Mustafi link in Evening standard via BBC gossip Liverpool interested in Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi amid centre-back crisis | Evening Standard
Iād be picking the phone up and putting paper in the fax machine whilst fueling up the Babel-copter:
Spain defender Sergio Ramos, 34, is ready to quit Real Madrid and is interested in a move to Manchester United. (Mirror)
All the talk is almost certainly guesswork, at most people have heard a name (and thatās a stretch). But Wolves arenāt loaning out a starting CB for the final 6 months of his contract there theyāll want a fee.
Possible but seems extreme for an asset that still has a value on the market this window.
Not necessarily if they have no intention of keeping him or heās intimated he wants to leave at end of season they may just want him off wage bill.
He has missed a number of games for them this season though so maybe thinking they might just get rid. For a team like wolves those 5 months wages may be a lot during this financial dry spell.
Good thing about signing Mustafi is he has to pay us to do it. Win win.
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Interesting Mustafi played u21s at Everton! The one thing I would say, I remember he was very highly rated by the likes of Gab Marcotti when he joined Arsenal.
Heās obviously had a rough time of it of late, but heās experienced and played in four different countries.
Klopp and team would know all about him, and if they think they can make it work, Iām all for it.
A lot of chatter on the socials about Saiss being off to Liverpool as he wasnāt on the bench today but heās listed on physio table with a knock.
He can join all our other CBās on the list, perfect fit for us then,
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If itās Mustafi it better be only a 6month contract. Canāt have him on a 2 year deal like Adrian
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Frustrating that we wait till Fabinho and Matip both get injured before we appear to be moving on the CB situation.
The need has been there since Gomez went down a week after Virg did his knee and we should have had our ducks in a row when the window opened not running around at the last minute like we didnt know we needed a Cb until right now.
Obviously something going on behind the scenes this is all very un Edwards like.
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The fact that if we could close a signing so last minute is because we have been preparing for such an eventuality. We have identified all the possibilities if we have to sign someone in the last moments. We can argue that we should have sign someone earlier but it was obvious we did not want to take risks with our finances and I believe that Matip longer term injury last week triggered this sudden surge in rumors. I see this as a club who makes informed decisions but is always ready to trigger back up plans when necessary. This is a sign of a well run club with solid principles
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I agree, we should have had someone lined up and ready to sign on the 1st January, but the need to sign a central defender goes right back to when Lovren was sold,it was a massive gamble going into the season without replacing him. Matip canāt play 90 minutes without getting injured and Gomez is very injury prone also. That meant VVD was probably going to be forced to play nearly every game. It was a strategy that was always going to fail and it has, spectacularly. As a result, weāve been forced to use midfield players, who are also injury prone, in central defence.
So here we are, itās the last day of the transfer window and we find ourselves scratching about looking for a ājourneymanā defender, anyone who can stay fit until the end of the season.
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If the issue with Fab is indeed a minor one and heās back next week , then Iād be happy enough to go with him and Nat 'til the end of the season , with Hendo as a back up.
It seems like the young French lad is our real long-term target , so letās keep our powder dry until then.
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Saiss links appear to be someone really trying hard. Hes injured so not included in the Wolves squad. But I did read that hes out of contract soon. From what Iāve seen of him, heās half decent. Certainly prefer the idea of him over Mustafi.
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37 hours and counting. Iām not really a twitterist but I bet @johnhenry will be getting some use in the coming day.
Matip was always going to miss a significant part of the remainder of the season. Fabinho was also always likely to miss some game time due to needing to play every game. The window shuts and you canāt add more. If we were waiting for a Matip injury like this thatās not well run itās negligent. The injury could have easily happened in the Brighton game next week after the window shut and weād be in the same position (which we were always going to be in) but without the chance to do anything about it.
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Why would bringing in a squad player now stop us bringing in a starter in the summer? I think Matip will leave once Gomez and VvD are back he just canāt be relied upon and we can still get something for him now but not for much longer. So VvD, summer signing, Gomez, winter signing. 4 CBs. Matip and Phillips gone, Williams on development loan next season and Fabinho returned to midfield. Thatās if the winter signing is perm deal not a loan.
I believe had Matip not be confirmed out with a longer term injury and was only out periodically with short term injuries, we would never get someone in. I believe that Klopp and the club, whether by choice or not, were fully prepared to go into the rest of the season with a Matip that can play probably 1/3 of the remaining games and using Fabinho and Henderson and the youths as options. But now that Matip is out with a serious injury. If Matipās injury issues were a huge factor, we would have already bought someone in summer, but we did not, and that reflects an informed decision the club took, albeit a risk that could go very wrong, but a risk the club was willing to take. As a fan, I wish we have brought options in but as a fan too, I am very comfortable that this club makes informed decisions and calculated risks to protect the short and long term interests of the club and not just one dimensional in solving issues surrounding the club.