We need to move on from this type of signing and thankfully this summer at appears that we are.
I’ve seen suggestions on here that we should sign players like Lewandowski, Aubameyang and Vardy.
Surely we have learned from our mistakes post SAF by now on this type of player.
Falcao. Not old when we signed him but the only reason we got him is because he was just back from a crucial event injury. He never looked anything like his old self with us and struggle for fitness and form.
Schweinsteiger. Again not ancient but his injury issues were well documented. He started off ok but soon got injured and never really got back in the side.
Zlatan. Probably our best signing of this type but not perfect either. He presented similar problems to Ronaldo. We won two trophies which he played a part in especially the League Cup final but we finished 6th in the league with him as the main man.
Cavani. He was excellent towards the end of 20/21 but other than that his time here was a mix of injuries and average displays. Falcao part 2 just older.
Ronaldo. People know my opinion there. A handful of magnificent displays that resembled his old self sandwiched between many poor displays. Not all his fault by any stretch but no total coincidence our worst PL season came with him as our main man.
You could arguably add Matic and Sanchez to this list also as they’d shown signs of decline before signing.
I’d rather see kids get a chance rather than the older stop gap signing. When is the last time you saw Liverpool or City make a signing like that?
Ageing players and stop gaps
posted on 4/8/22
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 6 minutes ago
He was their 3rd top scorer scoring 8 and played 27 games. Their top scorer scored 12
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That’s fair enough, he played his part. He also only played 1006 minutes in the league which is slightly over 11 full games. He played his part but was very much bit part.
posted on 4/8/22
If age is the issue it’s the lack of players between 25-30. We’ve not had enough top players in their prime playing together. Having older or younger players wouldn’t be as big an issue had we got that right.
posted on 4/8/22
Exactly, the squad lacks any sort of balance in terms of age/develpment.
We either seem desperate to bring in young talent that we're sh-t at developing or players in their twilight years who aren't that bothered.
posted on 4/8/22
comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
If age is the issue it’s the lack of players between 25-30. We’ve not had enough top players in their prime playing together. Having older or younger players wouldn’t be as big an issue had we got that right.
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Exactly my point. We’ve had such a scattergun approach over the past 10 years that one could make an argument against any type of signing and make it a compelling one but it never tells the full story.
posted on 4/8/22
I wouldn’t say it was always scattergun, but it’s certainly not been coherent and competent squad building. Ultimately a club isn’t going to compete for the biggest prizes without a spine of top players in their prime.
Weirdly, people seem to be against signing such players because they have failed in the past. But would like to keep signing young players which have been just as big failures.
posted on 4/8/22
Building on what Dazza says, we're in a position where we contemplate relying on Sesko or Ronaldo, or potentially both in the coming year. In an ideal scenario you'd have a striker in their prime + promising youngster who can learn from them and is hungry to take his chances when given a few minutes. Or perhaps the player in his prime + veteran who can come in and channel his experience into valuable cameos. You don't really want to place primary responsibility on the youngster or the veteran.
posted on 4/8/22
comment by The Lambeau Leap (U21050)
posted 45 minutes ago
comment by Slippin’ Robb (U22716)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by Glazers Out (SE85) (U21241)
posted 29 seconds ago
I'd prefer us to sign this Sesko guy and let Erik develop him into a top striker.
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It’s a huge risk though. He’s scored 6 top flight goals in his entire career
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6 goals? Really? If that's true then we shouldn't even be linked to him, let alone considering a bid. Doesn't matter how young he is; that screams Amad Mk II
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He is only 19 tbf to him. He's a project signing not somebody who is going to come in and be Ronaldo from the very off.
The good news is the whole team is a project. We're a long way off competing so I'd rather we gave him the chance if our manager thinks he's good enough.
posted on 4/8/22
comment by The Process (U20671)
posted 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 6 minutes ago
He was their 3rd top scorer scoring 8 and played 27 games. Their top scorer scored 12
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That’s fair enough, he played his part. He also only played 1006 minutes in the league which is slightly over 11 full games. He played his part but was very much bit part.
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What exactly did I exaggerate then? 3rd top scorer. Same assists as Giroud and scored I believe 2 less than him.
He went on to win a league that Milan won by a mere 2 points. He played a big part.
posted on 4/8/22
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 15 minutes ago
comment by The Process (U20671)
posted 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
comment by scholayScholes (U13961)
posted 6 minutes ago
He was their 3rd top scorer scoring 8 and played 27 games. Their top scorer scored 12
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That’s fair enough, he played his part. He also only played 1006 minutes in the league which is slightly over 11 full games. He played his part but was very much bit part.
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What exactly did I exaggerate then? 3rd top scorer. Same assists as Giroud and scored I believe 2 less than him.
He went on to win a league that Milan won by a mere 2 points. He played a big part.
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You said he went on to win a league after leaving us. You left out that he was a bit part player in a far inferior league. He may have contributed but he didn’t play a big part.
posted on 5/8/22
What is this ageist nonsense?