Maybe we should sell Salah after all then.
Use the money to sign a lesser player who isn’t African?
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It’s about time our squad players start being a bit more resolute. Sick to death of turning to Shaqiri only to hear he’s got the sniffles and is out for a month.
Bissouma, in my eyes, is the best CM realistically on the market this summer and missing out on him because we are scared of the draw in the FA Cup or because we can’t rely on Oxlade-Chamberlain ever being fit would be a great shame.
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I’d say ideally we should only have one or two important players bound for the AFCON per area of the pitch and ideally 3 or 4 maximum. If we were to go down the route of letting one of our wingers leave because of it it’d be Mane for me not Salah.
Raphinha is very different from those two, he plays winger/wide forward.
I like him a lot though, reminds me of Mane from his Southampton days, great technique, scores and assists and works hard when the other team has the ball and looks like he has another level in him to grow even further, could become absolutely amazing player. Unfortunately I can’t see us getting him from Leeds, they will want a huge fee, he just went there before this season.
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Yeah I don’t disagree - just don’t think that AFCON is enough to not sign a player on the off chance he gets injured at the tournament.
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Ideally we’d have none, surely. We accept it because they’re worth it. And that’s what it boils down to ultimately, who the best player available is.
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If the 2021 comp runs from 9th Jan to the 6th Feb, and a team will play a max of 7 games if they reach the final (3 RR, R16, QF,SF,F), and assuming that the games are evenly spread between that 29 day period, then these are roughly where the dates will fall, and I’ve shown how many PL games would have been missed against the 20/21 season if season 21/22 was structured the same. Note that the FA cup conveniently fell on the 8th Jan and we actually made it to the 4th round this year, so im unsure if the United FA cup game shifted one of our PL games out, but here it is:
RRG1 - 9th Jan
RRG2 - 14th Jan
RRG3 - 19th Jan - 1 PL game missed
R16 - 24th Jan - 2 PL games missed
QF - 28th Jan - 3 PL games missed
SF - 2nd Feb - 4 PL games missed
F/3rd place - 6th Feb - 5 PL games missed
Going purely on games 100% missed due to conflict, it would range from 1 PL game missed to 5 PL games missed based on when the nation is eliminated, though very likely 7 games missed if reaching the final due to our City game being on the 7th which would be stupid to bring a player back for (didnt Bobby do something like this?)
The PL game before the Afcon start would be our Soton game on the 4th Jan 2021. Would the players miss that? Possibly. Certainly if they need any sort of quarantine on arrival. What happens at the end? Two week quarantine on return to UK? That would suck.
Do as the French do and ban the African players from leaving the EU!
The AFCON isn’t always going to be a winter tournament is it? I thought this version was moved to the winter due to the weather of the host country being too hot for the summer.
The 2023 and 2025 ones are scheduled for the summer. So if Bissouma did come in, we could suffer a bit this time around but that’s going to be one 6-7 game period in the next six years. I don’t think you rule someone out on that basis if they’re the one you want.
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Tielemens is a level above Bissouma and Neves for me. Not sure if we’ve been linked with any other central midfielders yet but of those three imo he’d be the best suited as a direct replacement for Gini. Such a well rounded player, the only slight concern I’d have would be around his pace (same issue with Neves). Put him in a midfield with two of Hendo/Thiago/Fabinho and that’s a pretty slow unit.
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That’s not accurate!
The clubs voted to prevent players from playing outside the EU for a specific international break and under FIFA guidance. Of course French players where exempt from this but then most French internationals don’t play in France. 
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Hasn’t anyone linked us to Camavinga yet?
Different level and different price probably.
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I don’t think Tielemans is a realistic option for us. Leicester got top dollar for Maguire, Mahrez, Chilwell and even Danny Drinkwater. They aren’t going to get shorted on Tielemans. I don’t think his contract means much either with him having two years left and Leicester probably feeling confident that worst case scenario they make a new contract with a buy-out clause they are both happy with and promise he can leave if it is met.
Leicester will probably ask for 80m+.
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Shaquiri is exactly the profile of player who seems to end up at Fenerbache or Galatasaray - good player not quite past his prime but probably past his peak with a higher profile than his club contributions necessarily deserve…
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Swerve AFCON
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Er, yeah about that… 2023 is scheduled for June/July hosting by the Ivory Coast. I’m going out on a limb here but that’s not happening. That part of the world has Hot and Wet, Hot and Dry and slightly less Hot and Dry. 2023 is scheduled slap bang in Hot and Wet. That’s bound for a rethink as well.
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Here comes Bad News Pearce to piss on everyone’s chips:
- Konate nearly done
But…
- Any notion of buying Sancho or Mbappe dismissed by senior club sources
- Club don’t see the need to replace Gini
- Bissouma not a target
- Any signings after Konate will depend on sales
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I think Pearce is full of shit.
There’s no way we aren’t bringing in reinforcements when you can’t rely on ox and Keita, Milner getting old, Hendo being injury prone, gini gone and shaq wants to leave.
Don’t leave you with much in the middle.
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Ahh the annual summer transfer window James Pearce denial article saying how we cant afford anyone and we cant buy anyone and we need to sell. Ill just sip my coffee
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I’d agree we need to shift some players like those who go out on loan every year even if we have to give them away. Grigic, Wilson, Woodburn and the like can’t have left on their deals now.