People love to talk about panic buys, but the truth is, yesterday ETH learned a few things about the team, squad and league. He has reacted to that new realization and I don't see how that is necessarily a bad thing. He learned that Fred is not as useful as he perhaps thought he could be. He learnt that Mctominay was completely useless. He learnt that Eriksen could operate deeper. He learnt that using a false 9 would not work in the league and adding a third choice striker may be needed. He probably also learnt that starting Malacia may be the right thing to do from now rather than waiting further along the line. There are probably other things he learnt, concerning our centre back partnerships or rotations in the frontline as well.
If he feels from what he has seen, and honestly what most people saw before his move to Juventus, that Rabiot has really good skillsets that haven't been realized by the teams he has been with, then its good to take a punt for that fee. He has good passing ability, is a really good tackler, that may not be the most creative, but has the ability to control and keep hold of the ball. His awareness in midfield has been good enough to dominate teams in different title winning teams.
My hope before the window was that we could get in players who would be able to fill that gap in midfield, especially as it is very important in today's game. If we can get him in for 18m that would be phenomenal. It would leave us with money for another CM who could potentially have the press resistance and ability to defend. We have also signed Eriksen who has shown an ability to operate from deep. That is a lot of potential improvement if it occurs for that area of the pitch and something our fans need to be patient enough for our new regime to achieve. One thing is clear to me, despite the high level of talent we have in our squad ( as much as people like to claim the contrary), if we do not have a good midfield, we will not be able to control games, which allows for games like this to happen more regularly than they should.
If he feels from what he has seen, and honestly what most people saw before his move to Juventus, that Rabiot has really good skillsets that haven't been realized by the teams he has been with, then its good to take a punt for that fee. He has good passing ability, is a really good tackler, that may not be the most creative, but has the ability to control and keep hold of the ball. His awareness in midfield has been good enough to dominate teams in different title winning teams.
My hope before the window was that we could get in players who would be able to fill that gap in midfield, especially as it is very important in today's game. If we can get him in for 18m that would be phenomenal. It would leave us with money for another CM who could potentially have the press resistance and ability to defend. We have also signed Eriksen who has shown an ability to operate from deep. That is a lot of potential improvement if it occurs for that area of the pitch and something our fans need to be patient enough for our new regime to achieve. One thing is clear to me, despite the high level of talent we have in our squad ( as much as people like to claim the contrary), if we do not have a good midfield, we will not be able to control games, which allows for games like this to happen more regularly than they should.
