Allegedly, Bouaddi is that player and he’s on his way to Man City for around 100M euros. To add to what @Mascot said, that player doesn’t seem to exist or simply isn’t attainable this summer.
Rodri is a bit of a one off I think. It´s very rare to be so solid defensively AND be able to run a game with the ball. PLayers almost always can do one or the other (or neither in our case)
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You weren’t the only one, I think some City fans called him Plodri. That didn’t age very well.
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I liked the look of him during the world cup, seemed very mature in his decision making. Not really a player I’m super eager for us to buy though, just to contradict my other post. He probably makes more sense for City, they’ve got more room for a starter.
I’m a fan of Wharton donning a Liverpool jersey. However it feels unlikely this summer. It feels more likely Nyoni is going to claim major minutes that need filling because of losing Curtis Jones. I am a little bit worried with fulfilling English quota and who we sell next to open up a foreigner slot with the Bradley Barcola deal looking imminent.
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Just want to say that Stiller is great on the ball but I’m not sure he is athletic enough to do well at the top end of the Prem.
Is Camara still available? If we are getting a midfielder, he is probably the one I’d go for right now.
Two wingers a priority, obviously,
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I’m surprised the transfer team hasn’t already tried to obtain the signature of a player Iraola coached before. Alex Scott and James Hill come to mind as solid and promising players who are already familiar with his system.
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As for James Hill, there are more pressing issues than the CBs at the moment. Plus the Quansah buyback in summer 2027 as well.
Scott is basically the same type of running box-to-box midfielder as Szobo and Grav but with better defense skills.
Wharton, OTOH, will add new skills to our team.
Macca is basically a mix between Grav and Wharton, kinda jack-of-all-trade but not as good as Grav/Wharton at the latter’s strongest skills/abilities.
Can’t be that we’re preparing to put a bid in for him.
That would require a minimum 8-9 month injury layoff
I mean.. I kind of called it haha
I’ll tack on a 23 year old Suarez clone and get him to wear a mouth guard like Endo so that he has an instant reminder not to bite if he got the urge.
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That’s Fernandes and Baleba moving. Now waiting for Rayan to go elsewhere for the hat-trick of moves that piss me off.
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I think Fernandes has huge potential. Has all the ability on the ball and good physical traits. Was disappointed he went to Spurs.
Not too bothered about Baleba mind
Yeah Baleba really hasn’t come close to the potential he showed. He’s definitely not close in terms of quality to Caicedo who he replaced at Brighton.
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We’ll see if today changes the perspective at all, but seeing the XI today makes me feel we’ve got more business that needs to be done that I felt was the case a few weeks ago when I was feeling hopeful bordering on confident.
A lot of my positivity came from an expectation that there were enough players with room for improvement that the squad fills up with credible options from within. Neither Harvey nor Chiesa making the bench today while untested kids do suggests we’re not getting that boost from the likeliest candidates. Barcola and one from Minteh or the other lad from psg addresses a lot of that, but still feels list one short in midfield now with Jones gone
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A solid DM would be nice. Our defence was struggling against Newcastle today.
We don’t play with a DM but it’s clear that the combination of Dom and Grav struggled as a pairing without the ball. They allowed themselves to get ahead of the ball too much. It needs more balance but that’s about discipline, effort and decision making as much as personnel.
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Same as the start of the window except a CB (wouldn´t complain if we got another).
CM, RW, LW, DM, RB
Probably in that order of preference.
Our defensive setup is shit. Too easy to beat on counter attacks. VVD has already lost his pace. Frimpong and Kerkez are terrible 1v1 defenders. Mix that with two midfielders with terrible positioning and risk awareness.
But the problem is both Gravenberch, Szobo and Wirtz are on huge money contracts. I still think the easiest way to improve that is to buy a right back who is good at defending and has good recovery pace.
Frimpong was very good today 1 v 1 and on the defensive side as a whole as was Kerkez, no one catches Elanga there.
If you’d mentioned ability on the ball then I would agree.
Lastly a RB with recovery pace, that is one thing Frimpong definitely as.
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