Nemanja Matic

Ace of Spades said:

That is good news. Rather sell him now than let him go for free next season.

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Yep, needs to be sold, Last chance to sell him this summer.

I think when the team plays good Matic plays (looks) good.

If Ole goes for high energy pressing counter attacking football next season then Matic will not suit his style of play and will need an energetic machine in that position.

RkkMan said:

Ole literally said that Pereira's best position is further up the pitch plus with all the talk about Longstaff think we've seen the end of Pereira as a no6

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Wasn't aware of this. McTomminay and Longstaff as our options would be very risky, although Fred has played there too so perhaps this is where Ole sees him? Have we been linked to anyone else for that position?

finneh said:

I find the disparity between how fans treat Pogba Vs Matic strange. The former had a mediocre season 17/18, compared to the latter being one of our two or three best players. Likewise prior to Mourinho getting sacked both were awful. Both were fantastic during Ole's amazing start, but both returned to mediocrity thereafter.

Fans however treat Matic like he's been awful since day one and treat Pogba like a one man midfield superstar.

Is it a part of the obsession with age? Matic "legs have gone" every bad game he has, whereas Pogba "class is permanent, form is temporary", despite more bad games than good?

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Matic and Pogba were similar levels in 17/18. Matic was very good at the start of the season, but his form continually dropped as the season went on and he was poor in the second half of the season. Meanwhile Pogba was also inconsistent.

As for this season, Matic was utterly terrible before Ole took over. If it weren't for Lukaku reaching unbelievable levels of shit at the same time, Matic would've been comfortably our worst player. Even when Ole took over and his form improved for a brief period (he was the first to start dropping away again) it was while Herrera was doing most of his defensive work for him. Meanwhile Pogba was 50/50 between arguably our best player and fairly poor during the Mourinho period. Inconsistent as he always has been, but he was miles better than Matic who was consistently terrible every game.

If Mourinho signs for that Chinese club, he'll no doubt come after his mate Matic, and I think it would benefit all parties.