Sources: Erik ten Hag told by Man United scout to sign Lyon sensation
https://www.teamtalk.com/manchester...er-oust-senior-star-ruthless-ten-hag-overhaul
https://www.teamtalk.com/manchester...er-oust-senior-star-ruthless-ten-hag-overhaul
Castello Lukeba
- Thread starter bosskeano
- Start date
Don't know anything about the kid- although I'm sure he's very talented if he's starting regularly for Lyon - but the article makes the point that he's left footed and that he would be brought in because Licha is our only left footed CB. I can't imagine us throwing huge money at a CB who will be sitting on the bench most of the time and more pertinently I can't imagine that he'd want to come to us if we're just offering backup minutes.
Don't like the name. Sounds too much like a PES player in much the same way that Pobega at Milan is the PES Pogba; Lukeba is the PES Lukaku.
I thought you'd have gone for the real life Castolo.
If he's a "generational talent" it would be a very sensible signing. We lack quality cover at centre back and we'd likely be better served with a left footer do deputise for Martinez having Shaw for the left back role. I think we'll definitely sign a centre back this summer, a young French prospect would have Varane there to acclimatise.
I assume almost no one here knows anything about him, but if not, what's his ball playing ability like?
I assume almost no one here knows anything about him, but if not, what's his ball playing ability like?
Minanda and Castolo are life. The stuff of legend.
excellent feet at the 1:24 mark of the video.....looks very quick. Hell if you can sell Harry for 40m then you bring in this kid. I'd hate to see us miss out on another Varane type french CB when he chose madrid over us a few years back
Probably going to happen though, Jones is still at the club.
Patrick Schick is the one we should target.
This makes little sense - Maguire is a RCB, Utd already have Martinez at LCB and a good backup for him in Shaw when necessary.
If Utd were to sign an up-coming CB it needs to be a right-footed, RCB to be backup/rotation for Varane.
Also, I've not seen enough of this guy to tell if he's a Varane-level talent, but France have been producing a lot of good CBs lately - it's not been that long since Badiashile was being widely heralded as the next big thing. They're not all going to be the next Varane.
I’d be surprised if we signed another left footed CB
We need one. We have 3 right footed centre backs and 1 left footed.
Shaw is a better attacking LB than Malacia and obviously can play LCB when needed. If you don't sell Lindelof then you have a RCB already in place behind Varane.
Scouting department seems very high on him and you can't ever have enough left footed players in your squad
Scouting department seems very high on him and you can't ever have enough left footed players in your squad
Probably best young LCB around, outside of Gvardiol of course. Still a bit raw but outstanding attributes
Who in the Pro Evo name is he?
Ten Hag clearly doesn't rate Maguire and Lindelof. For sure one will be sold in the summer - maybe even both if a replacement is identified.
Shaw is more than capable as backup LCB.
I'm hopeful that both will be moved on, I've never been totally convinced with Lindelof, and Maguire has been fairly poor recently. There doesn't appear to be any outstanding candidates from the academy who could step straight in to replace either of those, so I'm pretty sure we will sign one CB, possibly this guy, or one of the few who have been mentioned, but I have a lot of faith in Ten Hag and his coaches identifying and hopefully signing one of these guys.
We more than certainly will in my opinion
Same, seems like a 2024 buy at LCB at earliest.
If we assume Maguire is going to Villa or West Ham or wherever for 20-25M, which I do, then the depth chart is clearly stronger at LCB with Shaw playing so well and Lisandro a better bet to play 45 games a year than Varane:
Lisandro-Shaw-Lindelof at LCB
Varane-Lindelof at RCB
That's not even close. This looks about right, especially if we rate Alvaro to be a useful attacking sub as a backup LB in 2024-25 after one more year on loan:
Shaw-Malacia-Alvaro at LB
Lisandro-Shaw-Lindelof at LCB
Varane-RCB-Lindelof at RCB
Dalot-RB at RB
is my guess, and it wouldn't be surprising if Wan-Bissaka gets one more year since Malo Gusto has gone to Chelsea and I'm not sure I see an obvious RB out there to buy, though my guess is Ten Hag returns to Timber, possibly with the idea of him being converted into a backup for Casemiro, instead of us signing a proper DM to replace McTominay, who I assume will go but might stay as Ten Hag seems intrigued by his physical attributes at least. Might depend on the offer.
Maybe do what Chelsea and Arsenal (Gusto, Saliba) did and sign this kid and loan him back to Lyon for a year or 6 months if we do it in January?
I think he rates Lindelof fine as 4th CB who can cover either spot and pass the ball a bit. If Inter or someone offers 25M for him, that might be a different story.
He's not going to play anyone at LCB on the regular that isn't left footed....he's well established that fact
He rates Harry above Lindelof as we saw in the Leeds game.
Licha is only 25 so he’ll probably be first choice for a long time.
Signing N’Dicka on a free probably makes more sense for us.
Signing N’Dicka on a free probably makes more sense for us.
Barcelona have reportedly reached a verbal agreement to sign Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan N'Dicka this summer.
The 23-year-old Frenchman is expected to leave the Bundesliga outfit as his current contract is due to expire at the end of the season.
N'Dicka, a 6ft 4in central defender, has spent the last four-and-a-half years with Frankfurt and has been a first-team regular since joining the club from Auxerre in 2018.
Huh, oh well.. Point still stands though.
Its next to guaranteed. Eric is going to desire left footed cover for Martinez. Only way he skips it is if Alex Fernandez is ready to challenge for a left back spot.
He's played Lindelof over Harry too I think in the past.
Maguire is a better fit as a sub (come on and win headers, defend the box) and as a starting option for variety when everyone is healthy (and we play a physical #9 who could give Lindelof trouble). But Lindelof is a better passer (less diags, but moves it quicker and sees short passes smaller).
Basically Maguire is overqualified to be happy in the #3 role but Lindelof might be okay with being the #4 who's really the #5 in that Shaw is ahead of him. If not, he'll go too I imagine.
I still think we might go back in for Timber. Lisandro's height hasn't been a huge problem, our RBs barely ever overlap so Timber not being fast over longer distances might not be a huge deal and Ten Hag might even think he can be Casemiro's backup. But City might too if they think Walker is past it.
We can get away with one small CB, I really would not like us to take the risk of playing with two and I think there are plenty of young CBs around the 182-4 mark that would be better and cheaper options than Timber.
I'm undecided, but I can't imagine Ten Hag has seen much this season to suggest that using the ball well is the key attribute for defenders in his system, and Timber helps with that. Malacia is doing well and that and tenacity are basically all he brings to the table.
What is the key attribute then?
Axel Disasi at monaco is a better fit for us. He is more of a generational talent than this dude. He is strong, fast, passes really well and is good one vs one. He would be a backup to varane and can play RB really well. With him, we can safely get rid of maguire, Bailey and say wan bissaka.
He's four years older and Lukeba is extremely highly rated in France. I don't think he's in any way more of a generational talent than Lukeba who has been getting significant game time at Lyon since he was 18.
Not sure if it will be Lukeba ten Hag signs, but I do think he'll want another left footed centre back.
Yes, Shaw has done very well at centre back when played there this season, but he's our first choice left back, and a very good one at that. This means, we shouldn't have to move one of our best players out of their natural position due to a lack of options.
We've seen Arteta recently purchasing Jakub Kiwior, who is a left footed centre back, to compete with Gabriel.
Shaw/Malacia
Martinez/Left Footed Centre Back
Varane/Lindelof
Dalot/Wan-Bissaka
The other option, if people feel 8 players is too many, is to kill two birds with one stone and sign a centre back who can play right back (lets say Timber), leaving us with:
Shaw/Malacia
Martinez/Left Footed Centre Back
Varane/Timber
Dalot/Timber
Yes, Shaw has done very well at centre back when played there this season, but he's our first choice left back, and a very good one at that. This means, we shouldn't have to move one of our best players out of their natural position due to a lack of options.
We've seen Arteta recently purchasing Jakub Kiwior, who is a left footed centre back, to compete with Gabriel.
Shaw/Malacia
Martinez/Left Footed Centre Back
Varane/Lindelof
Dalot/Wan-Bissaka
The other option, if people feel 8 players is too many, is to kill two birds with one stone and sign a centre back who can play right back (lets say Timber), leaving us with:
Shaw/Malacia
Martinez/Left Footed Centre Back
Varane/Timber
Dalot/Timber
He was absolutely superb last season in Lyons Europa league run, had a great battle and stood up physically to Antonio during the time he was on fire.
I didnt actually pay attention to the fact that he was left footed and a left sided centre back until reading this thread, purely for that reason its probably a no.
Generational talent is over used so so much and tbh is in this case....but he looks like a great player in the making. But he wont be moving to any club to sit on the bench and with Martinez being so good and Shaw doing so well when he has played there....added to the fact he wont be cheap, the signing now doesnt make sense, I thought for some reason he was right sided when I have watched Lyon, show how good my obersvation is.
But its back up and competition for Varane better than Lindelof we need to sign this summer, but Lukeba looks talented enough for me to play for the big sides in Europe.
People been raving about Guimaraes at Newcastle and was a lot excitement about Paqueta too with West Ham fans when he signed.....but for me outside of the huge signings like Bellingham for example the player we should be looking at from Lyon is Caqueret, Him and Lukeba look like the jewls at Lyon to me, think he fits the profile of player we need
I didnt actually pay attention to the fact that he was left footed and a left sided centre back until reading this thread, purely for that reason its probably a no.
Generational talent is over used so so much and tbh is in this case....but he looks like a great player in the making. But he wont be moving to any club to sit on the bench and with Martinez being so good and Shaw doing so well when he has played there....added to the fact he wont be cheap, the signing now doesnt make sense, I thought for some reason he was right sided when I have watched Lyon, show how good my obersvation is.
But its back up and competition for Varane better than Lindelof we need to sign this summer, but Lukeba looks talented enough for me to play for the big sides in Europe.
People been raving about Guimaraes at Newcastle and was a lot excitement about Paqueta too with West Ham fans when he signed.....but for me outside of the huge signings like Bellingham for example the player we should be looking at from Lyon is Caqueret, Him and Lukeba look like the jewls at Lyon to me, think he fits the profile of player we need
Lyon have been so woefully managed. They churn out talent year after year and have so many highly sought players but underperform year after year. Cherki, Caqueret, Lepenent all very good prospects and the likes of El Arouch, Da Silva and Kumbedi who are even younger seem to be very highly regarded too.
This summer we must test Lyon with a bid for Caqueret. With Cherki and Lepenent's rise they might be inclined to let him go for a reasonable fee
We missed the boat with Gusto already. Caqueret is interesting but for me we should be looking at Cherki.