CB depth still not addressed with next to no links and going into the season with 35 y/o VVD, a returning ACL injury Leoni, Jaquet who has to be managed during pre season (both of those haven’t ever played a Prem game yet btw) and, well.. Gomez may aswel not get counted these days which is a shame.
Number 6 still not addressed with zero links, Jones possibly getting shifted, Macca and a regularly crocked Endo behind Grav.
1 signing made in probably the 2nd position down that we don’t actually really need.
Heavily linked to a player that naturally plays in a position we have made a signing for ^.
Frimpong the only fit (for now) right back. He’s not even a right back to be fair.
Clocks ticking and alarm bells are going off for me to be honest.
If we go to Newcastle still ‘preparing’ bids for Barcola, Hughe’s can jog on to Saudi in my oppinion.
Even the exciting rumour of Barcola is probably too much money if it means we can´t buy for other positons we need. I don´t think Muñoz was a necessary signing tbh
I mean, even looking at it from a purely business angle, with the way the market is now we’ve probably just signed him for significantly less than what he’d have gone for without a release clause.
But beyond that he’s needed because he’s quick, direct, decently experienced for his age and fits the manager’s ideal of being able to play on both sides… qualities we don’t really currently have among our extremely thin group of wide players.
It won’t. If he feels we needed a wide option like this then he’s not an unnecessary signing. The fact you go on to say we need one, if not two, wide options shows the necessity.
I don´t see the logic. If Muñoz barely plays or shows himself to not be good enough, he specifically was not a necessary signing. Of course, he might be really good, but you get the point.
A signing was necessary. That that signing was necessary to be Muñoz is debatable.
The fact we may need 1 or even 2 wide players suggests he hasn´t done much to fill our requirements out wide. Nobody would be happy going into the season with our current 3 or 4 wide players as options.
There are a lot of players over the last 10 years that worked out when we weren’t convinced.
Mane, robbo, salah, gini, and hendo all spring to mind. Ofcourse, you also end up with players that don’t work out.
He was in the Spain World Cup squad, and would have played more minutes based on reports, had it not been for the injury he picked up. Ticks a lot of boxes as highlighted already.
Maybe you’ll get the told you so moment…time will tell.
Im certainly not concerned
In terms of necessity, i don’t think we work in a world where you can do things in order, i.e. solve the biggest issues first. Many variables mean that clubs will make deals when everything suits, even when it might not be the priority. Further, we are short on the wings, so there is necessity in my view.
Signing wide players is necessary and if one of the ones you want is going to be £100m plus then it’s necessary to find a lower cost option too and clearly the manager was convinced Munoz can do what he needs his wide players to do.
The fact we need one more wide player is nothing to do with Munoz and everything to do with the lack of numbers and quality. We’d only need another one on top should Gakpo go.
Yes but the point wasn´t if signing wide players were necessary. I do actually now get what you´re saying.
My point was whether he specifically necessary. Does he add enough to solve or half solve our limitations beyond being a body?
Regarding the second point. Last year we had only Salah as well as Gakpo and Rio barely played. Now Rio is even older and Muñoz could in theory replace Salah as one winger. So it could be argued those 3 (with Gakpo) plus Frimpong or Chiesa would be enough numerically.
The reason it wouldn´t be enough is because they´re not good enough as a collective. Same as last year - the issue wasn´t we didn´t have wide players but they weren´t good enough. In theory we have 5 wide players. If we had added Diomande instead of Muñoz, I think people would be more comfortable with those 5 being our wide options.
Apologies the post is a bit all over the place with edits, but you get the idea i hope
I haven´t actually. Sign ups never seemed to be open.
I did use the official website forums for years.
This is a decent forum. Good topics and people make effort with stuff like posting info from twitter, moderation is mostly pretty fair and chill. But it is a bit cliquey. Often see the same people liking any posts disagreeing, over anything.
That is going to depend on opinion on where we had the biggest weaknesses of course but for me I wanted more then just one wide forward in this summer. We need improved quality of depth in that group to allow Iraola to rotate and have impact subs.
Muñoz for that was very needed, he had a breakthrough season, has the potential to grow more and was cheap but he was never going to be the whole solution all by himself. After all we didn’t stop trying to sign Diomande after we had Muñoz wrapped up and we are still trying to get Barcola.
Oh don´t get me wrong, I wanted 2 also. I think you are right there.
Let´s say we get Barcola and Muñoz. Are those 2 the best pairing we could have got? Maybe.
My doubts around him are that he seems a counter attacking player. You could say a pace merchant. Does he have that guile, trickery and passing game I think a top wide player needs? If he doesn´t I think he won´t be a long term solution to anything. But he is young and had a good season as you said, so maybe he will really develop.
Hopefully I am right! I get the concerns. Hard to tell how he might suit a team with more possession considering the position Osasuna were in last season. Still for the price we would have struggled to pick up anyone else that had a break through season in one of the top leagues already.
True. I think for that price we couldn´t do much better. I personally would have gone for Abde at Beits who I think should even be our first choice over Barcola considering fee.
But Muñoz is an interesting one. He´s not that typically Spanish in how he plays.
Maybe that is a good thing.