Adrien Rabiot | signs 1 year deal at Juventus. See you all next year

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El Jefe

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We need to be wise on how we structure the type of players we have in midfield.

Currently we lack an energetic ball playing No.8 and a back up DM.

Rabiot fits the former but isn't a good enough passer IMO. I had a look on Fbref to see if the stats said otherwise but they emphasise my point even more. Sure some of it is based on Juve's approach but it clearly shows passing isn't a strength of his.

We need a player who demands the ball and gets lots of touches, otherwise we'll be stuck with Casemiro having too much passing responsibility.
 

Lash

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Eriksen isn’t the only progressive passer in our squad. To me is about quality over quantity. City only have 4 midfielders to cover 6 spots plus Phillips as a passenger.

Bruno is a progressive passer, Eriksen is a progressive passer, Rabiot is a progressive carrier, while Casemiro is the DM. VDB or Fred will be the passenger, sell both Fred and VDB first then we can start talking about signing new midfielder. What’s the point if we can’t sell both but using the budget to add more midfielder and have keeper that can’t retain possession?

Without ball playing keeper, we can‘t retain possession means we are just hoofing the ball. We can have prime Xavi but if DDG hoof the ball then prime Xavi will be useless to ask him to win the header. Hence why spending on keeper and striker should be priority first before spending it on midfielder.
From deeper he is. Bruno isn't good enough in possession to play there. I'm not really sure your City analogy holds true. They have so much depth that they can play Stones in there. So they have Stones, Silva, Gundogan, Rodri, KDB, Phillips that can all play in midfield. If we are in the CL we absolutely need better depth in midfield.

A ball playing keeper isn't going to cost much and we don't have to spend 100m on a striker. We won't get the best out of a 100m striker if we lose the midfield battle against every top team we play against.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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From deeper he is. Bruno isn't good enough in possession to play there. I'm not really sure your City analogy holds true. They have so much depth that they can play Stones in there. So they have Stones, Silva, Gundogan, Rodri, KDB, Phillips that can all play in midfield. If we are in the CL we absolutely need better depth in midfield.

A ball playing keeper isn't going to cost much and we don't have to spend 100m on a striker. We won't get the best out of a 100m striker if we lose the midfield battle against every top team we play against.
If you are going to use stones into your argument, we should sign a CB who can play DM, targeting someone with more versatility, that way we can sell Maguire and replacing him with a CB that can play as DM like stones. That means we will also have 6 midfielders to play in 6 midfield and of course this sounds silly because using stones in this argument was already silly to begin with,

If you are in the group of people who prefers to spend 50m-60m on striker then I have no problem not signing 100m striker for us to sign new midfielder, but so far we are linked with striker that is very expensive. Name me the keeper and this non-expensive striker that can allow us to afford another midfielder and who is this new midfielder.
 

pascell

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We need to be wise on how we structure the type of players we have in midfield.

Currently we lack an energetic ball playing No.8 and a back up DM.

Rabiot fits the former but isn't a good enough passer IMO. I had a look on Fbref to see if the stats said otherwise but they emphasise my point even more. Sure some of it is based on Juve's approach but it clearly shows passing isn't a strength of his.

We need a player who demands the ball and gets lots of touches, otherwise we'll be stuck with Casemiro having too much passing responsibility.
Caicedo and Rabiot and we're cooking, finally bin off McTominay and Fred.
 

Lash

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If you are going to use stones into your argument, we should sign a CB who can play DM, targeting someone with more versatility, that way we can sell Maguire and replacing him with a CB that can play as DM like stones. That means we will also have 6 midfielders to play in 6 midfield and of course this sounds silly because using stones in this argument was already silly to begin with,

If you are in the group of people who prefers to spend 50m-60m on striker then I have no problem not signing 100m striker for us to sign new midfielder, but so far we are linked with striker that is very expensive. Name me the keeper and this non-expensive striker that can allow us to afford another midfielder and who is this new midfielder.
It's not about Stones, its about depth and quality in midfield. I don't particularly care about the players, it's about the quality we lack vs the teams we're competing with. Stones is an anomaly and a world class ball playing CB, so you can't just buy that and also has been playing in peps system for an extremely long time - we don't even have a fully formed system yet.

To upgrade our strikers currently, we need to upgrade Weghorst and a Martial who mustered 13 starts this season. There are plenty of strikers out there that could do that. Alvarez who went to City would have done that and he came directly from Argentina. Just because we don't know a striker, doesn't mean they don't exist, we have the largest scouting network in the league.

As for a keeper, I'm currently watching Luke Steele and Nick Pope, who currently play at a higher level in possession than our keeper. Again, our scouting network shouldn't find it hard to identify an improvement.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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It's not about Stones, its about depth and quality in midfield. I don't particularly care about the players, it's about the quality we lack vs the teams we're competing with. Stones is an anomaly and a world class ball playing CB, so you can't just buy that and also has been playing in peps system for an extremely long time - we don't even have a fully formed system yet.

To upgrade our strikers currently, we need to upgrade Weghorst and a Martial who mustered 13 starts this season. There are plenty of strikers out there that could do that. Alvarez who went to City would have done that and he came directly from Argentina. Just because we don't know a striker, doesn't mean they don't exist, we have the largest scouting network in the league.

As for a keeper, I'm currently watching Luke Steele and Nick Pope, who currently play at a higher level in possession than our keeper. Again, our scouting network shouldn't find it hard to identify an improvement.
I‘m trying to agree with you but you are not helping yourself because when I asked you to name me the players we should sign to allow us to afford another midfielder, and you gave me nothing. So basically, you are not being realistic enough in your wish. Hence why this is where my argument starts again, we need to sign keeper and striker first, while we sign Rabiot on free. If we still have enough budget then we can start talking about another midfielder.
 

Irwin99

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Not watching the Juve match but i see every midfielder has been taken off for Juve except him from the looks of the lineup changes. How's he been?
 

DownRiver

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Best player for Juve. Him on a free will make up for them taking Pogba on a free.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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His passing percentage was 66.7% tonight.That said, Locatelli, who used to be a pass master at Sassuolo, got 67.7%, so you could argue it's the way Juventus set up, but it's clear from watching Rabiot that his passing has never been his stand out attribute, which I feel we could really do with next to Casemiro.
 

Lash

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I‘m trying to agree with you but you are not helping yourself because when I asked you to name me the players we should sign to allow us to afford another midfielder, and you gave me nothing. So basically, you are not being realistic enough in your wish. Hence why this is where my argument starts again, we need to sign keeper and striker first, while we sign Rabiot on free. If we still have enough budget then we can start talking about another midfielder.
I don't need to give you a fantasy list, because it means nothing in reality. In the same way your whole position rests on we can't afford another midfielder, because you've decided how much the striker and keeper will cost. They don't have to cost what you're assuming, because we've currently agreed to sign no one.

We simply must sign more than one midfield this summer if we want to improve as a side and as a squad. We've missed Casemiro in big games and Eriksen has not been good enough in big games too. Adding Rabiot does nothing to address that.

I can throw random names and prices out if it helps you, but there's no guarantee we're interested, they'll cost that much or we will end up signing them. Just as the same goes for Kane, Osimhen, Muani and Diogo Costa and Raya.

If you particularly need names to contextualise - Flekken is about to go to Brentford for less than 20m, if he can replace Raya I'm sure he would be a suitable profile for us. We don't have to sign the keeper for the next 10 years in this window, if we're going to extend De gea anyway, makes more sense to get a stop gap that stylistically works.

Lois Openda, Victor Boniface, Gift Orban, Santiago Gimenez, are all high potential strikers who wouldn't cost the world and scored against good sides. Then there's strikers like Ben Yedder and Taremi who would be better than what we currently have, but clearly stop gaps. You could probably sign one from either camp, for less than the cost of one of these mega bucks strikers.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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I don't need to give you a fantasy list, because it means nothing in reality. In the same way your whole position rests on we can't afford another midfielder, because you've decided how much the striker and keeper will cost. They don't have to cost what you're assuming, because we've currently agreed to sign no one.

We simply must sign more than one midfield this summer if we want to improve as a side and as a squad. We've missed Casemiro in big games and Eriksen has not been good enough in big games too. Adding Rabiot does nothing to address that.

I can throw random names and prices out if it helps you, but there's no guarantee we're interested, they'll cost that much or we will end up signing them. Just as the same goes for Kane, Osimhen, Muani and Diogo Costa and Raya.

If you particularly need names to contextualise - Flekken is about to go to Brentford for less than 20m, if he can replace Raya I'm sure he would be a suitable profile for us. We don't have to sign the keeper for the next 10 years in this window, if we're going to extend De gea anyway, makes more sense to get a stop gap that stylistically works.

Lois Openda, Victor Boniface, Gift Orban, Santiago Gimenez, are all high potential strikers who wouldn't cost the world and scored against good sides. Then there's strikers like Ben Yedder and Taremi who would be better than what we currently have, but clearly stop gaps. You could probably sign one from either camp, for less than the cost of one of these mega bucks strikers.
This discussion is not about whether there is guarantee that we are interested, the reason I’m asking you is because I need to know whether it is practically possible to do as per your wish this summer. When I said practically possible is players need to be available and we can afford them within our budget. If it‘s not practically possible then that’s where my argument is that we cannot afford it this summer because the market of every window isn’t the same so this dream signing hoping we can sign the new Alvarez won’t always happen every window.

So your fantasy wish is that we sign Flekken as a keeper, Santiago Gimenez or whoever in that list as a striker, and who’s the midfielder again?

Flekken
RB Varane Martinez Shaw
Casemiro CM (Eriksen)
Antony Bruno Rashford
Gimenez

I’m surprised that you think that above is better than this below:

Costa
RB Varane Martinez Shaw
Casemiro Eriksen (Rabiot)
Antony Bruno Rashford
Kane

That CM you have in mind needs to be fecking good.
 

Canagel

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Not watching the Juve match but i see every midfielder has been taken off for Juve except him from the looks of the lineup changes. How's he been?
Terrible apart from one decent pass. Two clear sights of goal and failed to set up a teammate or shoot properly on both occasions.

He has one trick which is eating up ground in transition which fools people into thinking he is doing a lot but doesn't actually excel in anything on the pitch.
 

Lash

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It’s not about whether there is guarantee that we are interested, the reason I’m asking you is because I need to know whether it is practically possible to do as per your wish this summer. If it‘s not practically possible then that’s where my argument is that we cannot afford it this summer because the market of every window isn’t the same so this dream signing hoping we can sign the new Alvarez won’t always happen every window.

So your fantasy wish is that we sign Flekken as a keeper, Santiago Gimenez or whoever in that list as a striker, and who’s the midfielder again?

Flekken
RB Varane Martinez Shaw
Casemiro CM (Eriksen)
Antony Bruno Rashford
Gimenez

I’m surprised that you think that above is better than this below:

Costa
RB Varane Martinez Shaw
Casemiro Eriksen (Rabiot)
Antony Bruno Rashford
Kane

That CM you have in mind needs to be fecking good.
My fantasy is we sign quality players with profiles that reflect the system and philosophy we're trying to achieve. In my opinion Rabiot should still be signed as and another CM should be signed who can progress the ball and retain possession well. That way we have 4 players for the midfield base of 2 in that system.

Of course your second XI is better, but it would also mean we can't sign anyone else and any sort of injury or rotation will severely drop the quality of your XI. If we spend less, we can get more and over the course of a season be more consistent in our style and play.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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My fantasy is we sign quality players with profiles that reflect the system and philosophy we're trying to achieve. In my opinion Rabiot should still be signed as and another CM should be signed who can progress the ball and retain possession well. That way we have 4 players for the midfield base of 2 in that system.
That's also my fantasy but I know we can't afford them hence why I set my minimum requirement of ''I can live with just Rabiot as our midfield signing'' for this summer.

Of course your second XI is better, but it would also mean we can't sign anyone else and any sort of injury or rotation will severely drop the quality of your XI. If we spend less, we can get more and over the course of a season be more consistent in our style and play.
Having your 4 players for midfield base of 2 but have Gimenez or cheap one as striker is also drop the quality of your XI. In term of squad overall I wouldn't call having Casemiro, Eriksen, Rabiot, and Fred but have Kane as striker is worse than your pick unless you are telling me that midfielder is Frenkie de Jong then my preference will be FDJ over expensive striker. I just can’t think any names of the available midfielder that we can afford. That's why I would like to know the name of your 4 players in midfield. So I can see if they are actually better as squad overall.
 
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Lash

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That's also my fantasy but I know we can't afford them hence why I set my minimum requirement of ''I can live with just Rabiot as our midfield signing'' for this summer.



Having your 4 players for midfield base of 2 but have Gimenez as striker is also drop the quality of your XI. In term of squad overall I wouldn't call having Casemiro, Eriksen, Rabiot, and Fred but have Kane as striker is worse than your pick unless your 4 players for midfield are Casemiro, prime Gerrard, Carrick, and Scholes. That's why I would like to know the name of your 4 players in midfield. So I can see if they are actually better as squad overall.
Why can't we afford it? We're not wedded to signing Kane or anyone for that matter.

You're getting hung up on names, it's about squad construction. Our midfield is marginally better with Rabiot or one midfielder added, because we are looking to replace 3 players in Fred, Scott and Sabitzer/DVB. That needs to be addressed. For the record, Fred should be no where near our squad next season. A Casemiro (31), Eriksen (31), Rabiot (28) and Fred (30) midfield would not last the season.

Yes we need a striker, does it need to be Kane for us to improve? No, of course it doesn't. Do we even know if Kane will be sold? What if Levy demands £120m? Can we now not afford a GK? No, we just wouldn't buy him same with Costa, what if they just point to the release clause?
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Why can't we afford it? We're not wedded to signing Kane or anyone for that matter.

You're getting hung up on names, it's about squad construction. Our midfield is marginally better with Rabiot or one midfielder added, because we are looking to replace 3 players in Fred, Scott and Sabitzer/DVB. That needs to be addressed. For the record, Fred should be no where near our squad next season. A Casemiro (31), Eriksen (31), Rabiot (28) and Fred (30) midfield would not last the season.

Yes we need a striker, does it need to be Kane for us to improve? No, of course it doesn't. Do we even know if Kane will be sold? What if Levy demands £120m? Can we now not afford a GK? No, we just wouldn't buy him same with Costa, what if they just point to the release clause?
I agree with you. But I can't think the available and affordable midfielder who fit to ETH profile. For example, Mac Allister who will fit to ETH's profile and be good enough to be rotated with Eriksen will cost about £80m. We can't afford that and hoping we can sign a striker and that's also not amount of money we should spend on Mac Allister, he's not FDJ level.

That's why I would like to know and have been asking 4x the name of your midfielders signing. Because unlike you I don't know much about the market of midfielder out there, but you seem to be certain there is someone we can afford available out there that fits ETH's profile. In order to make progress in our discussion, you just have to give me the names.
 
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croadyman

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We need to be wise on how we structure the type of players we have in midfield.

Currently we lack an energetic ball playing No.8 and a back up DM.

Rabiot fits the former but isn't a good enough passer IMO. I had a look on Fbref to see if the stats said otherwise but they emphasise my point even more. Sure some of it is based on Juve's approach but it clearly shows passing isn't a strength of his.

We need a player who demands the ball and gets lots of touches, otherwise we'll be stuck with Casemiro having too much passing responsibility.
Yeah this midfield definitely lacks that,so out there who we can get realistically that fits the bill. Clearly there needs to be more focus on someone who can keep the ball for fun and pass it well
 
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Lash

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I agree with you. But I can't think the available and affordable midfielder who fit to ETH profile. For example, Mac Allister who will fit to ETH's profile and be good enough to be rotated with Eriksen will cost about £80m. We can't afford that and hoping we can sign a striker and that's also not amount of money we should spend on Mac Allister, he's not FDJ level.

That's why I would like to know and have been asking 4x the name of your midfielders signing. Because unlike you I don't know much about the market of midfielder out there, but you seem to be certain there is someone we can afford available out there that fits ETH's profile. In order to make progress in our discussion, you just have to give me the names.
I don't think this discussion will progress because you need proof I can't give you. I don't actually know what the market price is for a certain player, but it's silly to suggest the market doesn't have affordable midfielders that can improve us because you or I can't name them or their price.

Tielemans is leaving on a free transfer, Gabri Veiga has a lowish release clause, Lovro Majer is being touted around for roughly 40m euros. That's just some random examples in the top 5 European leagues. If we broaden the scope, the price inevitably goes down when we look to more far flung places and there's plenty of examples of players coming directly from "lesser leagues" and adapting to the prem extremely quickly.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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I don't think this discussion will progress because you need proof I can't give you. I don't actually know what the market price is for a certain player, but it's silly to suggest the market doesn't have affordable midfielders that can improve us because you or I can't name them or their price.

Tielemans is leaving on a free transfer, Gabri Veiga has a lowish release clause, Lovro Majer is being touted around for roughly 40m euros. That's just some random examples in the top 5 European leagues. If we broaden the scope, the price inevitably goes down when we look to more far flung places and there's plenty of examples of players coming directly from "lesser leagues" and adapting to the prem extremely quickly.
All I would like to know is the name of your suggestion available midfielders that you wish to sign this summer realistically and how those midfielders fit ETH's profile. But, if you just give me random names without considering if they fit to ETH profile then that's equivalent to lazy answer.

Why do you think Tielemans fits ETH's profile? So you think if we have Tielemans when Eriksen is injured, it won't be much dropped off from our XI?

Isn't Veiga and Majer attacking midfielder? Can they play in double pivot to play Eriksen's role?
 

amolbhatia50k

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i would very much be happy to add rabiot, but am extremely amused by people thinking that magically gives us a top midfield. Our midfield needs multiple signings, not just this one guy
Agreed. Truth is we need a few signings in midfield. We lack all of these - playmakers / great passers or tempo setters, ball carriers, press resistant players and even a backup holding midfielder. Now whether we fix that through two signings or more, or just don’t, remains to be seen.
 

amolbhatia50k

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I don't think this discussion will progress because you need proof I can't give you. I don't actually know what the market price is for a certain player, but it's silly to suggest the market doesn't have affordable midfielders that can improve us because you or I can't name them or their price.

Tielemans is leaving on a free transfer, Gabri Veiga has a lowish release clause, Lovro Majer is being touted around for roughly 40m euros. That's just some random examples in the top 5 European leagues. If we broaden the scope, the price inevitably goes down when we look to more far flung places and there's plenty of examples of players coming directly from "lesser leagues" and adapting to the prem extremely quickly.
Tielemans is shit
 

OmarUnited4ever

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All I would like to know is the name of your suggestion available midfielders that you wish to sign this summer realistically and how those midfielders fit ETH's profile. But, if you just give me random names without considering if they fit to ETH profile then that's equivalent to lazy answer.

Why do you think Tielemans fits ETH's profile? So you think if we have Tielemans when Eriksen is injured, it won't be much dropped off from our XI?

Isn't Veiga and Majer attacking midfielder? Can they play in double pivot to play Eriksen's role?
I kinda get where you coming from, but, I also get what the other poster is saying too, I think the idea here is that our scouts should try to find options beside the obvious names we all know like FDJ, Rice, Mac Allister, Caceido and so on, I am actually for Rabiot, I think he is at least 3 levels above Fred, McTominay & DvB, so I am all for quality freebies, but I think we should not blow the budget on obvious players aside from FDJ tbh, Kane is a superb striker and may make us title contenders from the get go, but I would like us to find an option that is younger, cheaper and fits EtH's plans, of course it is not easy, but I hope our scouts can find them.
 

Siorac

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Ok but I am intrigued who this player is his stats are definitely impressive .
I looked at quite a few players across the top leagues and my best guess is that it's probably Rodri from a few weeks ago or something.
 

Lash

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All I would like to know is the name of your suggestion available midfielders that you wish to sign this summer realistically and how those midfielders fit ETH's profile. Of course, if you just give me random names that you don't know if they fit to ETH profile then that's equivalent to lazy answer, then the discussion will not progress.

Why do you think Tielemans fits ETH's profile? So you think if we have Tielemans when Eriksen is injured, it won't be much dropped off from our XI?

Isn't Veiga and Majer attacking midfielder? Can they play in double pivot to play Eriksen's role?
Tielemans actually performs a high number of progressive passes per 90 and actually gets hammered on this forum - unfairly I might add, considering the stats he puts up. Watching him against Liverpool as well, I felt like there is still a lot of quality there. He's on a free and offers a profile we are looking for in depth. I don't think there would be a great deal of difference between quality with him and Eriksen to be honest. Eriksen is clearly superior on the ball, but he offers absolutely zero defensively and physically.

Veiga has, he's been pushed forward more recently, hence the goals, but has played in a double pivot and right side of a 3. If we're happy Eriksen can play in a double pivot, Majer can too. Eriksen offers absolutely no protection defensively, so the aim of the game would be to recreate Eriksen's strengths, which is creativity and progressive passing.
Tielemans is shit
He's not shit though, Leicester are this season and he's not had his best season, but he still objectively progresses the ball well and creates opportunities for his team mates.
 

JPRouve

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Tielemans actually performs a high number of progressive passes per 90 and actually gets hammered on this forum - unfairly I might add, considering the stats he puts up. Watching him against Liverpool as well, I felt like there is still a lot of quality there. He's on a free and offers a profile we are looking for in depth. I don't think there would be a great deal of difference between quality with him and Eriksen to be honest. Eriksen is clearly superior on the ball, but he offers absolutely zero defensively and physically.

Veiga has, he's been pushed forward more recently, hence the goals, but has played in a double pivot and right side of a 3. If we're happy Eriksen can play in a double pivot, Majer can too. Eriksen offers absolutely no protection defensively, so the aim of the game would be to recreate Eriksen's strengths, which is creativity and progressive passing.

He's not shit though, Leicester are this season and he's not had his best season, but he still objectively progresses the ball well and creates opportunities for his team mates.
He is shit and it's not just this season.
 
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