It wouldn’t surprise me if Pep signs him in the Summer. He’s been linked with City before and I think he’s Pep’s type of player.

It’s a bit meaningless stripping titles retrospectively, because who seriously believes that, for example, Man Utd were the best league side in 2017/18?

Which Utd supporter is going to be jumping up and down in their local pub celebrating that title ‘win’? None, because they’d get laughed at.

It’s a bit like when Olympic medals are re-distributed because of retrospective punishments. The person who is now ‘awarded’ the Gold may as well throw their medal in the bin, because they didn’t cross the line first, stand on the top step of the podium or get to enjoy the winning moment in real time.

Win based on merit, not technicalities.

The push notifications are a huge help and the main reason I started subscribing to Index Gain, which is otherwise quite pricey.

I'd only been a member for about a month, when Ever Banega agreed his move to Saudi Arabia. The notification of an initial price drop came up on my phone instantly, which prompted me to IS at 82p per future. Within minutes, his IS price had fallen to around 55p and hasn't recovered since.

The push notification saved me over £135, which basically means that Index Gain has already paid for itself for the next year and a quarter.

@Sill7

Yep, it's a great time to buy, as he's on a dip and he (and Man City) will improve performance wise, either later this season or next season.

Personally I think that Pep and Sterling will stay at Man City regardless of whether City's Champions League ban is reduced at appeal or not, but even if Sterling does move to Real Madrid this Summer it would involve a huge transfer deal and loads of MB speculation.

Realistically I can't see Utd signing Sancho AND Grealish this Summer. It usually takes them a whole transfer window just to get one big deal over the line, so signing both may be a bridge too far.

I'm fairly confident that Dwight McNeil will move to a big Premiership club this Summer. No idea which one though.

If the appeal fails and City are banned from Europe, what odds on them winning the Premier League next season?

It would be a huge advantage to only have the league to concentrate on while Liverpool are forced to defend their Premier League title and try to win another Champions League.

There could be some very frustrated traders (who’ve lost a lot by ISing) if CAS overturn this ban at appeal.

Reading the statement from City, they don’t pull any punches about UEFA who they say where prejudicial in their thinking even before the investigation started. City are obviously confident in their own case and want to have it heard by an impartial arbitrator (i.e. CAS).

Time will tell, but i doubt the full two year ban will be upheld. Maybe just a year or a fine instead.

@johnboywalker said in Donny Van De Beek:

@Andy

I was of the opinion that Van de Beek is the complete opposite of a CDM and is far more attacking than you are giving him credit for.

If I was to compare him with anyone, I'd say Frank Lampard ... 🤷‍♂️

Yes, there's no way he's a CDM. He plays CAM and likes to get on the ball and play or burst forward with it.

Asking him to shield the back four would be like asking Iniesta to play right back.

Unless he suffers another injury or significant setback when he returns in April / May, Kane will be at Euro 2020. He's a quick healer and the sort of guy who will be desperate to play for England. Even if he's not fully fit by May, Southgate can pick him in the squad and use the June friendlies to get him up to speed.

Most of the "Kane will not make the Euros" media coverage has come from two questionable sources:

(1) A doctor who thinks he won't be fit in time, but this is a doctor who has never treated or examined Kane and has no proper knowledge of the patient, the extent of the injury or how successful his operation was.

(2) Michael Owen - the man who suffered a lot of injuries and a result lost his nerve and was too cautious when it came to playing with minor knocks or returning from an injury promptly. An injury that might take Owen six months to recover from is likely to be a much shorter recovery time for the likes of Kane.

I reckon he'll be £6 again by the end of April and probably close to £7 by mid to late June.

Those figures need to be set out as percentages of buy price to be directly comparable, but generally it highlights what I’ve long suspected - i.e. young players are generally terrible at returning dividends (some barely 2% per annum).

I suppose people invest in them chasing cap app, which is fair enough.

If you want a guaranteed high percentage dividend earner (25%+ per annum) then Ronaldo and Messi are the best at the moment. Obviously they don’t offer much in the way of cap app though, so it’s a case of swings and roundabouts to some degree.