Dodging a Bullet thread

Bwuk

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Bissouma has been rubbish for Spurs. This place acted like he was the next Casemiro.
 

Erik the Red

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Pogba still hasn't played for Juventus since his re-signing, and now he will miss the World Cup. And to think some fans wanted to extend his contract on the back of four assists in the first game of last season, followed by months of moaning. Definitely dodged a bullet there.
 

Lux Thunder

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Not quite "dodging a bullet" but back in 2019., when Andreas and Lingard were starting games in the #10 role, I wanted us to sing Dani Olmo, who played at Dinamo Zagreb at the time. He was phenomenal, can't remember the last time when a player at his level was still playing in Croatia and he made good runs with Dinamo Zagreb in Europe too.

His performances in Europe were proof of how special talent he is and that he was truly ready to move to the top leagues. While still in the competition, Olmo was among the leaders of the Europa League in season 2018/19. and Champions League season later for stats like take-on duels and successful dribbles.

His story was also telling about his determination and top mentality: left La Masia at age of 16, even though he was highly rated there, came to Croatia to play first-team football and to adapt quicker he learned our language, which I found extremely difficult and impressive.

His national team story was also showing how mentally strong he is. In the summer of 2019., U21 Euro took a place in Italy and he spent the opening defeat against the hosts on the bench. In Spain's second game against Belgium, he started and scored the opener after just 7 minutes of play. He earned his place in starting eleven and you could almost see Spain's transformation in this tournament through his personal renaissance - from a bench warmer in the first game to the MVP in the finale. He scored in the semi-final and final, was voted in the team of the tournament and, as mentioned before, was MVP of the final against Germany. A few months later, he made Spain's first team squad, still being in Dinamo Zagreb.

I highly rated him as a great technical player with an extremely high football IQ, something lacking in our team at that moment. He looked to me so intelligent and versatile that he could influence games no matter what position he is playing - in the U21 Euro final he played as #9.

He didn't have much on his contract with Dinamo, maybe a year and a half or two, when he moved to RB Leipzig in the same January 2020. transfer window when we signed Bruno, just a few days earlier. And we all know how much influence Bruno made afterward. There was a story in Croatia about our interest in Olmo and scouts attending games in Zagreb but he moved to Leipzig for something like 20m + bonuses, which I considered as a bargain for a player of his potential, but with Bruno transforming our team I was satisfied we got him instead.

Sadly, after he had a very good Euro 2020 with Spain, Olmo will now miss WC in Qatar due to his injuries but I really hope for him to have a great career.
 

Stadjer

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Bissouma has been rubbish for Spurs. This place acted like he was the next Casemiro.
Bissouma was excellent last season and Manchester United really needed a defensive midfielder (for years at that point). Nobody knew that getting Casemiro was even an option so wanting to get one of the best defensive midfielders in the league for a relative low price made total sense at that time. Would have been good to have on the bench too. If Casemiro gets injured or suspended McT will be his replacement...