had taken the Barcelona cash for Eric García, a 19-year-old defender who will see fewer minutes due to the arrival of Dias and Nathan Ake and had a comeback in the center of the Camp Nou. – Still, it was considered more valuable from a monetary and football point of view to stay with him than to accept a large decrease offered by him.
With the conditions of the striker, midfielder and left-back, Berrada says it is very complicated in a team that has so many of the most productive players for his position.
“We think we have an amazing left-back, a Benjamin Mendy specialist who has unfortunately had two serious injuries that have affected his career with us so far, but we think he’s going to be a very important player. “. “
“Hopefully, you’ll be injury-free this year and show your full potential. Aleks did a very clever task in the left-back position. It’s not his herbal position, but every time he played there, he did a very clever task. “he has won trophies and vital titles with Aleks as a left-back and not only that, however, with the acquisition of Ake, we now have five players who can potentially play in this position: Mendy, Zinchenko, Ake, [Aymeric] Laporte who is also left foot and can potentially play in that position, and [Joao] Cancelo did it last season several times and in position.
“It all comes down to the resolution of whether there is a player who can play this position more than the features we have and the answer for us doesn’t. We are happy with the features we have to play in this position and it is nothing we were actively looking for if there had been a motion on one of those players, we would have potentially thought of bringing someone in, but that did not happen and we are very comfortable with the players who can play in that position. . .
“It gets complicated because we’re at the highest level, so when you hear other people say you want that position or position or update that player, in truth all our players are among the most productive players in the world. the overall in their positions, if not the most productive, so improving it is quite complicated.
“There are very few players who can do this, so we had to apply common sense in our technique and have a long term in what we need to achieve.
“Often, maintaining good fortune is just about buying new players, it can be establishing demanding new situations for the existing team. “
As Berrada alludes, the City may have simply spent more on the summer window if it wanted to. The budget where he had the opportunity to exhibit for a Messi or some other ordinary addition, for example, and will return next year. They will have to be in this position with Aguero and Guardiola potentially in the direction until then, there is a sense of tranquility in both conditions due to mutual trust.
When asked if there was anything in the recent window that he would have done differently, Berrada may simply not call anything. The club is convinced that it has been given a smart price in all its primary decisions: singling out Dias, Ake and Torres and staying Garcia while promoting Sané, Nicolás Otamendi and almost ruling out Angelino, and believes it has a team capable of achieve your great goal: win the league and compete for all the other trophies.
With such confidence, it’s fair to wonder why they feel the need to say it. If they talk and no one else in other clubs does, there’s a threat that the Blues will sign the big expenses.
The answer to this may be in the past.
The City has had a reputation for spending a lot since its lucrative acquisition in 2008 and has been further bombed in the last 12 months during its fight with UEFA for monetary fair play (FFP). While Les Bleus remained silent, eight Premier League clubs tried to save them from betting in the Champions League next season and Liverpool and Tottenham were two of the clubs that reacted badly to the resolution of an independent panel to overturn their ban; Jose Mourinho said this summer that no FFP-friendly club can simply point to Messi.
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While City’s play strategy has been influenced by external perceptions, frustration with the club’s characterization persists.
“Yes, there is no doubt that there is a narrative in some facets of the media and other clubs to say that we have invested ours for success,” Berrada said.
“Obviously, we invested in our team. There was an initial phase 10 or 12 years ago where there was significant investment in the team to take the club to where it is now, one of the most productive clubs in Europe competing at the highest level. “each year, winning 4 PL titles in the last 8 years or so.
“There is one narrative: why this exists, there can be several reasons. I believe that there is a general sense of superior tribalism generated through social media, the need for coherent information, debate and controversy.
“Other clubs will have their own prospects, but we have succeeded and we have done well and are now in a very strong monetary position to continue to grow and also to deal with this unfortunate crisis that we all have to face. “with that now.
It is vital that our enthusiasts listen directly to us and in terms of determining everyone who paints for this club – our shareholders, the board of directors, our executives, our staff – we paint very hard and put everything that happens with the club’s outdoor history about our investment, we had a very successful window in very complicated cases. Array, so the club is in good hands on and off the court and we still have a lot of ambition not only for the season. but also in the years to come.
Fans and rivals can be sure of one thing they can expect from the City: they may not take a break soon.
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