The Unreliable Rumours Discussion Thread (Part 1)

I think if Fabinho gets injured we go 4231, gets the Fab Four on the pitch in attack and suits the likes of Thiago, Keita perfectly.

Thing is I think Hendo can do that position to not see a massive drop. Itā€™s when we donā€™t have eithier of them.

Most teams it will be ok like yesterday but some games you need it.

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Who is better than him? Kimmich maybe. Kante perhaps? I wouldnā€™t swap Fab for anyone

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For me itā€™s either Fab or Kante.

There is nobody better than these pair on the defensive midfield position.

Kante draws the plaudits but I think that came from
His Leicester days and the fairytale story etc.

Fabinho is one of the best defensive midfielders but is also massively under rated

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Soā€¦ā€¦we linked with anyoneā€¦.

Some young French kid. Mpappa or something - never heard of him personally :wink:

Thatā€™s Mbarrassing.

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Eh? Heā€™s world class, when he stopped getting used as an offensive no.8 under fat frank the fraud he went back to being two players again. He is a giant of a player, a sound guy by all accounts also, would have loved him here.

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You are making the same points that I agree with.

Iā€™m just saying that as he was part of that Leicester fairytale he is ā€œmore famousā€œ (for want of a better phrase) than Fab.

He is a class player and the only person in my opinion who can challenge Fab for best defensive midfielder

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The (French) father-in-law was trying to convince me yesterday that it was virtually a done deal. i.e. MbappĆ© would see out his final year with Paris and be coming to us next year. Heā€™s not normally one to fall for wild speculation so I am probably giving it a little more credibility now than I have before.

I still canā€™t see it happening though.

Thereā€™s Busquets as well, people say heā€™s pretty good.

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Maybe a few years ago but I got a Spanish mate who reckons he is in decline. He is a madrid fan though so take that with a pinch of salt

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It would be nice however I think Madrid will be his likely destination.

We need them to do a Barca and financially go pop before then

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Why do I think the Henderson story wasnā€™t your usual contract negotiations blown out of proportion?

Unless Kloppā€™s told him he is staying until Henderson retires I doubt much else matters.

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Well, the government is financially fucked due to the pandemic so Real wonā€™t be bailed out by them again.

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I wouldnā€™t be surprised if they arenā€™t particularly sound to be honest, the ESL for them was a bailout.

No wonder they are filing papers in any court that will listen.

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Casemiro starts ahead of him for Brazil. That doesnā€™t necessarily mean heā€™s better, of course, but he was much better than Fab when we played Madrid in the CL, especially at Anfield where he shut us down easily.

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Yes, they have ā‚¬1bn+ in debt I think like Barca, but their cashflow appears in better shape judging by the ease they had in bringing Alaba in.

They generally have higher revenues than Barca, and havenā€™t been buying players as much as them in recent years. They also didnā€™t need emergency funding from banks.

I think they are less tied to some of their players than Barca, and have some less favoured players heading our of contract next summer which should help them fund 1 or 2 players.

The whole of La Liga is fucked. Theyā€™re trying to sell a 10% share of TV revenue for the next 50 years for what the Premier League TV revenue is worth for about a year.

For years Spanish clubs seem to have built castles on sand. Atletico, Valencia, Real Madrid, Depor, Malaga and others have all flirted with financial difficulties for one reason or another. Real are lucky theyā€™ve essentially been bailed out by the government up to now but with both of them and Barca struggling and the league being heavily reliant on them for national and international appeal there seems to be a desperation to find a way to inject cash for the short term.

I for one am delighted to see the chickens come home to roost for both Barca and Real but it feels like the rest of the league are getting screwed in order to prop those two up and keep them competitive in Europe.

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Theyā€™re not really playing the same position, or are not the same type of player. Iā€™d say both Kante and Kimmich are overall slightly ahead of him in terms of pure quality and consistecy. I donā€™t think we need Fabinho to get those plaudits, as long as heā€™s in the conversation in that ā€œone of the best holding midfieldersā€ (which he is, now itā€™s about ironing out those periods when heā€™s not really top and establishing himself even more). All we need, really. Who cares about the rest.

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