Do we need to sign one and who should we sign?
I know there are a lot of Lindelöf sceptics out there. I personally think he could be half of a very good centre back partnership. Only I'm not sure he and Maguire are ideal partners. Based on the subjective evidence of my eyes and memory, the number of games where Lindelöf looked shaky and Maguire imperious isn't substantially different to the number of games (such as the last one against Leicester) where Lindelöf was flawless and Maguire less so. Anyway, I don't think anyone is seriously suggesting either of them should go.
What we do know is that Bailly, Jones, Rojo and Tuanzebe don't constitute a dependable stock of back-ups for a mixture of fragility and quality reasons. I reckon we need to bring in a CB who can realistically challenge for a place in the starting XI, enabling us to let go of one or two of the above. Rojo and Jones would probably be first in the queue. Bailly still arguably has potential; Axel isn't a drain on the wages, fits the home-grown quota, and too soon to be written off as the successor to Jones as emperor of the physio table.
Who do we bring in though? Many of you will have better ideas than me, because I basically only watch United games. I've read good things about Pau Torres of Villarreal. But do we want brilliant potential or someone established who can be expected to come in and elevate us on day one, like Koulibaly? Do we want a relative bargain (Nathan Ake)? Do we go for the wild card of bringing back Smalling so we can spend serious money in other places?
Centre back
posted on 30/7/20
Yes, but think VDS or VDV more than RVN or RVP.
posted on 31/7/20
Not sure if it was mentioned in the Lindelöf debate yesterday but turns out he's the least dribbled past player among all defenders and midfielders in the PL (averaging 0.1 times per game).
https://www.football365.com/news/premier-league-numbers-and-stats-best-worst-lindelof-alexander-arnold-kepa
posted on 31/7/20
I saw that. There’d be loads of articles on here about it if we were Liverpool fans.
posted on 31/7/20
comment by Imran The King Khan (U10026)
posted 48 minutes ago
I saw that. There’d be loads of articles on here about it if we were Liverpool fans.
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VVD (or is that DVD) averaged 0.2 per game. That's scientific proof of what we all suspected all along: Lindelöf is twice as good as Van Dijk.
posted on 31/7/20
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 7 minutes ago
comment by Imran The King Khan (U10026)
posted 48 minutes ago
I saw that. There’d be loads of articles on here about it if we were Liverpool fans.
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VVD (or is that DVD) averaged 0.2 per game. That's scientific proof of what we all suspected all along: Lindelöf is twice as good as Van Dijk.
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Why are you making stuff up to make VVD look bad? We all know that he has never ever been dribbled past in the whole history of the universe.
posted on 31/7/20
Yeah I’m with Elvis on this.
posted on 2/8/20
Another name in the rumours this morning: Monaco's Benoît Badiashile.
I don't know him but, given the kind of consensus that we could upgrade but it's not top priority, buying a young player with a potentially very high ceiling while clearing out the older back-up players with lower ceilings looks a decent strategy to me.
posted on 2/8/20
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
Another name in the rumours this morning: Monaco's Benoît Badiashile.
I don't know him but, given the kind of consensus that we could upgrade but it's not top priority, buying a young player with a potentially very high ceiling while clearing out the older back-up players with lower ceilings looks a decent strategy to me.
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I know nothing about the lad other than he looks like one hardass muthafacka.
posted on 2/8/20
comment by rosso is done with this (U17054)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
Another name in the rumours this morning: Monaco's Benoît Badiashile.
I don't know him but, given the kind of consensus that we could upgrade but it's not top priority, buying a young player with a potentially very high ceiling while clearing out the older back-up players with lower ceilings looks a decent strategy to me.
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I know nothing about the lad other than he looks like one hardass muthafacka.
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Always appreciate your cogent analysis, rosso
posted on 2/8/20
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by rosso is done with this (U17054)
posted 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 hours, 6 minutes ago
Another name in the rumours this morning: Monaco's Benoît Badiashile.
I don't know him but, given the kind of consensus that we could upgrade but it's not top priority, buying a young player with a potentially very high ceiling while clearing out the older back-up players with lower ceilings looks a decent strategy to me.
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I know nothing about the lad other than he looks like one hardass muthafacka.
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Always appreciate your cogent analysis, rosso
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