Lorenzo Pellegrini

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I'm thinking the latter is more likely. Worth a punt at the price and worse case scenario shift him for a probable profit if he doesn't perform.
And why could we not do buy him this summer? Why we started this season with the options in midfield is simply tragic. A blind goat could see that the midfield would be the biggest issue this season and would be the difference between top 4 or not.
 

Infra-red

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And why could we not do buy him this summer? Why we started this season with the options in midfield is simply tragic. A blind goat could see that the midfield would be the biggest issue this season and would be the difference between top 4 or not.
It's distinctly possible that the people who run the club have absolutely no idea what they are doing. The last six years is rather compelling evidence for this.
 

BenitoSTARR

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The more I see of him the more I like. He seems a very competent midfielder in most areas.

I’m not sure though that he would fit into our current set up with Pogba.
 

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Got three assists as a #10 in a 4231 yesterday. The assist for Kluiverts goal was a brillint through ball.
 

NoPace

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Another player who'd walk into our starting XI by virtue of being tough and technically solid. Shame we didn't get him this past summer, a 4-3-3 with him and Pogba ahead of McTominay might look genuinely competent, if a bit boring.
 
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And why could we not do buy him this summer? Why we started this season with the options in midfield is simply tragic. A blind goat could see that the midfield would be the biggest issue this season and would be the difference between top 4 or not.
Well we always assume a blind goat is worse off than a stupid human....and United's transfer strategy us beholden to a stupid human...so....
 

amolbhatia50k

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Another player who'd walk into our starting XI by virtue of being tough and technically solid. Shame we didn't get him this past summer, a 4-3-3 with him and Pogba ahead of McTominay might look genuinely competent, if a bit boring.
If he's that good, it appears we would need to wake the feck up. Its all well and good picking British players, but we need to be able to identify suitable players from abroad as well.
 

Jacob

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Forget about him. Will never be attainable and won't come here. Few Italians do.
 

Madzik_92

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Well we are now British FC so i think we'll sign overpriced Rice/Longstaff.
 

Rozay

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Can’t lie, I’m definitely concerned that we’ll miss out on continental talent due to this apparent blind spot we have under the current regime. I mean, I’m sure they would sign Messi, less sure they would do a clever deal for a Barella or Sensi however.
 

Devil81

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Well we are now British FC so i think we'll sign overpriced Rice/Longstaff.
And the issue with that is?

We've been overpaying for shite imports for the last six years. We can see Rice & Longstaff are good you quality talents who will care about playing for a club of our size.
 

devilish

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And the issue with that is?

We've been overpaying for shite imports for the last six years. We can see Rice & Longstaff are good you quality talents who will care about playing for a club of our size.
Overspending on players is never good irrespective whether they are foreign or not. Also most players care about doing their job. Professionalism is not something that is exclusive only to British talent. Actually if British talent were as committed as many in here portray them to be then maybe, just maybe, they would have won more WCs then they actually did.

Back to the subject, Pellegrini comes across as a player whose happy to stay were he is. Roma is a beautiful city to live in and Roma fans can be quite affectionate towards players who are loyal to their cause. They are nowhere as nasty as their Laziali cousins are. If Lorenzo moves then I can see him joining Juventus rather then a foreign club. There again, I might be wrong on this
 
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Carlsen19

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And the issue with that is?

We've been overpaying for shite imports for the last six years. We can see Rice & Longstaff are good you quality talents who will care about playing for a club of our size.
Longstaff is absolutely shite and Declan Rice is also nowhere near good enough to get us challenging again.
 

NoPace

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If he's that good, it appears we would need to wake the feck up. Its all well and good picking British players, but we need to be able to identify suitable players from abroad as well.
There's a ton of midfielders around Europe who would have been happy to come here and start for us in a 5 with James, Pogba and Mctominay, insane we couldn't find one who's useful box to box and one to create from the right.
 

antohan

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Overspending on players is never good irrespective whether they are foreign or not. Also most players care about doing their job. Professionalism is not something that is exclusive only to British talent. Actually if British talent were as committed as many in here portray them to be then maybe, just maybe, they would have won more WCs then they actually did.
Ermmmm... commitment in international football should never be lacking, so it goes down to talent.

Think the argument there was commitment in the sense they would play their entire career for us and not be constantly fawning for some other continental team.

There's truth and value in that, it's worth paying extra for it, but it should NOT mean we constantly compromise quality.
 

devilish

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Ermmmm... commitment in international football should never be lacking, so it goes down to talent.

Think the argument there was commitment in the sense they would play their entire career for us and not be constantly fawning for some other continental team.

There's truth and value in that, it's worth paying extra for it, but it should NOT mean we constantly compromise quality.
I think that we need to be realistic here. The UK isn't exactly a gold mine of great football talent when compared to countries like Brazil, Italy, Germany and most recently France & Spain. To make matters worse the way money is distributed in the EPL means that the average club is often rich enough to refuse selling to the top clubs which also means that their player's value is often to the roof. Now I do share your idea of spending a bit extra for players who might stick with us longer then the average Spanish and French. The question is how much? Especially considering that from what we learnt in the past 2 summer transfer market is that we're certainly can't rely on an endless well.

Also there's absolutely no way to know if a player would be loyal to his club or not. For example Mcmanaman was a Liverpool lad, a product of Liverpool FC. That didn't stop him from showing the Scousers the middle finger and join Real on a free. DDG on the other hand had Real Madrid written all over him from day 1. Yet, he's still with us. Not to forget that its easy for a player to be loyal when the only alternative for him would be Everton, Sunderland and co. I dare to say that out of the class of 92, the only players who truly stuck with us despite having the opportunity to move to a bigger/similar team were Scholes and Giggs. The rest didn't really had better options elsewhere (apart Becks who moved out)

Honestly I would never say no to a Cristiano Ronaldo ie a huge talent who dragged us to a third CL win and 2 CL finals and then left for a record fee. That's worth more then a 100 P Nevs, OSheas, Jones and Lingards.
 
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antohan

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I think that we need to be realistic here. The UK isn't exactly a gold mine of great football talent when compared to countries like Brazil, Italy, Germany and most recently France & Spain. To make matters worse the way money is distributed in the EPL means that the average club is often rich enough to refuse selling to the top clubs which also means that their player's value is often to the roof. Now I do share your idea of spending a bit extra for players who might stick with us longer then the average Spanish and French. The question is how much? Especially considering that from what we learnt in the past 2 summer transfer market is that we're certainly can't rely on an endless well.

Also there's absolutely no way to know if a player would be loyal to his club or not. For example Mcmanaman was a Liverpool lad, a product of Liverpool FC. That didn't stop him from showing the Scousers the middle finger and join Real on a free. DDG on the other hand had Real Madrid written all over him from day 1. Yet, he's still with us. Not to forget that its easy for a player to be loyal when the only alternative for him would be Everton, Sunderland and co. I dare to say that out of the class of 92, the only players who truly stuck with us despite having the opportunity to move to a bigger/similar team were Scholes and Giggs. The rest didn't really had better options elsewhere (apart Becks who moved out)

Honestly I would never say no to a Cristiano Ronaldo ie a huge talent who dragged us to a third CL win and 2 CL finals and then left for a record fee. That's worth more then a 100 P Nevs, OSheas, Jones and Lingards.
I agree there's more quality out there. "Other things equal" local is better puts a big stress/question mark on other things equal.

Not sure CR "dragged us", it was a phenomenal side with a pretty strong domestic core. Of course we don't want to pass on a CR, but no need to rubbish the contribution of the likes of Rio, Rooney, Carrick, Giggs, Fletcher, or even Hargreaves himself. Brown was outstanding in 08 as well.
 

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And the issue with that is?

We've been overpaying for shite imports for the last six years. We can see Rice & Longstaff are good you quality talents who will care about playing for a club of our size.
Whereas every other top side have bought countless quality imports in that same period.
 

devilish

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I agree there's more quality out there. "Other things equal" local is better puts a big stress/question mark on other things equal.

Not sure CR "dragged us", it was a phenomenal side with a pretty strong domestic core. Of course we don't want to pass on a CR, but no need to rubbish the contribution of the likes of Rio, Rooney, Carrick, Giggs, Fletcher, or even Hargreaves himself. Brown was outstanding in 08 as well.
It wasn't meant as a sign of disrespect towards Rio, Rooney, Scholes and co. However, Ronaldo is a force of nature. He's like the football equivalent of cocaine. He puts you on high when he's with you, the team becomes dependent to his brilliance and once he leaves the withdrawal effects are simply devastating. We were never the same team without him. Same thing happened with Real. Meanwhile Juventus who had always had an ethos built around team building had suddenly become Ronaldo's dependent.
 

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It strikes me as a bit strange that every time we are not signing this and that player we have no clue what we are doing - but when no other club signs that player, no one says anything.

There are 2 plausible explanations
1) A player simply isn't good enough - or at least not good enough for the value the club is willing to sell him for
2) He doesn't want to leave.

If we had the chance to sign .. say Fernandes and didn't - and 3 other clubs immediately jumped in and one of them signed him. Yes then I would be concerned. But the reality is - no one signed Fernandes. And since I haven't seen him that often, it makes me wonder - do the scouts see something I don't ? Why didn't anyone sign Fernandes ?

With Pellegrini - has there been any indication that he wants to leave Roma ? I haven't heard any clubs seriously linked to him.
 

lysglimt

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Whereas every other top side have bought countless quality imports in that same period.
We signed quite a few quality imports - we just didn't know what to do with them.

Depay, Mkhitaryan, Pogba
 

bond19821982

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There's a ton of midfielders around Europe who would have been happy to come here and start for us in a 5 with James, Pogba and Mctominay, insane we couldn't find one who's useful box to box and one to create from the right.
Exactly. Going british is all fine but dont tell me there are no midfielders available to take us forward.
 

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Exactly. Going british is all fine but dont tell me there are no midfielders available to take us forward.
Wrong, only the awe-inspiring Sean Longstaff can improve on our midfield. I hope Newcastle grant us this mighty player next season, we will instantly have one the best midfields Europe has ever seen. Anyone else would just flop like Matic and Fred.
 

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Wrong, only the awe-inspiring Sean Longstaff can improve on our midfield. I hope Newcastle grant us this mighty player next season, we will instantly have one the best midfields Europe has ever seen. Anyone else would just flop like Matic and Fred.
I wouldn't pay 10 million for Longstaff let alone 50million. Most of Newcastle fans will tell you same, except for those who would like to get 50million for him. Garner will be much better option.
 

Adnan

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Might have been good to have as an option (starter) in our squad...
Was brilliant yesterday against Fiorentina.

I also disagree that Italy is producing better players than us currently like one of the posters suggested in this thread a few months earlier. I believe our production line is churning out some outstanding talents which are comparable to most with France possibly being the exception.
 

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Was brilliant yesterday against Fiorentina.

I also disagree that Italy is producing better players than us currently like one of the posters suggested in this thread a few months earlier. I believe our production line is churning out some outstanding talents which are comparable to most with France possibly being the exception.
Been really good all season. Giving Zaniolo a run for top players that we should try to sign from Roma.

As far as I can see, his previous clause (£20m -£25m) is still valid, but the club is desperate to remove it while Pellegrini is not stressing. IIRC there was some noice in the media about him wanting to go, and we were the main club mentioned. Still, this was when he was not playing. Would suit our needs as a CAM given technical, passing, relatively good defensive contribution and can cover ground(no major weakness in his game). Good set-piece deliveries. And, he is Italian, so we can assume he is tactically competent.

Italy is producing some really good players, but they usually break into Serie A at an older age. Zaniolo being an abnormality. Also, Italy got more and better young midfielders compared to England (Barella, Sensi, Pellegrini, Zaniolo, Tonali etc).
 

Adnan

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Been really good all season. Giving Zaniolo a run for top players that we should try to sign from Roma.

As far as I can see, his previous clause (£20m -£25m) is still valid, but the club is desperate to remove it while Pellegrini is not stressing. IIRC there was some noice in the media about him wanting to go, and we were the main club mentioned. Still, this was when he was not playing. Would suit our needs as a CAM given technical, passing, relatively good defensive contribution and can cover ground(no major weakness in his game). Good set-piece deliveries. And, he is Italian, so we can assume he is tactically competent.

Italy is producing some really good players, but they usually break into Serie A at an older age. Zaniolo being an abnormality. Also, Italy got more and better young midfielders compared to England (Barella, Sensi, Pellegrini, Zaniolo, Tonali etc).
Our midfield at national team level has been underwhelming but I do believe that will change in the coming years. We've also been fantastic at youth level which has seen us winning the under 17 and under 20 world cups. As far as potential goes, we have Maddison, Foden, Eze, Grealish etc who look interesting prospects centrally for us. And there's many more who will hopefully have a breakout next season which will add to the likes of Sancho, Rashford, Odoi, Chilwell and the ones I've already mentioned.
 

Solius

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This guy is mint. Would do really well in the Prem.