Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, 24, Liverpool’s Divock Origi, 25, and Nice front man Kasper Dolberg, 23, are on a striker shortlist drawn up by RB Leipzig. (Bild - via Leicester Mercury)
4 Likes
I was just on LFC newsnow, scrolling through the headlines quickly and I saw “Liverpool and Tottenham target Inter star Nicolò Barella…”
Scrolled back up to read it in full, and the headline ends
“…whose wife is an ex-Model”
Daily Star - what a shit excuse for a paper. Needless to say I didn’t click the link.
runs off to google his missus
6 Likes
Why have non of the rumour mongers gone with Sokratis?
2 Likes
Maybe, because he is worse than what we already got (Rhys, Nat).
1 Like
If we don’t bring a CB in the other teams in the CL will look at each other in amazement before pissing themselves laughing! Can you imagine Bayern playing two crucial midfielders as central defence with only two kids as cover?! No, neither can I.
8 Likes
You don’t know who your wife is?
6 Likes
Bayern have barely got two senior central midfielders to spare. A 17 year old English kid has made 13 appearances in the Bundesliga for them in midfield this season.
2 Likes
Howling
It’s a little misleading though - 11 of those appearances have come from the bench. He’s played 353 minutes in total, and was subbed off after an hour in his two starts. He’s also supposed to be extremely good so I don’t think Bayern’s use of him is because they’re scraping the barrel of the youth academy. After all, in his start against Union Berlin he was replaced by Leroy Sane and in his start against Werder Bremen the likes of Sane, Goretzka and Gnabry were all on the bench.
3 Likes
It’s not misleading at all. If Boateng and Sule got injured for the season Bayern would be left with Alaba, Hernandez, Martinez, Kimmich or Pavard playing at centre back, all players who aren’t typically central defenders.
Their options are centre back and the two deep midfield positions are not the strongest, they have plenty of injury prone/past their best players in there.
The point about Bayern playing midfielders in defence is an odd one, they’ve been doing it for years.
1 Like
Why is that a problem? Pavard and Alaba are both fine with playing CB and could be considered near elite level talents in that position. Martinez has spent nearly half the playing time there as a CB by their choice not through need and yet again absolutely no problem with him playing there, similar to Fabinho but with a longer track record in the position. Kimmich maybe the equivalent of Henderson but more of a natural for the position? Hernandez has played CB a lot too hasn’t he? I’d love our options to be as strong as theirs. I’m sure they have a few youth players at a similar level to Phillips (not even an essential player at a second division German side last year) and Williams too on top of those options.
1 Like
Martinez in their high line? Aye, good luck with that.
Bayern have played midfielders in defence for years. Look at what i was responding too.
And before we turn this into a Bayern wankfest have a look at their defensive record this year. They might have some nicer depth options but not one of their centre backs is as good as our best 3.
1 Like
Bayern’s situation at CB going into next season is a joke. They have Boateng who is dead and will leave, Sule who looks more like a bouncer and the rest are all either expensive defensive full backs or “small” CB’s, or kids. Some good players there, but the planning was/is crap. Nice offensive side of the team, but in midfield and especially in defence (CB), they’ll need some work.
2 Likes
I’d take all of VvD, Gomez, Fabinho and a fit Matip over any of their options. But we don’t have that. We have Fabinho, an unfit Matip, Henderson, Phillips and Williams. They’ve probably got about 5/6 CB options I’d play ahead of Phillips, probably ahead of Williams and Henderson too. Although I’m still hoping this experience leads to Williams becoming a semi-decent, club-developed, CB squad option so there’s still (hopefully) a plus side to any playing time he gets.
1 Like
I think that’s the point though, no?
Imagine if they were injured, season ending injuries, in October?
To dig further into the point, it was more that our CL rivals would be laughing at us not moving in jan
So, if Bayern had no defence due to injuries, and didn’t move to strengthen, we would be pretty happy about it.
4 Likes
From today’s BBC gossip column:
Liverpool and Manchester United are monitoring Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala. The 17-year-old’s contract talks at Bayern Munich are said to have stalled. (Express)
Can any of our German friends provide any insight on the player? Transfermarkt have valued him at £9m and his history is via Southampton academy and Chelsea youth but anyone actually seen him play?
4 Likes
Really talented player. esp love his movement between the lines. good at running at defenders in space, and very mature game for his age…
He’s a more offensive version of Jones and quite like Mueller…
No way Bayern would let a player like this leave.
2 Likes
Then we must not let United prevail (in case Bayern contract talk breaks down).
1 Like
Supposedly the lad wants 100k a week to come back to England
1 Like
At that age?
Game’s gone completely insane.
4 Likes