Centre Back... Who do we go for?

[DSG]

Umtiti apparently still has knee problems. Still not 100%, which is scary given he was at Barcelona and they tend to have world class physical therapy / physios / surgeons. 5 months out with a stretched knee ligament... and Barca desperate to sell.

I can’t figure out why we wouldn’t bring in Manolas with a €30m release clause. Maguire is a bit overpriced vs performance IMHO, but maybe the fact that he’s English and fits the homegrown requirements means he’s more expensive. If you need that though, why not tick that box with AWB at RB.

 

[Harry190]

We're still getting Alderweireld, yes. I suppose not much noise out there to let him focus on the primary task at hand; preventing Liverpool from winning.

 

[SambaBoy]

I think we should try sign 2 from De Ligt, Koulibaly, Varane, Maguire, Alderweireld, Skrininar, Hermoso, Diop, Upameanco, Konate, Milenkovic.

Should also try bring in Collins and Godfrey and loan them back to their parent clubs.

 

[SilentWitness]

I think we should try sign 2 from De Ligt, Koulibaly, Varane, Maguire, Alderweireld, Skrininar, Hermoso, Diop, Upameanco, Konate, Milenkovic.

I would agree with this. I think that Maguire would be a very good centre back for a top club but not as the 'main' player. He needs a better defender alongside him such as De Ligt or Alderweireld. I don't think the age thing with Alderweireld would be an issue either. Play him alongside Maguire until he needs to retire and by that time Maguire will have matured enough to bring in the next batch of young CBs. De Ligt and Varane seem set to move/stay at the top La Liga clubs.

 

[Adnan]

I think we should try sign 2 from De Ligt, Koulibaly, Varane, Maguire, Alderweireld, Skrininar, Hermoso, Diop, Upameanco, Konate, Milenkovic.

Should also try bring in Collins and Godfrey and loan them back to their parent clubs.

I'd go with De Ligt and Konate/Milenkovic from your list of players. Need at least one CB with recovery pace or else we'd be vulnerable to getting caught out in a high line which is what Ole wants to deploy next season reportedly.

 

[davidmichael]

I would agree with this. I think that Maguire would be a very good centre back for a top club but not as the 'main' player. He needs a better defender alongside him such as De Ligt or Alderweireld. I don't think the age thing with Alderweireld would be an issue either. Play him alongside Maguire until he needs to retire and by that time Maguire will have matured enough to bring in the next batch of young CBs. De Ligt and Varane seem set to move/stay at the top La Liga clubs.

We could realistically get Alderweireld and Maguire for a combined £80-£100 million then have Smalling, Lindelof and Tuanzebe as back up and move on Jones, Bailly and Rojo which should bring in at least £40 million combined so we’d upgrade huge at centre back for a net spend of £40-£60 million.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Jones has to go - too error prone
Rojo & Bailly - too injury prone; partly due to their all-or-nothing play style.

That leaves us with Smalling, Lindelof & Tzunzebe.

Since we won't be selling 3 in one summer, it looks like we only need buy 1 this summer. I'd take Alderweireld for £25m/£30m. Or take Milan Skriniar in a straight swap for Lukaku Otherwise, what about that kid at Liepzig? Ibrahima Konate.

Please avoid CBs who make too many errors. That means Maguire. Also please avoid players worth their weight in gold. They ain't.

Pink stats are straight Squawka.
Peach stats are multiplied by 1800 and divided by minutes played, to get a stat which is per 20 matches, so as to better compare them.
Rojo is not there because he only played 110 minutes. de Ligt missing because Squawka don't do little leagues, and only half to the German league.

In this list, the choice of centre back is a bit random. I looked for younger CBs in top leagues (but included 2 who played in the Championship). Real Madrid can sign a CB for EUR 50m, but United have to pay EUR 90m. There's something wrong with that. I think United should be more flexible and go after players who've not yet been grabbed by UEFA CL sides.

I think United should be a bit more open to other CBs from smaller clubs. Koulibaly is not worth his asking price.

 

[unplayable]

Otherwise, what about that kid at Liepzig?
Ibrahima Konate.

Would love that. Flying a bit under the radar it seems but I'm sure there will be a lot of people talking about him next year. Brilliant talent.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Would love that. Flying a bit under the radar it seems but I'm sure there will be a lot of people talking about him next year. Brilliant talent.

Leipzig will not let him go for cheap.

 

[unplayable]

Leipzig will not let him go for cheap.

They definitely won't, but he is worth a lot of money. I reckon he will be recognized as the best CB in the league by the end of next season.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

They definitely won't, but he is worth a lot of money. I reckon he will be recognized as the best CB in the league by the end of next season.

I still like Dayot better.

 

[Devil may care]

The de Ligt thing is almost certain to end in tears and I don't think the Koulibaly numbers add up for the club while Alderweirld's age and the fact he's a mercenary out purely for money means I think we'll avoid him as well. I can see us trying for Maguire which might happen, the Milenkovic interest seemed to be more Mourinho's than the club. If none of them happen I have no idea what we'll do, I'm not a big fan of Smalling but he's not so bad that just any kid plucked from a European league will give us the upgrade we need IMO.

 

[unplayable]

I still like Dayot better.

Also like him, but I definitely prefer Konate.
Future is looking decent for Leipzig.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

Bailly, Rojo, Jones and possibly Smalling should be on the "GTFO" list this summer.

Ake and Godfrey should be brought in.

If we can get de Ligt without selling our soul to Raiola or giving him Sanchez wages (something we might do), then I'm all for it.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Same table with a column added (blocks + intercepts). Sorted on that column. Ibrahima Konate looking very good now. Please get. [Only a joke no one takes notices of stats, do they?]

 

[Keeps It tidy]

@Mark Pawelek what year is the stats from because they still have Lenglet and Laporte's old clubs on the graphs?

 

[Mark Pawelek]

They are Squawka. Scraped from the public website. The most recent available. Same as this matrix: http://stats.squawka.com/en/compari...e190423&s=401,402,403,404,405,406,407,409,410

PS: Ibrahima Konate pass completion not go great at only 76% (WhoScored). In mitigation: young CBs can often gain as much as 7% improvement per year in pass completion in their early years. Apart from that, I think I'd prefer him to de Ligt, because this transfer saga is so embarassing. Of course de Ligt isn't going to come. If he does the wage structure is still F___ed

 

[sideshow_bob]

Same table with a column added (blocks + intercepts). Sorted on that column. Ibrahima Konate looking very good now. Please get. [Only a joke no one takes notices of stats, do they?]

If you can spare the time, possible to include these guys too please:

Serie A - Mancini, Andersen, Djimsiti, Romagnoli
BuLi - Elvedi
Ligue 1 - Herelle, Denayer
Liga NOS - Ferro, Dias

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Can't get Squawka stats for : Matthijs de Ligt, Ruben Dias, Ferro. They don't have Dutch or Portuguese leagues. Added more players. Most of sideshow_bob's. It's standardized to 1800 minutes and sorted in order of Blocks + interception.

 

[Cassidy]

Can't get Squawka stats for : Matthijs de Ligt, Ruben Dias, Ferro. They don't have Dutch or Portuguese leagues. Added more players. Most of sideshow_bob's. It's standardized to 1800 minutes and sorted in order of Blocks + interception.

Do you mind sharing link to the spreadsheet? Like google sheets?

Want to order some of the stats to view whos better at what

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Do you mind sharing link to the spreadsheet? Like google sheets?

Want to order some of the stats to view whos better at what

I put it on google spreadsheets. Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uPN-UZMHsvNcW38YEyRXbtib3cisFYXlCdi53kzVnE0/edit?usp=sharing

It converted any formulas to numbers when I pasted the data in.

 

[Cassidy]

I put it on google spreadsheets. Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uPN-UZMHsvNcW38YEyRXbtib3cisFYXlCdi53kzVnE0/edit?usp=sharing

It converted any formulas to numbers when I pasted the data in.

Awesome thanks!

 

[golden_blunder]

Don’t need a spreadsheet to tell me Koubilay is not worth the money quoted

 

[Acrobat7]

Can't get Squawka stats for : Matthijs de Ligt, Ruben Dias, Ferro. They don't have Dutch or Portuguese leagues. Added more players. Most of sideshow_bob's. It's standardized to 1800 minutes and sorted in order of Blocks + interception.

Laporte at Bilbao and Ginter at Dortmund... You sure you have the correct season covered?

 

[Garebo]

I would swap Lukaku for Skriniar.

 

[sideshow_bob]

Can't get Squawka stats for : Matthijs de Ligt, Ruben Dias, Ferro. They don't have Dutch or Portuguese leagues. Added more players. Most of sideshow_bob's. It's standardized to 1800 minutes and sorted in order of Blocks + interception.

thanks for adding the names I suggested.
There's an issue though.
Apart from the errors highlighted by @Acrobat7
Djimsiti of Atalanta played 1805 mins this season in the league according to whoscored. You have him down on 540mins.
(Also, Andersen is from sampdoria not inter)

I think you've plugged in last season's stats.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

This guy.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

thanks for adding the names I suggested.
There's an issue though.
Apart from the errors highlighted by @Acrobat7
Djimsiti of Atalanta played 1805 mins this season in the league according to whoscored. You have him down on 540mins.
(Also, Andersen is from sampdoria not inter)

I think you've plugged in last season's stats.

I'm definitely taking what Squawka say are 2018/2019 stats = 6 games / 540 minutes. WhoScored say he played 20 full games plus 4 part-games, for 1805 minutes. I think the explanation is Squawka stats are missing many games.

A bigger issue is what is a good Squawka comparison matrix for a central defender? I think this is a better matrix. Ben Godfrey's looking pretty good there! http://stats.squawka.com/en/compari...e190440&s=401,402,406,407,409,410,304,307,101

 

[Iam Zlatan Ibrahimovic]

Splash the cash. Want to see Koulibaly as LCB and Lindelof to the right.

 

[Macedonian Red]

Tuanzebe looks like big talent. Him and De Ligt can be our new chinese wall.

DDG(Romero)
Wan Bisaka(Dalot)
De Ligt(Smaling)
Lindelof(Tuanzebe)
Shaw(Young)
+ Fosu-Mensah.

Not the best defence but not bad at all. Next summer we should get rid of Young and buy new left back, someone who could fight for first team with Shaw. Maybe Chilwel.

Sell Darmian, Rojo, Bailly, Jones(Valencia is already leave).

 

[Fosu-Mens]

PS: Ibrahima Konate pass completion not go great at only 76% (WhoScored). In mitigation: young CBs can often gain as much as 7% improvement per year in pass completion in their early years. Apart from that, I think I'd prefer him to de Ligt, because this transfer saga is so embarassing. Of course de Ligt isn't going to come. If he does the wage structure is still F___ed

I agree with the wage structure argument and selling our soul to Raiola again...

Konate sure is impressive. And could physically dominate most attackers in the EPL (similar to VVD). The main issue with Konate is that he dives into tackles too often for my liking. Can be an indicator that his positioning is not good or that he does not read the game well. Best centrebacks in the world usually stays on their feet.

Could you add Merih Demiral to the spreadsheet?

 

[Champagne Football]

There's a 6'4 Lazio CB called Acerbi. 31 years old. Voted into the Serie A team of the season alongside Koulibaly at CB. Anyone know if he'd be a good stopgap for a couple of seasons?

I've never seen him play

 

[Harry190]

Watching Stam again during the weekend I'm thinking he wouldn't look out of place right now. What a freaking beast of a man.

 

[NoPace]

Watched Munich-Leipzig. Konate's play on the ball varied from fantastic to ugly. His closing speed when his fullbacks repeatedly played Bayern players on was incredible, looked very solid defensively too. Seems like a good fit for the Prem. Upamecano played on the left side of the two when he came on, as did Orban before, and they're all right footed I think, and typically managers seem to prefer their better passing CB on the left of the two (I think, at least that's what it feels like to me).

The other Leipzig players I was impressed by were Forsberg, as he's technically so good you wonder if he could be a great CM for us more like the way City use theirs and Adams the American DM who really broke up play well and while he wasn't special in possession he did move it quickly (Apparently some Americans say he's better at RB, so if we'd been clever enough to sign him from MLS and loan him he could have been a sort of Fabinho type coming into the squad and looking to either win the DM or RB job or at least cover both well, but now it probably makes sense to see if he's worth the big fee Leipzig will presumably hold out for anyways). Kampl is a solid CM at this point, too old to make a good signing but it's interesting how many wider midfielders eventually become mobile CMs like him and Schweinsteiger and older Giggs and such. It makes me think if the right team with the right system signs Lallana next year, he could have a good final couple years in the Prem for a team like Leicester or West Ham.

 

[MrBest]

This guy.

Wow, had never heard of him but he looks like a no nonsense player. Tackle hard clear the ball. He showed some good vision passing the ball but also looks slightly awkward which may be down to his size. We 100% miss someone on the pitch with his presence.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Hey guys do not search for all the stuff I said about Konate during the 17-18 season.

 

[Mark Pawelek]

Can someone please explain the love for Harry Maguire? He'll cost a lot. He made loads of errors last year. He's not such a great footballer. We already have CBs who make error upon error. Why do we need another one? How about going after someone cheaper, less error-prone?

 

[GDaly95]

Is it too dramatic to say we might be sleep-walking into a pretty grim situation here?

De Ligt - We all know this is unlikely
Koulibaly - Napoli seem to giving us (and maybe Madrid) a flat no on this one
Maguire - Linked with City and would have been tough to get in any case, forget about it
Alderweireld - Seems interested in returning to Ajax, nothing else reported

We haven't really been linked with anyone else have we? Ruben Dias surely doesn't fit the criteria of what we need right now.

 

[Ramshock]

Would Ramos even be able to handle the PL

 

[MUFC OK]

I think we will waste time on De Ligt only to lose out and panic buy Maguire for 70m.