Saul Niguez

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Champagne Football

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Pobga is leaving next summer. And we had enough of him. Sell Pogba for 150m to 180m.

Buy Saul and Partey with that money.
Not happening, if we sell Pogba for big money, I think our A list will be Maddison, Longstaff and Sancho.
If we don't get top 4 then our B list is probably Richarlison, Longstaff/McGinn and David Brooks.
 

Inter Yer Nan

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Not happening, if we sell Pogba for big money, I think our A list will be Maddison, Longstaff and Sancho.
If we don't get top 4 then our B list is probably Richarlison, Longstaff/McGinn and David Brooks.
I would absolutely cream if we landed them next summer.

Regarding Saul; I think he wouldn't be on our radar. He's a great player and also very loyal to Atletico. What is interesting to me is that because of his versatility, he's often played out on the right (though Koke seems to be the designated RM this season) and even sometimes at left back but this season seems to be playing his preferred central midfield position. I'd heard there was some talk he was a little miffed about playing outside of his favorite position so now that he's likely to stay in the middle it will only re-affirm his desire to stay. Vitolo or Lemar will keep the LM spot, Koke will keep RM so he's not going to be playing anywhere else and is one of their best and most passionate players.
 

Rozay

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Pogba will extend (his contract). If he doesn’t, I hope we take Odegaard from Madrid in return.
 

Bastian

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Not happening, if we sell Pogba for big money, I think our A list will be Maddison, Longstaff and Sancho.
If we don't get top 4 then our B list is probably Richarlison, Longstaff/McGinn and David Brooks.
Richarlison on a b list? Wouldn’t be surprised if they sell for 100m. And to a club more competitive than ours.
 

Nou_Camp99

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There will be no major signings next summer along the lines of Sancho, Maddison etc unless we buck our ideas up. If we fail to get back into the CL there's going to be a huge drop in our finances. Adidas deal goes down for one.
 

Devil may care

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Pogba will extend (his contract). If he doesn’t, I hope we take Odegaard from Madrid in return.
He seems to have matured as a player, starting to deliver on the promise, isn't he out of contract next summer though?
 

Rozay

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How much cash? It’s a lot of pressure on Odegaard.
I mean, I can’t say how much cash. Obviously an amount that reflects the difference in status of both players.

Odegaard is what, 20 now? He’s been playing first team football for 4 years now, and has had the pressure of joining Real’s first team at 16. He’s not a baby anymore, he can play for Manchester United. Hopefully, he’ll be playing with 10 other useful players, and no pressure will be on him to single-handedly transform our side. He’s a wonderful talent though, and the calibre of talent that could potentially see us replace Pogba and not have an inferior player in the long run, which in itself is almost impossible to do.
 

Rozay

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Aye, fair enough. Yeah, could see Richarlison end up at Real, Barca or Bayern.
Says the caf about every half decent (non-British) player, always.

Never mind how different the reality often ends up being!
 

Bastian

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Says the caf about every half decent (non-British) player, always.

Never mind how different the reality often ends up being!
He's justified his transfer fee already IMV. He's an absolute workhorse, improving many aspects of his game. He's what, 22? Been called up by Brazil.

You don't rate him?
 

gajender

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There will be no major signings next summer along the lines of Sancho, Maddison etc unless we buck our ideas up. If we fail to get back into the CL there's going to be a huge drop in our finances. Adidas deal goes down for one.
It's hardly a big loss as it would be spread over remaining length of the contract so ideally should not impact our budget majorly.
 

Rozay

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He's justified his transfer fee already IMV. He's an absolute workhorse, improving many aspects of his game. He's what, 22? Been called up by Brazil.

You don't rate him?
I do rate him, and advocated we sign him in the summer. I see him potentially as the next great South American forward in the PL, he has some Suarez, Diego Costa similarities to me.

This has nothing to do with my challenging the predictability of the assumption that ‘he will end up at Real, Barca or Bayern.’
 

Ekeke

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He's justified his transfer fee already IMV. He's an absolute workhorse, improving many aspects of his game. He's what, 22? Been called up by Brazil.

You don't rate him?
Andreas Pereira has been called up by Brazil. Their first non-Brazilian born player in 100 years even, in 2018. So I dont think that makes someone an expensive player

Richarlison is a good player, his form blows a bit hot and cold but as you say he's a worker. Maybe he ends up good enough for a top club, he isnt yet
 

Alabaster Codify7

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There will be no major signings next summer along the lines of Sancho, Maddison etc unless we buck our ideas up. If we fail to get back into the CL there's going to be a huge drop in our finances. Adidas deal goes down for one.

This, the likes of Saul and Sancho are nothing but a pipedream unless we somehow make top 4 and the board splash out. The former, doesn't necessarily mean the latter will even happen either. In fact, our board are more likely to open the wallet if we finish 6th again - and then we're throwing money at below-par players again. The cycle continues.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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I wouldn’t even dare spend massive money on this guy. Very good midfielder but if the only way to land him is by paying his clause which is about 130m then forget it. That amount of money is for a match winner or a leader and Saul is just not the one. And also it’s a big risk money for a Spanish player who can get homesick.

If I have to choose a similar player as Saul to get and available cheaper than the 130m then it’ll be McGinn. Very similar player when I watch them so I’ll pass on Saul. 130m should be spend on the likes of Sancho, Felix & those player who has potential to be a world class player & match winner for us not his guy.
 

Bastian

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I wouldn’t even dare spend massive money on this guy. Very good midfielder but if the only way to land him is by paying his clause which is about 130m then forget it. That amount of money is for a match winner or a leader and Saul is just not the one. And also it’s a big risk money for a Spanish player who can get homesick.

If I have to choose a similar player as Saul to get and available cheaper than the 130m then it’ll be McGinn. Very similar player when I watch them so I’ll pass on Saul. 130m should be spend on the likes of Sancho, Felix & those player who has potential to be a world class player & match winner for us not his guy.
Whilst I agree that McGinn has looked very good in the few Villa games I've caught this season, he's played 4 games at a high level. Compare that to years as a mainstay in one of the best clubs in Europe...you can't really.

I'd happily have them both though.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Whilst I agree that McGinn has looked very good in the few Villa games I've caught this season, he's played 4 games at a high level. Compare that to years as a mainstay in one of the best clubs in Europe...you can't really.

I'd happily have them both though.
I was referring to they both have similar playing style not level. Saul doesn’t play like Pogba and not Carrick. If we want someone who plays similar to Saul, then McGinn is the cheaper option.
 

Ekeke

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I was referring to they both have similar playing style not level. Saul doesn’t play like Pogba and not Carrick. If we want someone who plays similar to Saul, then McGinn is the cheaper option.
He doesnt play like him though. McGinn has averaged just 24.5 passes and at 76.5% accuracy with 1.5 key passes. Thats on his hot streak of form. Grealish on the other hand is at 38 and 87.1% accuracy with 2 key passes a game.

So its not just because Villa don't have a lot of the ball. He just isnt passing the ball around that much and has lost it.

Saul has 50.7 passes a match, shortly behind Koke who has the most for their midfield. 82.2% accuracy and no key passes in his first 3 games. So the main thing Saul has been doing so far this season is playing lots of passes and keeping the ball a bit. But this is Saul having a slow start to the season, hes usually doing a lot more than that
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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He doesnt play like him though. McGinn has averaged just 24.5 passes and at 76.5% accuracy with 1.5 key passes. Thats on his hot streak of form. Grealish on the other hand is at 38 and 87.1% accuracy with 2 key passes a game.

So its not just because Villa don't have a lot of the ball. He just isnt passing the ball around that much and has lost it.

Saul has 50.7 passes a match, shortly behind Koke who has the most for their midfield. 82.2% accuracy and no key passes in his first 3 games. So the main thing Saul has been doing so far this season is playing lots of passes and keeping the ball a bit. But this is Saul having a slow start to the season, hes usually doing a lot more than that
I'm not sure if what you said is enough as evidence that the players don't play in similar style. What I watched from both players are that they are box to box with good amount of work rate & stamina. Both can dribble & tends to lose possession + lack of completed passing accuracy due to their risky playing style. Both likes to keep the tempo fluid & both are good defensively.

I disagree with your statement of Saul has been doing a lot passes and keeping the ball a bit. Saul last season only made 78.8% passing accuracy, that alone is closed to what you said about McGinn made 76.5% passing accuracy. Passing aren't their strongest attribute because they aren't playmaker.
 

Ekeke

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I'm not sure if what you said is enough as evidence that the players don't play in similar style. What I watched from both players are that they are box to box with good amount of work rate & stamina. Both can dribble & tends to lose possession + lack of completed passing accuracy due to their risky playing style. Both likes to keep the tempo fluid & both are good defensively.

I disagree with your statement of Saul has been doing a lot passes and keeping the ball a bit. Saul last season only made 78.8% passing accuracy, that alone is closed to what you said about McGinn made 76.5% passing accuracy. Passing aren't their strongest attribute because they aren't playmaker.
Saul doesnt have a risky passing style. Key passes and creative passes to make opportunities aren't really part of his game and so far this season out of 3 matches he's made 0 key passes. His passing is to keep the ball. Despite not being in good form he's almost top 3 of Atletico's passing accuracy, with 3rd place Llorente at 82.9% passing accuracy compared to Saul's 82.2%. Atletico don't want to have all of the ball, thats not part of their gameplan. Their gameplan is to move the ball quickly and break on teams. While Saul is very unlikely to be the one who plays a defense splitting pass to open up a chance for a teammate, he can play a quick simple pass as part of that Atletico gameplan to move the ball to another player.

Saul has everything else though. The form he's currently in is not what you'd want if you bought him for a hefty fee. McGinn's form is more what you want but we'd need more than the few games we've seen so far in the premier league to want to pay what it would take to buy him
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Saul doesnt have a risky passing style. Key passes and creative passes to make opportunities aren't really part of his game and so far this season out of 3 matches he's made 0 key passes. His passing is to keep the ball. Despite not being in good form he's almost top 3 of Atletico's passing accuracy, with 3rd place Llorente at 82.9% passing accuracy compared to Saul's 82.2%. Atletico don't want to have all of the ball, thats not part of their gameplan. Their gameplan is to move the ball quickly and break on teams. While Saul is very unlikely to be the one who plays a defense splitting pass to open up a chance for a teammate, he can play a quick simple pass as part of that Atletico gameplan to move the ball to another player.

Saul has everything else though. The form he's currently in is not what you'd want if you bought him for a hefty fee. McGinn's form is more what you want but we'd need more than the few games we've seen so far in the premier league to want to pay what it would take to buy him
Risky playing style is different to risky passing style and also is different to key passes. Key passes is in the same category as through ball in the final third. Risky playing style is like always looking to move forward, move the ball forward & also dribble the ball. Anything below 85% average and also last season below 79% passing accuracy is considered to be very bad for a player who is job (according to you) to keep the ball.

Saul is a natural box to box. He has the ability to dribble, fluid, tenacious, can defend, and has risky playing style. If we want the cheaper version of that type of midfielder, McGinn is one of them.
 

gajender

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Think its about £18 million every time we dont qualify
It's 30% of actual contract but it applies only if we fail to qualify for champions league consecutively and that amount is spread over the remaining length of the contract so assuming we again fail to qualify, it would be loss of 22.5 million but spread over remaining 5 years of the contract so 4.5 million loss a year not a big dent assuming we don't miss out again.
 

wolvored

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It's 30% of actual contract but it applies only if we fail to qualify for champions league consecutively and that amount is spread over the remaining length of the contract so assuming we again fail to qualify, it would be loss of 22.5 million but spread over remaining 5 years of the contract so 4.5 million loss a year not a big dent assuming we don't miss out again.
I Thought I read we get £75 million a year for the duration of the contract, but this drops to £57 million if we fail to qualify for Champions League
 

cyberman

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pretty sure of jumps back to its original numbers as soon as we qualify again.
so we only lose a percentage when we go consecutive years until we rebound again.
 

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Not a great debut for him, hooked at half time. Whilst we are desperate for a DM option, important we didn't just go out and get any random midfielder who was available.
 

Bebestation

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So many players that the fans want end up not being good enough. Not saying Saul won't come good but still - you never know.

Highlights alot and it happens every year.
 

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He's been average for a long time. I think it's a case of some people remebering the player he was, not is.
 

bosnian_red

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Said it earlier in the summer. He's not really an upgrade on McTominay or Fred. He's alright and will improve from today but he's pretty average and doesn't provide much more than energy. Scored a few nice goals and that's all people remember.

Kind of worth it at the price they got him for with the loan, but still.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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I didn't really rate him prior to yesterday's game but I felt it was criminal of Tuchel to just throw him in straight away. Whether he comes good or not, he will need to adapt to the team and league. Havertz is a perfect example of that.
 
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