If we sign Leoni it gives us some leverage to hold firm on our price for Guehi. £35M or we come back to it in January/summer 2026.
I think the ideal is signing both, assuming we rate Leoni highly, and leaving the younger player in Italy on loan for a season to continue to gain experience. We could have a clause to recall him if we have an injury crisis, but Virg, Konate, Guehi and Gomez as four recognized central defenders should be enough.
Leoni then comes to join the party next summer, by which time a few current unknowns about the upcoming season will start to resolve. E.g. Will Konate sign a new deal? How much will Gomez be available? Will Virg be at his imperious best and/or how much will we need to start rotating him?
We should put ourselves into a position where Virgil can be protected this season already. He shouldn’t be playing in any domestic cup competitions unless we reach the final.
I have never seen Leoni but part of my concern over this summer is us over rating our own cleverness. I guess is Slot just doesnt rate Quansah that is one thing, but bringing in 40m for a young defender already well tested at this level only to turn around and spend almost all of it on a younger less tested players still more of a prospect than a contributor seems like the sort of deal liable to blow up in your face.
The Diaz move feels potentially in this category as well. I get the rationale, but there is an awful lot that has to go right for it be a move worth making at this time given all the other changes.
It feels a bit hypocritical of me to express reservations at selling Quansah, because I was very much of the opinion that if the club did not feel he had had the capacity to grow into a regular first teamer, then we should take the £40m on offer and invest it in someone who does.
I hadn’t realised quite how thin the CB market would be, and I suppose Quansah bringing bids of £40 should have really tipped me off.
From what I’ve seen of Leoni, which is very little, he does seem to have a calmness about him and has dare I say a little of the way Virgil glides around the pitch about him. But no idea of his level beyond that. Bringing him in probably gets us no better for this season than we were with Quansah, although the ceiling might be a bit higher.
It might even be that we get this kid, and then call Palace’s bluff on Guehi - we’ll take him now for 20m or we’ll take him for free next year. It might be that we’ll look to activate the buy back on Quansah if he develops well, or there might be an emerging option by that point that hasn’t come up now.
I think the point with Leoni is that they see him as more talented and therefore a better investment/long term prospect for the role of a young CB learning behind VVD.
Every transfer comes with risk. Its not about eliminating risk, but keeping it down to a minimum, through proper scouting.
So far, they have gotten far more right than wrong…So I’m not sure where the “over rating our own cleverness” comes from.. Especially for a recruitment team with a reputation for being risk averse…
I saw Leoni in I think 4 Serie A games last season. He immediately stood out for me. But never expected we would show interest in him…But I remember thinking he was one to watch…
If Ekitike really can work on the left, then it’s decent depth in the forward line. Although some of that depth is Chiesa, who will really need to get more minutes then last season and it’s hard to know if he has the fitness and trust to get that.
I thought we handled the Quansah situation well. Good player, some experience but still more experience required to grow to his potential. He won’t get that on our bench, so he got a good move for a fair price, and we have a buy back in case he rises up to the level that makes us enact that option.
For all we know, in two years time it might be Guehi, Quansah, Leoni and another; with Virg aging out, Konate moving on next summer, and Gomez sadly not staying fit enough to keep. Loads of permutations…
But it is crystal clear we need to add at least one central defender before the window closes. I’m confident we will do it. And if it is just Leoni, while I’m slightly nervous about the level of experience, I have every confidence in our recruitment team.
Or at least someone equipped to deal with halting attackers on the break & sense when we could be exposed and position themselves accordingly, we’ve looked vulnerable in too many games since the turn of the year which coincided when Grav started feeling it in his legs.
