Ko Itakura

We win the title and don’t have any euro qualification and league starts in early august you just know we are off to Japan for pre season

 

Holy *.

We're all playing draughts, Dom McKay is playing chess.

 

3D chess

 

Christ I'd be confident with barkas in goal if this guy was in the back 4. He looks the real deal (I know YouTube could make me look good) but he actually looks like he could sort out our set piece issues Def and attack. Fingers crossed. Is this loan or to buy?

 

I imagine it will be to buy as he is out of contract at Man City next summer.

 

Ah, happy days. Cheers man.

 

What's the hype with this guy? I can't imagine people have seen much of him, he played for Groningen.

 

If memory serves me right, was Paddy Roberts not in a similar situation and then City had him extend his deal prior to letting him back out on loan?

I wouldn’t be surprised if they did something similar here.

 

Shogi

 

Yes they always have that option. Itakura is 24 now and never going to get a game for Manchester City. If we offer a reasonable fee then it is also likely that they will accept it. They'll likely need to sell a few players to ensure that they don't break financial fair play rules again, even more so if they are still hoping to sign a centre forward.

 

True, but it was quite clear last time Roberts renewed his deal there that he was never going to break into their first team either. It’s all about how they manipulate money for FFP purposes, as you alluded to.

If they think they can get multiple loan fees over the next few years that add up to more than they could sell him for right now, they won’t hesitate to take advantage.

 

Yes, I guess so. I imagine this could depend on the player as well. He may want to sign for a club permanently ratherr than go on loans. If he says he don't want to sign a new contract then City haven't got much choice. However, they will probably make it worth hos whols signing a contract.

 

Quite a lot of people would have watched him play for Japan in the Copa America or The Olympics. I watched Japan and Itakura specifically during the Olympics and he looked on another level to any of our current central defenders. He has had very positive reviews from football experts in Holland and Japan.

 

Getting Virgil vibes off that video

 

I think I will reserve judgement till he actually signs for us and plays some matches, before getting carried away with YouTube highlight reels, they can be deceptive. I'm sure Efe Ambrose looks like a superstar in some clips.

 

You do you. Nothing wrong with getting excited about potential signings.

By all accounts he was one of the best, if not the best, defenders in the Netherlands last season. And he performed well at the Olympics. Looks like a marked improvement on what we have at the moment.

 

I watched a bit of his game against Spain the other week and he looked class..

Was snuffing out everything..

Statistically he was right up at the top in the Eredivisie, for a run of the mill Dutch outfit..

 

Yeah, people are entitled to feel how they want about it, I haven't seen much of him as I would suspect most people on here, so I would just air on the side of caution before hyping him up. Out of interest, who said he's one of the best defenders in Dutch football?