Danny Ings

[wild-saint]

39 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Really? League finishes since returning to the premier league in 2014 are 14, 1, 12, 9, 9, 5. 2 out of 6 seasons in the top 6 doesn't mean they are an established top 6 team. They've also sold a lot of their best players off for big money, Chillwell, Maguire, Kante, Drinkwater (LOL) Mahrez, replacing them with cheaper players. The models aren't that different. The difference is whilst they replaced them mainly with good players, we replaced ours with shite that is still costing us. Also whereas we've tried to be clever all the time they've spent big a couple of times and brought some experience in when needed. Evans from Man United and Tilemans a great signing for £40m for example. They've also had a few duds and a few crap managers in that time too. There is this perception that Leicester have done everything perfectly all the time but that simply isn't the case. 

Agree with this. Also they have had significant investment by their owner which is a key difference particularly with our current manager. I think most would tend agree that with a some realistic funding RH could take us much further than is likely right now.

[wild-saint]

9 hours ago, trousers said:

Heart: hope not

Head: Probably our best chance of maximising his value

Realistically he ain’t signing a new contract which means he will likely go in the summer in my opinion. If that’s the case we might as well sell now if we can get a big number. Initial £40 plus bid and I’d start negotiating.

[Daft Kerplunk]

Leicester are certainly above us now and will be for the foreseeable. When they won the league they got catapulted into that higher perception and they have capitalised on it with signing replacement and new players and commercially where they’ve been more active and are still looking to expand. Whether this is funded by an owner doesn’t mean anything. Arguing that we are in their category is futile, they are the Apple computer to our Dell. 

[Matthew Le God]

26 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Arguing that we are in their category is futile, they are the Apple computer to our Dell. 

That is a Dell sized mentality! 😉😇

[stevy777_x]

What i don t understand is our appalling level of marketing.

The Southampton brand of nurturing youngsters and being the underdog against big club and who can often pull a rabbit out of the hat is so appealing for  lots of people.

 Not only in the Uk but also worldwide

Everyone loves underdogs, kind of like the greenbay packers in the US.

 We should be using this much better. There are so many marketing partnership we could introduce to make this work.

You look at the commercial growth of our income year on yesr and you realize something is not quite right there.

 

[Lighthouse]

21 minutes ago, stevy777_x said:

What i don t understand is our appalling level of marketing.

The Southampton brand of nurturing youngsters and being the underdog against big club and who can often pull a rabbit out of the hat is so appealing for  lots of people.

 Not only in the Uk but also worldwide

Everyone loves underdogs, kind of like the greenbay packers in the US.

 We should be using this much better. There are so many marketing partnership we could introduce to make this work.

You look at the commercial growth of our income year on yesr and you realize something is not quite right there.

 

We really are nothing unique in either of those categories. There’s very little about Saints which is going to appeal to fans outside of Hampshire, let alone abroad.

[Hawkswood]

14 hours ago, Noodles34 said:

Seriously, if we are losing players to Leicester then what’s the point. 

Like it or not, Leicester are a step above us. Look at their squad and spending compared to us. Theyve got a great set up, play attacking football, have a good manager and are continually on the brink of european football. It might ba hard for some Saints fans to admit it, but of course going there would be a good move.

[Billy the Kidd]

On 29/01/2021 at 08:34, Turkish said:

Really? League finishes since returning to the premier league in 2014 are 14, 1, 12, 9, 9, 5. 2 out of 6 seasons in the top 6 doesn't mean they are an established top 6 team. They've also sold a lot of their best players off for big money, Chillwell, Maguire, Kante, Drinkwater (LOL) Mahrez, replacing them with cheaper players. The models aren't that different. The difference is whilst they replaced them mainly with good players, we replaced ours with shite that is still costing us. Also whereas we've tried to be clever all the time they've spent big a couple of times and brought some experience in when needed. Evans from Man United and Tilemans a great signing for £40m for example. They've also had a few duds and a few crap managers in that time too. There is this perception that Leicester have done everything perfectly all the time but that simply isn't the case. 

 

I still stand by my comment, they are here or there about the top 6, and when outside their points totals have been fairly close. I never said anything about their model being different, it is very similar, but lately they've done it better than us. Which is why with Ings coming up to 29yo I can understand that could be appealing.

I also never said they've done everything perfectly, no team does transfer perfectly every time, ever.  Just the money talks, and they are, right now, at the point where Ings is making a decision, with Vardy approaching 35, a valid choice for Ings to make. They don't mind paying high transfers and high wages. Far higher than we can.

My OP was about it would be terrible to lose a player theo Leocester, which in my view is crazy, they pay far higher transfers and wages, it really isn't hard to understand that, is it?

Edited 30 January, 2021 by Billy the Kidd

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Billy the Kidd said:

 

I still stand by my comment, they are here or there about the top 6, and when outside their points totals have been fairly close. I never said anything about their model being different, it is very similar, but lately they've done it better than us. Which is why with Ings coming up to 29yo I can understand that could be appealing.

I also never said they've done everything perfectly, no team does transfer perfectly every time, ever.  Just the money talks, and they are, right now, at the point where Ings is making a decision, with Vardy approaching 35, a valid choice for Ings to make. They don't mind paying high transfers and high wages. Far higher than we can.

My OP was about it would be terrible to lose a player theo Leocester, which in my view is crazy, they pay far higher transfers and wages, it really isn't hard to understand that, is it?

The two Consecutive seasons they finished 9th they were 8 and 16 points off the top 6. 12th 25 points below the top 6, 14th 21 points below the top 6. To claim they are always close to the top 6 every season for the last 6 years is simply not true. They’ve been in it twice in six years, the rest of the time in reality not very close. It wasn’t that long ago we finished 8, 7, 6, 8 in consecutive seasons.

i know what point you’re trying to make and I do agree with you that at the moment a lot of players and the media would see Leicester as a better option then us and rightly so. They’re a brilliantly run club who have done what we try to do a lot better than we have lately. As said before what they’ve done is rather than try and buy cheap sell high all the time thinking they’ve cracked it and cleverer than everyone else they’ve spent big on quality and brought in some experience at times.
 

As for wages their total wage bill isn’t that much different to ours, last reliable report I can find from 2019 shows there’s to be £6m a year more than ours, not a huge gulf when you’re talking £110m+. The difference being they’re paying it to in the main to a squad Of good players and not scared to pay their stars top whack, whereas We’ve been paying large wages to A load of players Who either can’t get a game or we can’t get rid off.

the reality is they’re seen and are a better option because they’ve done what We do better than we have but they’re not miles ahead Like some make out, They also don’t have an owner pumping tens of millions in, never sell anyone, pay more wages or Never sign any duds or appoint crap managers.

Edited 30 January, 2021 by Turkish

[S-Clarke]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

The two Consecutive seasons they finished 9th they were 8 and 16 points off the top 6. 12th 25 points below the top 6, 14th 21 points below the top 6. To claim they are always close to the top 6 every season for the last 6 years is simply not true. They’ve been in it twice in six years, the rest of the time in reality not very close. It wasn’t that long ago we finished 8, 7, 6, 8 in consecutive seasons.

i know what point you’re trying to make and I do agree with you that at the moment a lot of players and the media would see Leicester as a better option then us and rightly so. They’re a brilliantly run club who have done what we try to do a lot better than we have lately. As said before what they’ve done is rather than try and buy cheap sell high all the time thinking they’ve cracked it and cleverer than everyone else they’ve spent big on quality and brought in some experience. 
 

As for wages their total wage bill isn’t that much different to ours, last reliable report I can find from 2019 shows theirs to be £6m a year more than ours, not a huge gulf when you’re talking £110m+. The difference being they’re paying it to in the main to a squad Of good players and not scared to pay their stars top whack, whereas We’ve been paying large wages to A load of players Who either can’t get a game or we can’t get rid off.

the reality is they’re seen and are a better option because they’ve done what We do better than we have but they’re not miles ahead Like some make out, They also don’t have an owner pumping tens of millions in, never sell anyone, pay more wages or Never sign any duds or appoint crap managers.

You've summed up Leicester pretty well there, although let's be honest....the bloody bastards copied us in the first place, disgusting thieves of our 'way.'.  (copyright Les).

They do have good owners though, and this is the kind of balance I wanted/want to see here. Not sugar daddys chuking billions in, just stable owners who communicate, have a plan and will help the club out if it needs it. I will say though...they do sell big (Maguire/Chillwell) but the main difference is that their big buys from those sales are wins. This year they spent big on Castange to replace Chilwell, and then used a big chunk of that to buy Fofana as well - two excellent signings who have been able to go straight into the first team and improve their squad.

[Matthew Le God]

8 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

They do have good owners though, and this is the kind of balance I wanted/want to see here. Not sugar daddys chuking billions in, just stable owners who communicate, have a plan and will help the club out if it needs it.

Gao is far from a bad owner. Sure it would be nice if he actually invested money in the club. But he doesn't appear to have done anything significantly wrong. We are currently improving year on year with the management structures put in place under his ownership. 

Edited 30 January, 2021 by Matthew Le God

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Matthew Le God said:

Gao is far from a bad owner. Sure it would be nice if he actually invested money in the club. But he doesn't appear to have done anything significantly wrong. We are currently improving year on year with the management structures put in place under his ownership. 

I think it's pretty clear I don't agree with that, I think he's terrible. He's not spoken a word in 3 years since he took us over, that doesn't equal a good owner for me. Just my opinion, others may disagree. Apart from the Ralph era (we can't credit him for choosing him) we have been a terribly run outfit both on and off the field under Gao.

[Matthew Le God]

24 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

I think it's pretty clear I don't agree with that, I think he's terrible. He's not spoken a word in 3 years since he took us over, that doesn't equal a good owner for me. Just my opinion, others may disagree. Apart from the Ralph era (we can't credit him for choosing him) we have been a terribly run outfit both on and off the field under Gao.

Not talking is hardly terrible. Lots of owners good or bad don't talk to the fanbase. Owners talking to the fanbase doesn't really achieve anything of note. In any case Martin Semmens is doing a good job communicating to the fanbase.

Since his ownership started we have been on an upward trajectory.  17th, 16th and 11th. That is not 'terribly run'. He has allowed/facilitated the management of the club with Semmens, Crocker and Hasenhuttl in the 3 key positions.

I admit it would be nice if we had an owner who invested. Hopefully we will soon. I'd like a new owner, but we could have far worse than Gao.

Edited 30 January, 2021 by Matthew Le God

[le_tiss]

While I agree with some of the statements about Leicester, let us not forget they have brought some stinkers along with the decent players, lets not make them out to be the clever transfer people

its just they are willing to pay a larger transfer fee and bigger wages - we were in for Maddison and should have been in for Maguire - Tielmans was always off to Man U we all thought but they paid £40m to get him and have just paid £32m on Wesley Fofana - 

 

we don't pay though sort of fees (though i would like us to)

 

They have a lot of players on £60/70k wages who don't play very often (Praet etc.) 

 

Islam Slimani - left on a FREE after spending £30m on him -

36 appearances - 8 goals in the league and

48 app - 13 goals in total over 3-4 seasons

imagine the bed wetting / negativity on here if he had been a Saints player

 

Kelechi Iheanacho - £25m -

81 Appearances - 9 goals in the league and 

107 app - 23 goals total over 4 seasons 

again imagine the posters on here (the woe is me brigade) 

 

Aypze Perez = £30m

49 appearances - 9 goals in the league

55 apps and 10 goals in total

again imagine this place - the doom merchants OMG

 

Ahmed Musa - £18m 

2 seasons - 21 appearances - 2 goals

then to on loan now playing in Dubai - imagine some of our posters OMG

 

Arian silva - £23m - left on a FREE

2 seasons - 14 appearances - Not to beat a massive drum but I can imagine certain posters throwing themselves off buildings at this one

 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/leicester-city/transferrekorde/verein/1003

https://www.transfermarkt.com/leicester-city/rekordabgaenge/verein/1003

https://footballleaguefc.com/leicester-city-2020-21-player-wages/

 

 

 

 

Edited 30 January, 2021 by le_tiss

[Baird of the land]

Leicester haven’t had quite the same series of horrendous transfers after selling talent and lucked out with windfall from champions league year. However they still feel similar with us aiming to get back the levels and they followed. They still have to sell to the big boys but A big thing for them was keeping vardy and i’d really hoped keeping ings would be similar to us. It’s a thoroughly depressing thought that he might go there meaning they have a quality vardy successor for 3/4 years instead 

[goodymatt]

 

[Manuel]

Sounds promising, although his arm-folding body language suggests lack of confidence...

[wadesmith]

On 29/01/2021 at 11:53, stevy777_x said:

What i don t understand is our appalling level of marketing.

The Southampton brand of nurturing youngsters and being the underdog against big club and who can often pull a rabbit out of the hat is so appealing for  lots of people.

 Not only in the Uk but also worldwide

Everyone loves underdogs, kind of like the greenbay packers in the US.

 We should be using this much better. There are so many marketing partnership we could introduce to make this work.

You look at the commercial growth of our income year on yesr and you realize something is not quite right there.

 

I don’t think the Green Bay analogy really works. In American football every club is huge apart from Green Bay (I think it’s population is 100k or something) so they are unique. In English football there are about 70 clubs smaller than us, it would be difficult to market us as underdogs. 

Edited 30 January, 2021 by wadesmith

[East Kent Saint]

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55908503

So Ings has come out well ?

[Wade Garrett]

If I was Ings, I would sign the contract now while it’s still on the table...

[benjii]

Seen quite a bit of criticism of Ings recently, people alleging he is way off his best etc.

I think it's unfair.

Against Villa he single-handedly created the penalty [that we obviously should have been awarded] and he stuck the ball in the net. Had the officials done their job properly, he could well have won us the match.

Yesterday we looked pretty good going forwards and his effort that came back off the post was a very decent effort in the circumstances.

He could well have had three more goals (let's assume he scores the penalty against Villa) from our last three games with very fine margins / decisions going against him.  

He's still a very good striker and arguably too good for a bog-standard mid-table team.  Very unlikely that we will find anyone as good as him for £20m or less and, as we all know, that's the market we will be looking for a replacement in.

If it wasn't for him and JWP we would be struggling massively.

[stevy777_x]

1 hour ago, benjii said:

Seen quite a bit of criticism of Ings recently, people alleging he is way off his best etc.

I think it's unfair.

Against Villa he single-handedly created the penalty [that we obviously should have been awarded] and he stuck the ball in the net. Had the officials done their job properly, he could well have won us the match.

Yesterday we looked pretty good going forwards and his effort that came back off the post was a very decent effort in the circumstances.

He could well have had three more goals (let's assume he scores the penalty against Villa) from our last three games with very fine margins / decisions going against him.  

He's still a very good striker and arguably too good for a bog-standard mid-table team.  Very unlikely that we will find anyone as good as him for £20m or less and, as we all know, that's the market we will be looking for a replacement in.

If it wasn't for him and JWP we would be struggling massively.

Don’t forget Ings has had Covid, Armstrong was also out of sorts after having it...

studies haven’t come out but i m sure it impacts athlete performances as margins are so smaller 

[Wade Garrett]

He has a bit of an issue staying inside.  Ian Wright highlighted this on Match Of The Day.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Wade Garrett said:

He has a bit of an issue staying inside.  Ian Wright highlighted this on Match Of The Day.

He’s not the only one. We have had several goals chalked off for offside, most of them by a matte of millimetres. All they have to do is hang back a couple of feet and we’d have a few more points.

[Dusic]

Would imagine our form of late and likely bottom have finish will have ended much chance of him signing a new contract.

Why would he? Any sensible agent would tell him to wait and see what develops...

[Sunglasses Ron]

11 minutes ago, Dusic said:

Would imagine our form of late and likely bottom have finish will have ended much chance of him signing a new contract.

Why would he? Any sensible agent would tell him to wait and see what develops...

Surely there's always a risk / reward ratio to consider. If he gets crocked in the next 12 months then it could be game over with no big pay check. Whether Saints are able to find that sweet spot is another question altogether though!

[stknowle]

7 hours ago, benjii said:

Seen quite a bit of criticism of Ings recently, people alleging he is way off his best etc.

I think it's unfair.

Against Villa he single-handedly created the penalty [that we obviously should have been awarded] and he stuck the ball in the net. Had the officials done their job properly, he could well have won us the match.

Yesterday we looked pretty good going forwards and his effort that came back off the post was a very decent effort in the circumstances.

He could well have had three more goals (let's assume he scores the penalty against Villa) from our last three games with very fine margins / decisions going against him.  

He's still a very good striker and arguably too good for a bog-standard mid-table team.  Very unlikely that we will find anyone as good as him for £20m or less and, as we all know, that's the market we will be looking for a replacement in.

If it wasn't for him and JWP we would be struggling massively.

Generally agree, he isn't at his best though. First chance he had yesterday his touch took him too narrow and gave Darlow a far easier save than it should have been. Last season the touch is tighter and he smacks it straight in.

[washsaint]

1 hour ago, Dusic said:

Would imagine our form of late and likely bottom have finish will have ended much chance of him signing a new contract.

Why would he? Any sensible agent would tell him to wait and see what develops...

Who the hell is going to buy him on his current form?  Same for Bertrand.

Both have been mediocre recently and their body language is appalling.

[S-Clarke]

48 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Who the hell is going to buy him on his current form?  Same for Bertrand.

Both have been mediocre recently and their body language is appalling.

Hopefully most clubs operate a long-term scouting strategy rathe than just deciding to make a move based on a run of games, that would seem a little foolish.

He's clearly a top level player, struggling with form after quite an in and out season. 

[woodsaint1]

57 minutes ago, washsaint said:

Who the hell is going to buy him on his current form?  Same for Bertrand.

Both have been mediocre recently and their body language is appalling.

This observation is nearly as bad as those suggesting Jankewitz got sent off on purpose. There has been nothing wrong with Ings' body language. Apart from the obvious frustration due to our recent performances, hes still putting the effort in from what I have seen. Bertrand has always just strolled about looking like he doesnt have a care in the world, nothing new there. 

[washsaint]

18 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Hopefully most clubs operate a long-term scouting strategy rathe than just deciding to make a move based on a run of games, that would seem a little foolish.

He's clearly a top level player, struggling with form after quite an in and out season. 

The reality is that Ings had a very poor injury record (very unfortunate) at Liverpool, was poor first season for us, outstanding last season and beginning of this season and poor since.  You seriously suggesting that a top 4 club will come in for him?  If they do, you think he will be a starter?

[SuperSAINT]

City’s recruitment operation is sufficiently advanced to prepare for most eventualities, such as the idea of acquiring two new forwards. If that materialises, their options are understood to include Danny Ings of Southampton. The 28-year-old England international is into the last 18 months of his terms at St Mary’s and there has still been no breakthrough in negotiations over a fresh deal.

Scorer of 32 goals in 61 appearances since joining Southampton from Liverpool for £20 million in 2019, Ings also got off the mark for his country in October. He appears to have fully recovered from knee problems that hampered him on Merseyside and his homegrown status is another benefit.

In scenarios like these, especially in a pandemic-affected environment, City could well look to propose creative solutions — sending players in the opposite direction as part of the package, for instance — although conversations of this nature are only thought to be at a preliminary stage.

 

[tajjuk]

Unless they give us Jesus (which isn't happening) I doubt any cast off they give us is going to help us.  They don't even have that big of a squad. 

We need cash to re-invest in a new striker, maybe someone like Toney if Brentford don't go up. 

[SKD]

5 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

Unless they give us Jesus (which isn't happening) I doubt any cast off they give us is going to help us.  They don't even have that big of a squad. 

We need cash to re-invest in a new striker, maybe someone like Toney if Brentford don't go up. 

Angelino a LB currently on loan at Leipzig would also be a very good addition, if we were able to persuade him to join.. although suspect he’ll be aiming higher than us. 
 

I think you’re right though. We could do with the 20-30m to reinvest in 1 or 2 attacking players. 

[Matthew Le God]

40 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

We need cash to re-invest in a new striker, maybe someone like Toney if Brentford don't go up. 

Watkins was sold for £33m by Brentford. They'd probably want similar for Toney.

[EBS1980]

City could get any forward they want (pretty much) I doubt they will be looking at a 28yr old too seriously- probably an option yes but they will just go and get the best they can from Europe. Jesus isn’t good enough to be their main forward so it’s not as though they need a back up 

[S-Clarke]

Ings to City stinks of 'English quota' stuff. Let's hope he's not silly enough to throw his career away like that.

[Hawkswood]

3 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Ings to City stinks of 'English quota' stuff. Let's hope he's not silly enough to throw his career away like that.

And you must think as well with the way they rotate their squad he wouldn't automatically be a starter for some of the games. Once again would he want that at his age ?

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Hawkswood said:

And you must think as well with the way they rotate their squad he wouldn't automatically be a starter for some of the games. Once again would he want that at his age ?

Money talks I guess. One last shot at the top level if he feels he can do it, but the reality is that he'd barely play and would be even more susceptible to injury's if and when he did. He really would be dicing with his entire career and I'd fully expect him to be back out on loan within a year.

Leicester or Everton are much better shouts.

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Ings to City stinks of 'English quota' stuff. Let's hope he's not silly enough to throw his career away like that.

Rather he went there than any of the others. City wont play silly games like Spurs trying to drive the fee down. Plus even though he might not be an automatic starter he will have the chance to win things and get a fair bit of games time with them reaching the late stages of every competition they're in. 

[Dusic]

I am totally resigned to him leaving now unfortunately.

There will almost certainly be one team that makes a move for him that can offer a hefty pay rise and European football.

For a top side he is well worth considering. He is a good finisher, hard worker, adept at pressing, good character, able to last 90mins, English and available cheapily which is handy given Covid finances.

Also, as proven, if it doesnt work out there is a clear market to sell/loan him out.

Its an extremely low risk move for a big club, with potentially a big upside.

Can't see Saints being happy to lose him for free and little benefit to him to sign an extension before the summer, so all points towards Saints "reluctantly" letting him go this summer and hoping multiple teams come in for him.

Edited 8 February, 2021 by Dusic

[Saint Garrett]

Think he'd get decent game time at City assuming they don't sign Haaland this summer, which I think is inevitable.

Money isn't there like it was a few years ago, he's English, cheap, and they currently only have Jesus and Aguero, who is rarely fit....think he'd also be a great fit for how they play...one to watch I think.

[beatlesaint]

33 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Think he'd get decent game time at City assuming they don't sign Haaland this summer, which I think is inevitable.
 

So you don’t think he would get game time then ?

[Saint Garrett]

4 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

So you don’t think he would get game time then ?

Sorry - I mean eventually inevitable, but not sure it will be this summer.

[Dorchester Saint]

4 hours ago, SuperSAINT said:

City’s recruitment operation is sufficiently advanced to prepare for most eventualities, such as the idea of acquiring two new forwards. If that materialises, their options are understood to include Danny Ings of Southampton. The 28-year-old England international is into the last 18 months of his terms at St Mary’s and there has still been no breakthrough in negotiations over a fresh deal.

Scorer of 32 goals in 61 appearances since joining Southampton from Liverpool for £20 million in 2019, Ings also got off the mark for his country in October. He appears to have fully recovered from knee problems that hampered him on Merseyside and his homegrown status is another benefit.

In scenarios like these, especially in a pandemic-affected environment, City could well look to propose creative solutions — sending players in the opposite direction as part of the package, for instance — although conversations of this nature are only thought to be at a preliminary stage.

 

LOL!!! He has better pull his finger out then, because on current form, even the Skates won’t want him. 

[Dusic]

As ever, once it becomes clear one of our best players will leave the SWF downgrading of their ability begins.

[Appy]

Could see him at City as a backup option, let's be honest he isn't good enough to be a straight replacement for Aguero, their greatest ever striker.

 

Expect they'll end up with Kane.

[ErwinK1961]

4 hours ago, Dusic said:

As ever, once it becomes clear one of our best players will leave the SWF downgrading of their ability begins.

Or it could be that the vast majority of people acknowledge he is a good player, would be a big loss for us - but are (fairly) pointing out that since the contract thing has come to a head, his form has not been very good. 

[JRM]

6 hours ago, Turkish said:

Rather he went there than any of the others. City wont play silly games like Spurs trying to drive the fee down. Plus even though he might not be an automatic starter he will have the chance to win things and get a fair bit of games time with them reaching the late stages of every competition they're in. 

Exactly and even he probably realises a few appearances off the bench will be enough to collect a league winners medal, or of course a league cup winners medal after City's annual victory in that comp. 

They might even pay a bit more, fingers crossed. 

[Jeremy Corbyn]

I don't know about other's opinions but, despite their money, I actually find City more palatable than the other "big 6".  That along with the other reasons mentioned above I hope they come in for him.

For him, it's guaranteed silverware and in his 2020 form he's a more valuable striker than the unreliable Jesus and the injury prone/end of contract Aguero.  

If they don't want to pay entirely in cash, maybe a loan for a slight-too-good star might absorb half the fee.