Ronaldo is one of the greatest of all time and is still going strong at 33. No one would be surprised if he kept going closer to 40.
He floated his crosses and Rooney feasted. You're mixing up memories of his decline with what he looked like in his peak
Not sure. He was so quick and strong that he always found himself behind the fullback, and his bests strength was his ability to look up and pick a player out. He could look up and float in the perfect ball. Now he always finds himself squared up with the full-back so when he tries to pick someone out he just smashes it against them or over-hits it. I wouldn't say he was ever a really great natural crosser who could whip balls into the right areas.
When has he ever been a good crosser? And did he suddenly lose that ability when he got older?
Valencia was immense for us in 11/12 and our star player that season. Willian has never been as good as that. Willian has been the more consistent player for sure but peak Valencia was better.
A Winger that never reached double figure goals in his whole career was better at his peak than a winger that you thought never reached double figure goals but actually did it three times in the last three season.
I am very confident that one could replace Willian with Valencia and nothing would change. If Valencia had played for Chelsea and we were looking to buy him at 30 you'd be saying what you are saying about Willian for Valencia.
By quiet you mean Chelsea Player of the Year?
'Peak' Valencia is a redundant term. He was nothing more than a hard working winger that would score a goal once in a while. He played because he had a consistent level and was always willing to support both the attack and defense due to his physical qualities.
Well yes, that's why a 30 year old Willian is going for £60m while a 33 year old Ronaldo has gone for £105m.
Whenever I watch Chelsea, Willian always looked like one of their best players after Hazard. And I thought he was good for Brazil too. Our right wing would be significantly improved by his signing
Younger maybe. But we have Chong.
Martial + Cash for Dembele would be great. But it's a pipe dream to get that deal done. The logistics of that basically make it impossible.
Yes he did.
Yes and it was the oddest thing to see. Defenders got better at anticipating what he was going to do but that still doesn't explain how he completely lost his ability to float crosses or how he just started pointlessly smashing low crosses. Maybe it was the injury
He was. I'm sure a basic YouTube video could show this. I know yt videos aren't indicative of the real thing but in his case they are. Will repeat that Valencia received the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year and the Manchester United Players' Player of the Year award in 2012. Think about that for a second if you want proof. He was most definitely a lethal crosser and terrorised leftbacks that year
You won't find a single person saying he was always shite for us. No one has said that. People have however said that peak valencia wasn't an enigma and amazing player. He was just another Park Ji Sung type of player, would die on the pitch for us and chipped in at important moments.
I know, but if I'm going to muppet I'd rather do it over that deal than £70m for a fossilised, inconsistant Brazilian or a certain Welshman who's never going to sign for us. It's probably more doable than either of the other two. Lets be fair, Martial would be over there like a rat up a drainpipe, so its just a case of selling the idea of Martial to Barca and United to Dembele + sorting out how much cash is appropriate.
Pipe dream because Dembele is not a winger with work rate. Replacing one lack of work rate with another; especially defensive work rate. Jose simply won't be interested as his tactics are geared purely to the likes of willian or Perisic. We can only ever afford one player like that & it historically tends to be the star that cuts in from the touchline.
Talk me through that one.
Quick footed, plays in a position where they have an ageing star (Suarez). Tell Barca they can take him on loan for the season, with £50m to come off the instalments for Dembele if they like him, take the extension on his contract so we can flog him next year if he gets sent back.
How much do we pay for Dembele if they don't keep Martial after the loan?
Right, he was a very effective crosser. I don't need Youtube to remember that he wasn't a natural crosser who could just whip ball after ball into the box. He never ever put it in first time. He would be brilliant at picking players out which I agree was very lethal.
He's an authentically pleasing footballer (which is why he's rated highly by people who mainly see us in highlights) and good at turning defense into attack on the counter but get him in the final 3rd he tends to overthink things and his brain can't catch up with his feet. He's a solid 6/7 out of 10 and rarely shifts from that level either side, that's why he tends to look great when the teams arounds him is off form and also ends up on the bench when the team is on a hot streak (Conte's first season).
Happy to give them most of their cash back. £120m for him, or £70m + Martial after they've had a look at him for a season.
Regarding the bit I've highlighted in bold. You're probably correct there but you're ignoring the fact that Valencia generally wasn't very good at all between ages 28-31ish his peak was short lived 24-26ish so your comparison is a bit weak.
A Winger that never reached double figure goals in his whole career was better at his peak than a winger that you thought never reached double figure goals but actually did it three times in the last three season.
I am very confident that one could replace Willian with Valencia and nothing would change. If Valencia had played for Chelsea and we were looking to buy him at 30 you'd be saying what you are saying about Willian for Valencia.
That's because Valencia was always a one trick pony. He had pace which would get him past the defender and put in a cross. These days, Valencia seems to have developed some sort of allergy with crossing or taking on a defender. It's usually sideways or backward passes.
I like Martial and wouldn't want him to be sold unless we get Dembele or Mbappe to replace him. With that being said, Dembele hasn't hit the heights at Barca and I"m not quite sure Mourinho would be able to nurture him although I'm a huge fan.
It amazes me how people overrate DembeWho? Here. A player who only managed 8 goals in all competitions for Dortmund, Janet done a thing for Barcelona, didn’t even play 30 minutos in the WC... He is not with what Barcelona payed for him, and it would be mental to exchange him for Martial, considering Tony has more goals and assists in him.
We have the benefit of having seen Willian. He doesn't compare to recent attacking signings like Coutinho for example. He would drown
You've either got an atrocious memory, or didn't watch football during 11/12. The guy was unbelievable that year, and would consistently destroy the opposition left back. He wasn't just a hard worker, he'd skin his man 9 times out of 10.
Barcelona bought Malcom so they gave up Willian cause of price.
Lets just agree to disagree, i think Willian would do well for us and you do not.
ummm...where did I say he wasn't a good player? Do you think hard working and supporting both phases of play is a bad thing? Also supporting the attack means attacking the fullback areas by the way.
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