Had the Wirtz deal been done before the Germany game we would not be having this debate about another player.
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So do I and I hope they close the deal for both Wirtz and Kerkez then we can move on to someone else targeted by the club.
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So long as it goes through in the end the delay might not be a bad thing - imagine the meltdown if he’d become our record signing before these two games and then picked up a serious injury
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Its interesting that Theiry Henry never saw Cherki in these same light as some on here, just because City are going for him.
I’ve watched him over the last two years and he always gives me Samir Nasri vibes…
Obviously we wanted Cherki more until he rejected us for Chelsea and we had to go crawling to our second or third choice in Wirtz who is both half as good and four times as expense.
A little like what happened in our manager search when Amorim rejected us to go interview with Aston Villa and we had to make do with a third choice bald Dutchman who couldn’t possibly have the ability to lead a premier league team to a title.
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‘Now…smell my finger.’
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Cherki looks a really exciting player but I think if we’d signed him he probably wouldn’t be a starter in our 11, whereas Wirtz absolutely will be.
No point savings loads of money if you’re not any more likely to win football games at the end of it.
And taste the boggies!
I think this is where it is important to be clear about who we are talking about. There are a wide range of views from fans including popularly held opinions that prove to be wildly off the mark (Di Maria is exactly what Utd need to get back to the top), or sometimes even approximately right but for completely the wrong reasons.
But we’re talking about here is the view of the internal player assessment group. When they talk about their view on those two guys they talk about them as being as close to a cannot miss as they’ve ever identified. When Graham talks about the Salah deal he says the team had a preference for Salah over Brandt, but were entirely confident that whichever direction they went in it would be a success. For Virgil the caveats of the player they were looking for was the player had to be 26 or younger and not playing for a CL side. Within that criteria they identified him as in a league by himself. Shocked by how far in his own category he was they extended our the criteria to include all CBs and found only one other in all of football that was remotely comparable. I think they said that was Thiago Silva. It made it absolutely clear to them that the direction should be to put everything they had into getting Virgil. It was a little different with Ali as they supposedly bucketed him alongside Oblak, but the difference in the circumstances of their respective clubs made it clear that Ali was the only option to pursue.
I suspect that if we are pushing the boat out this far then we’ve likely come to a similar conclusion on Wirtz (typically they lower the upper age limit on attacking players to 24), and that is something likely bolstered by their close attention to him going back to when he was still at Koln. I think its fascinating how open Graham and Spearman have been about some of the work done to build Klopp’s first side and it would be great to hear from someone something similar about what they saw in their analysis of Wirtz and how it stacked up. But I dont imagine we’ll get anything about that for several years if ever.
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This was a nice write up on him from a few months ago
In short, even at only 21 he’s been flagged as a stand out prospect for years already, even when compared against the rest of the talent in the outrageous deep conveyor belt that is French football. Lyon had been fighting off interest in him from Europe’s biggest clubs going back to when he was 13-14 years old, once even threatening to sue Chelsea for their engagement with him.
The piece then grapples with the stereotypical questions over his work ethic and attitude, and how much of these are fair vs how much are just a bias from people who reflexively say that shit about such mercurial talents who make this all look so effortless. Kind of like how Ozil was always criticized for being lazy despite his running and sprint stats typically being off the charts.
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Re: Cherki
Cherki might turn out to be outstanding. But Wirtz has a legitimate argument for being the best AM in world football. When you’re talking about someone who is that damn good at that young of an age, you’re going to end up spending huge sums. It’s the cost of shopping at the very top of the market. You end up paying a premium for that difference from good/very good to truly world class.
That FSG so rarely shop at the top of the market speaks to how convinced they are that Wirtz is special. Edwards et al did so for Virgil and Alisson. FSG allegedly indicated a willingness to spend that much for Mbappé or Bellingham. They don’t do this unless they’re very very sure.
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https://x.com/sachatavolieri/status/1931019905442238720
is saga almost over
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Is that guy reliable?
he reported the initial story on this transfer before everyone else jumped on the wagon. so for this one, i would say yeah… for other ones, he is hit and miss
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He is the guy from Sky Sport Switzerland, and Axel Hesse (Bild) brought up the news.
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He better be joining.
I’ll blame Walshy otherwise.
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About the Sascha guy , he broke the Gravenberch news too iirc.
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Yeah he doesn’t seem too bad on German stuff.
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More reliable than @Walshy07
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