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This is some 4D chess by Pep , he doesn't really want Winks, he just wants us to think he wants him, and its worked, now we have everyone thinking "well pep wanted him he must be decent, we best play him" queue winks, Hojbjerg and sissoko being our first choice midfield next season now! 
If Delcan Rice is touted as being worth £60 million then i think £40 million is to cheap!
Triggered
I know you are
Is it arrogant to assume that people that don’t rate Winks don’t know much about football?
And before the strawmans come in, yes I know he’s not a DM. It’s hardly he’s fault he gets played out of position. I also will admit that alongside most of our team, he has had a downturn in form this season.
Winks is actually unique amongst English footballers. He has technical ability that far surpasses his contemporaries. Foden looks like he will be the one that surpasses Winks. He is often run games for us from that deep position - that Real Madrid game was not the exception at the time, it was becoming the norm.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Pep wanted him. Put a Rodri like DM beside him and watch him dictate the play for City and feed the front four all game long. We messed up by 1) not getting that crucial DM and 2) not really replacing Eriksen meaning there is still a gap between the deeplying midfielders and Kane, Son etc. Winks dictates the play for England on the international stage, he has done it for us too - only a fool would think he can’t do it regularly for us again.
Maybe people have unfair expectations of him - that is the only way I can make sense of the silly amount of criticism ( not for his form, but his ability). Did people assume he is our Dembele replacement? We could have spent £60 mil and we wouldn’t have replaced Dembele. He was a totally different player and utterly unique. Winks can’t do what Dembele does but no one in this league can. He is a totally different player and we need to play to his strengths and watch him flourish for us.
And before the strawmans come in, yes I know he’s not a DM. It’s hardly he’s fault he gets played out of position. I also will admit that alongside most of our team, he has had a downturn in form this season.
Winks is actually unique amongst English footballers. He has technical ability that far surpasses his contemporaries. Foden looks like he will be the one that surpasses Winks. He is often run games for us from that deep position - that Real Madrid game was not the exception at the time, it was becoming the norm.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Pep wanted him. Put a Rodri like DM beside him and watch him dictate the play for City and feed the front four all game long. We messed up by 1) not getting that crucial DM and 2) not really replacing Eriksen meaning there is still a gap between the deeplying midfielders and Kane, Son etc. Winks dictates the play for England on the international stage, he has done it for us too - only a fool would think he can’t do it regularly for us again.
Maybe people have unfair expectations of him - that is the only way I can make sense of the silly amount of criticism ( not for his form, but his ability). Did people assume he is our Dembele replacement? We could have spent £60 mil and we wouldn’t have replaced Dembele. He was a totally different player and utterly unique. Winks can’t do what Dembele does but no one in this league can. He is a totally different player and we need to play to his strengths and watch him flourish for us.
Agree with most of your post, apart from this:
Winks doesn't do this - he's an interceptor who keeps play ticking over with tidy, no-risk passes. He is more of a true CM than an attacking midfielder who will be feeding the front four. His biggest issue is conceding cheap fouls but I've seen positive signs that he's getting a grip on that one.
This deal to City won't happen btw - no way will we sell Winks!
Winks doesn't do this - he's an interceptor who keeps play ticking over with tidy, no-risk passes. He is more of a true CM than an attacking midfielder who will be feeding the front four. His biggest issue is conceding cheap fouls but I've seen positive signs that he's getting a grip on that one.
This deal to City won't happen btw - no way will we sell Winks!
Totally agree, Winks is a possession first minded midfielder who only makes high percentage forward passes.
Winks is nothing more than a stats player. Any who turns up with the attitude "I'm gonna keep passing the ball straight back to where it came from, as quickly as possible" could rack up 50-60 accurate passes per game. That is all he does. Of anyone on the pitch, he's the most likely to insight a groan from the crowd after getting the ball in acres of space, stopping, then tapping it back/sideways.
Just doing that a lot doesn't make him the next Xavi. Passing for passings sake is not clever. It isn't dictating a game. It's shirking responsibility and hiding.
He doesn't dribble.
He doesn't attempt anything ambitious.
He's been very lucky not be sent off a few time due to careless/bad tackling
I can't see what he adds to the team. His only real potential is when we're winning and trying to hold onto the ball just to protect a lead.
Just doing that a lot doesn't make him the next Xavi. Passing for passings sake is not clever. It isn't dictating a game. It's shirking responsibility and hiding.
He doesn't dribble.
He doesn't attempt anything ambitious.
He's been very lucky not be sent off a few time due to careless/bad tackling
I can't see what he adds to the team. His only real potential is when we're winning and trying to hold onto the ball just to protect a lead.
You think there it is a genuine link when both the player and fee make zero sense?
Winks has rarely had great games for us and more often than not had poor games for us over the past two years.
It isn't some sort of crazy insult to say he would struggle to get into a City MF. As mentioned it is arguably the best and deepest MF in the world.
I find it shocking how many people stick up for Winks when far less stick up for Dele. Dele has won more games on his own than winks has made short passes.
Before some smart ass says they're not the same player, of course they're not. My point is, some people will stick up for a below average Winks who has, and never will do anything special, then find ways to knock a player who has time and again done magnificent things on a football pitch.
Before some smart ass says they're not the same player, of course they're not. My point is, some people will stick up for a below average Winks who has, and never will do anything special, then find ways to knock a player who has time and again done magnificent things on a football pitch.
Maybe you have answered your own question.
People have seen a classy player in Dele at his best,they know that he is capable of.
In Winks they have seen a player who isn't technically as good,but gives it his all more often.
And half of the money for Grealish!
If you've seen a player give his best and it's absolutely f all, why would you stick up for him?
Turning up 1 in 3 games is better than doing nothing for 3 in 3.
Most likely because the dip in form for Dele has been so significant as compared to Winks.
I am not a Dele hater or a huge winks supporter, but Dele feels like a luxury player at the moment that I have a hard time putting into the starting lineup at the expense of others many times. Winks gets the benefit of us having a shit midfield so he feels less easily replaceable.
If we lost Dele at this point in his current form, I wouldn't be so worried because we have other offensive types of players that can step in and benefit the side. If Winks were to leave, we are just even weaker than before and have to hope that Ndombele is everything we hoped, or that we can bring in someone better. I'm not sold on either of those just yet.
Winks to City makes some sense. I agree with those that think he doesn’t do enough for us going forwards, nor is he particularly good defending deep in a Mourinho or late Poch way of defending. The thing is, though, that City plays a very different style of football. He has that low centre of gravity that Pep seems to like, he has short, quick feet, he is quite good at winning the ball when we press high up the pitch, he is safe with and able to control the ball, and he is fairly good a short passes.
In City there is a lot of creative players that will take care of the more ambitious stuff. And most importantly; they need HG players that can do a job for them.
If they buy him it is not for him to be the next Messi, Aguero, De Bruyne or Kante, but the next, and hopefully (for them) improved Rodwell or Delph.
In City there is a lot of creative players that will take care of the more ambitious stuff. And most importantly; they need HG players that can do a job for them.
If they buy him it is not for him to be the next Messi, Aguero, De Bruyne or Kante, but the next, and hopefully (for them) improved Rodwell or Delph.
For forty million, I don't really care where he goes.
Could be Chelsea or Woolwich for all I care.