If PSG want to put a 200m bid on the table then do it but they won’t and I think with the SA league we may still make a bit if we keep him for 2 seasons and then sell.
We will have injuries next season and it’s likely to be up top we need a squad and if we miss out on CL and we will have a competition where Doak can get minutes more likely.
Rather we sell those who seem like they won’t offer much yeah we will get less but the club needs support that where possible and I’m not talking big signings.
Jota and Diaz have had long term injuries, Nunez has struggled to adapt and we are losing Firmino I think selling your setting yourself up to fail
The option I offered up, as a hypothetical was a front three of:
Nunez Gakpo Diaz
We’ve seen how Nunez can play coming off the left, Gakpo knits it together in the middle, and I think Diaz can play on the right.
This trio would be backed up and rotated with:
Jota
Diaby or similar (versatile fast winger)
Doak (young up and comer who will hopefully start to make his way)
Any extra funds from the sale of Mo, after buying someone like Diaby, would be recycled into the team rebuild, and the needs have been discussed all season long! Two midfielders and a central defender, minimum.
If Mo stays, great! He is our most reliable goalscorer. The hypothetical I am trying on is if he is open to a move, and an offer comes in from say, PSG.
I would be comfortable in allowing a new thing to emerge, something like the above.
I don’t think any individual would match Mo’s goals (although Nunez might) but I do believe that the output of the group will be just fine. It would be a new group, at the start of a new cycle, and I would be fine with it… IF Mo was open to a move and a suitable offer came in.
I definitely would not be agitating for this though. Mo has been an excellent club servant and is our most reliable source of goals.
One of the phenomena you see with top goal scorers is their performances and overall contributions often drop off more quickly than their goals do. Ronaldo is a prime example of that…still banging away goals at an absurd rate at the time he left Real, but had been carried by them at that point for probably 2 years. That’s the sort of situation that creates a dilemma for big teams who are generally competing at a level where they cannot afford to carry anyone, even a 20+ a season goal scorer. This is the trend we will have to be incredibly vigilant of with Mo and something for a lot of the season I might have been inclined to agree with someone that we’d reached that stage of the career with him. In recent weeks though he seems to have been as much a beneficiary of the recent change in shape as anyone and has been far more meaningfully involved like the Mo of old.
Still he is at the age where every quiet game, even ones in which he scores, is going to raise the question of whether it was just a bad game or the beginning of that dangerous trend. I’m not personally inclined to think we are benefited from moving on yet, but it’s going to happen, very possibly sooner than most think, and if we do it right likely while he still looks to be a very dangerous goal scorer.
Well said. To my eye the time might be now. Goals are still flowing, yes, but besides that I have seen more evidence this season of Mo not winning all his foot races, and also losing a lot of his 1v1 duels. I personally think there has been a decline in speed and strength.
Not precipitous! And it certainly doesn’t help that he gets fouled a lot and the refs do nothing about it.
Even so, I am of the view that he is past his physical peak.
This does not mean that I am saying his is on a rapid decline, as so far it has been gradual, but the further ahead we go, the more it will be noticeable.
In a post Mo scenario, the right sided options for me would be Diaz, Diaby (or similar) and Doak.
Obviously Diaz and Diaby could be versatile as needed, and Nunez can play through the middle if Gakpo isn’t there. But the three that looks like it could have the most potential in a post Mo scenario, for me, is:
He had a few shifts to the right side last season in a few games.
As for Salah’s backup (we don’t need to have one direct one). On a particular day, depending on the player, form, opponent… could be Jota, Diaz, Elliott.
When Salah leaves, we’ll see when we get there. As things stand it would probably have to be a new important signing.
Not sure… I just see so many similarities between the MO we have and the way he plays (all left footed), and the traits of Diaz (mostly left footed)… I think Diaz can beat a man a lot easier than Mo can… He would just need to perfect the cutting in and slamming the ball into the top corner each time… then we have a winner :0)
This is also a big issue. Mo doesn’t get the fouls he should. He’s got a great attitude and has been a wonderful player for us but we’ve dropped the ball on refreshing the team over the last two years and if we could have swapped him for Jude I’d have been very happy.
It becomes difficult to afford the constant refresh a good squad needs when we lose Bobby, Divock, Naby, Ox, Gini and likely Thiago, Matip for basically nix.
We need to get more ruthless and refresh things earlier.
