THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER:- ISSUE 50

Author

Howard Hockin
July 25, 2025

Hello, and welcome to Issue 50 of the 93:20 Newsletter. I made it to the half-century. One hundred thousand words, it’s amazing what I can whinge about, and it makes me rather proud, not going to lie. This is the perfect book-end, and so it’s time to get that book out next week. It’s not ideal, I was hoping the book-end would involve Lord Pannick crowd-surfing down the steps outside a court building as champagne corks whizzed by, but that might be Newsletter 500 at this rate. Never mind, plenty to discuss as always.

And I will finish as I started, with randomness aplenty.

Goalkeepers

They are a special and unique breed, so discussing them requires a different approach. The risk of Ederson leaving and someone like Trafford coming in seems raised as there is rarely anyone to save a keeper from a mistake.

As I type, everything remains very much up in the air regarding the many rumours. There has been some backtracking, with the position as it stands seemingly that City want Ederson to stay, but if he wants to leave, City will move for Trafford. They should certainly let him leave, a non-committed Ederson is of zero use to City.

The rumoured fee for Ederson was always going to raise eyebrows. After all, surely Ederson has a greater market value than that? But I feel we need to rethink how the club views such things. City signed Ederson eight years ago for £35m. The media naturally baulked at the fee at the time, but in the modern game, it is not an extortionate figure. Less than most outfield players purchased, but just as important. He has just one year left on his contract. From the club’s perspective, they will acknowledge what tremendous value they have got from their outlay, and not look to squeeze out the most money possible from a sale. If Ederson only wants to go to Galatasaray, and if they are the only serious interested party, then it is best that City find a deal. Of course, in an ideal world they would love to get a huge amount of money for the Brazilian, but circumstances may not allow it. If Ederson is not committed to his final year at City, it is best he leaves. Big transfer fees are not a priority for exiting long-serving players. City’s task is to get the most out of the particular club that Ederson desires, and it won’t be as much as many expect. But what are the alternatives?

Every player signed by Manchester City is a risk. James Trafford is a real risk. As I commented on the Market podcast this week, when the news first broke of a possible bid, I went through quite the arc of responses, as follows:

1) Eh?

2) Actually, make sense, as a number 2. A year to prepare for being top dog.

3) Ok, thought about it a bit more, and done some research, so I am now officially an expert on him. It has some blindly obvious potential upsides, as he could (could) be the future England Number 1 for years to come. Still a huge risk.

4) Ok, I am convinced he can stop shots (I am an Ederson stan, but let’s be honest, he can’t be much worse, and is almost certainly better). Ederson hardly excelled in other areas either, such as 1-on-1s, penalties, and wasn’t renowned for dominating his area or plucking out crosses. So am coming round to the idea.

5) So, the elephant in the room – distribution. City don’t need someone as generationally good as Ederson, and won’t find anyone. Trafford has to reach a base level, of being comfortable receiving the ball, having a solid first touch, staying calm, scanning, distributing with accuracy, even if only short passes.

6) Ederson had bozo moments galore anyway last season, so there’s not much to improve on that version of him, but obviously we are expecting a lot more than what last season served up, whoever is in goal, so that is not the template.

7) The arc came full circle when I reached the point of what the biggest risk is for me – it is in the head. Trafford clearly believes in himself, and has worked towards this very moment. But it is a big step up psychologically to be in net for Manchester City, compared to for Burnley in the Championship. Point 2 would therefore have been my preference, bedding him in for a year.

8) A potential scenario is Ortega begins the season in goal, allowing for that bedding in period. Not the end of the world, but Ortega is not good enough for me to remain there for a whole season. Two keepers competing for top spot is not something I like. A season of transition is not something many blues would accept. So it leads to uncertainty if we are left with Ortega and Trafford.

9) The future of Ortega himself is hardly secure. Would be quite something if all three keepers left over a summer. But I am not sure he is prepared to be a back-up anymore, unless it was to Ederson for another season, as he knows the window is open there to usurping him.

It’s an issue that needs resolving one way or the other soon, as a new season quickly approaches, and I expect it to. And ultimately – is bringing in the poster boy option of a hot young European keeper such as Lucas Chevalier any less risky?

Ederson was only really good at one thing, but he was generationally good at it, and that one skill transformed the team he played for. Average at shot-stopping, even worse at penalty saves and 1-on-1s. Not particularly dominant in his area either, though he was of course progressive at interceptions, which usually worked, but not always. It transformed how City played, but it is clear that many blues are ready for our keeper skillset to be more varied now. Swap some footwork for some shot-stopping. I wonder if Pep agrees?

Still, with some news that City have moved on from Livramento, there is some panicking over the squad once more. The recency bias in fans is hilarious. If City had signed Cherki, Ait-Nouri and Reijnders last week, a fair number of City fans would be significantly more enthused about next season than they currently are. If the transfer window closes without a right-back arriving however, there will be riots.

Randomly thought this week about the madness of my football club winning four successive Premier League titles. Consider some managers who never won the league two seasons in succession. Wenger didn’t. Shankly didn’t. Clough didn’t. Revie didn’t.

Pep is special.

A REMINDER

More expert coverage from the morally-superior Guardian, as news breaks that Isak has asked to leave Newcastle, which suggests he has a destination lined up.

Apropos of nothing, this is a snippet from Jonathan Wilson’s recent piece on Thomas Müller.

It is the same with his coinage of Raumdeuter, which is itself a pun, albeit a rather better one that Goalandowski. Traumdeuter is German for an interpreter of dreams, a term popularised by Sigmund Freud. Traum is derived from the Old Icelandic draumr via the Middle High German troum and initially meant phantom or illusion. The English “dream”, which emerged in the 12th century, shares the same root.

Deuter comes originally from proto-Indo-European tē̌u-, which meant something like “swell”; it’s also the root of words such as thumb, thigh and thousand. More appositely, it is the origin of þeuðō, an early Germanic term meaning a lot of people, that came to be used to mean tribe. A couple of thousand years ago, if you spoke the demotic language as opposed to Latin, you were in effect said to be speaking þiudiskaz – that is, þeuðō-ish – which over time evolved to become Deutsch.

Deuten became a verb meaning to make clear for the mass of the people. That sense remains in deutlich – clearly, significantly – or eindeutig – clearly, obviously; and, to a lesser extent in bedeuten – to mean. Deuten itself is slightly more sophisticated than zeigen – to show – but not as scientific as interpretieren or analysieren: to interpret, not in the sense of translating, but of explaining.

With that context, Müller’s apparently unremarkable statement that he is a Raumdeuter can be seen not only as a description of what he is, but of what he is not. He is not a player who deals in phantoms, illusions and dreams; he is a pragmatist. He sees space – better than almost anybody else of his generation – and through his movement, his assists and his goals he explains it to the mass of the people: those watching it in the stands or on television who do not have his extraordinary grasp of the shape and dynamics of the game.

Glad we cleared that up.

And so that is the end of Episode 50. The series ends as it began, a minority of blues absolutely triggered by the actions of other clubs, regarding players with no connection to City. As someone on Bluemoon succinctly put it, there is some kind of defeatism or fatalism among the fanbase that, despite our success, every other team's purchases are better than ours, and will hit the ground running for immediate success. Conversely, ours will be said to take months to be up-to-speed. It has been this way throughout the most successful period in the club’s history, but is ramped up now, as City are no longer favourites for the league every season, the competition is real, and some feel the club is being left behind. I do get some of the concern, we need to be aggressive in our dealings. But I don’t feel the need to publish every thought online, every five minutes. An inability to cope with the current situation makes me wonder how some fans would cope with the club being run like the one down the road. If you spend most your days whinging on social media at the signings other clubs make, don’t ever criticise United fans for how their club is mismanaged. The next season will be fascinating, and there are numerous teams packed with top talent, so there will be no easy rides for City, never have been. Mistakes may have been made at the club, but they have been at all clubs, including Liverpool. That’s why they have a dud up front. I would rather City were clearly better than the rest once more, but there is no reason to expect this – other clubs have just reason to be the best too – the resources, the management, the setup and more, and football is cyclical, whatever some pseuds may claim. There is too much money in the English game for one club to dominate for decades.

We all know that last season was Guardiola’s worst. A book could be written on the issues. I wouldn’t know where to start. Despite that, City finished 3rd, and almost 2nd. There are caveats (Liverpool could ease off at season-end), but City are the form team of 2025. City were 2nd for goals scored, and 3nd for xG created. They conceded three goals more than Liverpool. Whilst underwhelming on a regular basis. The point is this - when Pep has the right tools at his disposal, this team operates on a different level to others, and it goes beyond who has which players. I do not know what lies ahead, but it should be an interesting season, and I will try and enjoy it!

Already feeling the nerves though. And that’s just for the upcoming friendly.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK

THE MARKET:- EPISODE 40

Howard and Ahsan take a deep dive on the keeper situation at City, defence and the rest of the squad, in a massive show.

THE HUB:- EPISODE 41

Lloyd and Jordan join Bailey to discuss the issues City had last season, the problems Pep pointed out and whether they have been solved for the new season.

THE WEEKEND SHOW

Ahsan, Tom and Joe look back on the week that was, and discuss all the major talking points. They take a forensic look at the title-challenging squads, talk transfers, Ederson, Isak and more.

COMING UP

A new Media Show, a new History Show (French players, anyone?), a further Market Show and a whole lot more.

AND………. <DRUM ROLL>

THE 93:20 NEWSLETTERS BOOK! OUT NEXT WEEK IN PAPERBACK AND KINDLE!

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