Franck Kessie, anyone?

Sultan

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Although he ended up on the losing side I thought his performances over the 2 legs were very good and could be a great addition for our midfield. Very energetic and hardly misplaced a pass. Replacement for Matic or could give Fred and Scott some competition?

I have only ever watched, or heard of him over the last 2 games against United. What do Serie A observers who have watched him on a regular basis think?
 

Samid

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"Do not create threads for players unless you can provide a source. If there's no source then you're simply discussing a footballer, so go to the Football Forum instead"
 

roonster09

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Kessie was close to signing for Juventus back in 2013. "In 2013 – after the Under-17 World Cup – they wanted me, but I had watched Milan and I loved [Andriy] Shevchenko," the Ivorian told Gazzetta dello Sport.

One day, however, he dreams of playing at Old Trafford. “I'd like to play for Manchester United. I don't know if [Jose] Mourinho will be there, but they have always been my favourite team."
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...rian-star-manchester-citys-and-arsenals-radar

He said few times that his dream is to play for ManUtd. Hopefully we sign him, looks very good player.
 

charlenefan

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Yep he looked pretty good over the two legs
 

Jonesno.8

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Very physical, bit of a shithouse too. I thought second leg, Fred and McT did a good job on him. Would we say he is box to box, certainly has a creative side
 

Sultan

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"Do not create threads for players unless you can provide a source. If there's no source then you're simply discussing a footballer, so go to the Football Forum instead"
My apologies. In-Shaa-Allah this doesn't spoil your Friday.

@roonster09 has provided a link so I will keep this thread in the transfer forum.
 

Adam-Utd

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Rarely ever watch Milan but he impressed me over the 2 games. Might have just been "playing up" though for a big match.
 

Brightonian

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Yeah really good over both legs, physical and hardworking but also very tidy on the ball. Plays a bit like Fred if he was a foot taller and a stone more muscular. If he plays like this regularly I wouldn't say no at £40m or so. Can't hurt if he really does have ambitions to play for us.
 

Scorpy

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He's been one of Milan's best players this season, quite possibly the best alongside Ibra. Only 24 years old too.
 

youngrell

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He definitely displayed better intelligence and technical ability than Fred or Scott in midfield.

You can see from his body shape and how simple he makes his passes look, that he's thinking of his next pass in advance. Something that can't be said too often of our midfielders currently. This gives hime both the space and time to execute his passing with very good efficiency.

Would probably work well with Fred, actually.
 

Dve

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- He dreams of playing for United
- He´s a DM
- He has 14 goals and 2 assists in 44 matches this season
- He has one year left of his contract
- 24 years old

Looks like a no-brainer to me.
 

Samid

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- He dreams of playing for United
- He´s a DM
- He has 14 goals and 2 assists in 44 matches this season
- He has one year left of his contract
- 24 years old

Looks like a no-brainer to me.
Most of those goals are penalties. I think I've read in the past that we often steer away from African players because of Afcon in the middle of the season, might play a part here.
 

Brightonian

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Most of those goals are penalties. I think I've read in the past that we often steer away from African players because of Afcon in the middle of the season, might play a part here.
We wouldn't be buying him to score goals so I don't think that part matters really.
 

11101

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He's been one of their better players this season, not sure that qualifies him to come here though. He is more progressive and box to box than any of our midfielders and despite supposedly being a defensive mid doesn't get involved as much in that side as our current pairing. It's hard to judge as you get so much more time in midfield in Serie A.

He shone against old man Matic but when we turned up with a proper team Fred and McTominay controlled him pretty well.
 

Abraxas

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It's worth noting most of his goals seem to be penalties so I don't think goal threat would be a major reason to buy him.

However I did like his work on the ball. He always seemed to take a touch into the right position to beat the press, he always had more space than anybody else (especially first leg) and his passing was very accurate, even with the cheekier lobbed passes. Nobody could shrug him off the ball either.

Very interesting player. Could have just been a great performance against us, there's been a few over the years by fairly average players in Europe - Pione Sisto had a God like game against us. But it did not seem that way, most of what he was doing can just be subscribed to very good technique and awareness and there's no reason that should disappear, they weren't high risk actions that may not come off in another game.

Depending on whether he's available and the price involved it looks an interesting option as we do need a little more in midfield and he is quite different to McTominay and Fred. It might be the kind of signing that suits us with a limited budget following recent financial results that plugs a hole while allowing us to direct funds to massive issues.
 
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Zlatan 7

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I haven’t seen much of him but he looked decent over the two legs which surprised me as before the first leg, they were showing his ‘highlights’ on BT bigging him up but he just seemed to be constantly running down blind alleys and losing it after winning it.
 

harms

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Yeah, he looked quite good although I have to admit that I don’t know anything about him.
 

AgentSmith

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Would a midfield of:

Kessie Pogba
Bruno​

be viable enough to play consistently in 90% of games next season?
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Thought he was good and played well over the two legs but can’t help but feel he’s still not what we need. We need a player who’s best attribute is passing and retaining the ball. Someone to control the whole game from deep. Not sure he’s that player.
 

Dve

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Most of those goals are penalties. I think I've read in the past that we often steer away from African players because of Afcon in the middle of the season, might play a part here.
Didn´t know that, but it still counts to the plus side that he´s picked out to take those penalties. And we already have two Ivorians at the club in Bailly and Diallo - which could help him thrive - so I´m not sure how much Afcon actually matters. I can´t have any strong opinion on him after just these two games, of course, but he looked good.
 

Devil81

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Would the game be too fast for him in England?

I thought he looked good over the two legs but I'm not sure he was the most mobile looking midfielder. Also were his short pulled down deliberately over the two legs or were they longer in length like a basketball short?
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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He's solid, him and Meite were a handful over both legs. I honestly think it would have been a 5-1 aggregate without them.
 

GledTheRed

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I suggested him a couple of years ago when Wolves almost signed him for 15 million quid, nobody was interested in my gem unearthing.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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- He dreams of playing for United
- He´s a DM
- He has 14 goals and 2 assists in 44 matches this season
- He has one year left of his contract
- 24 years old

Looks like a no-brainer to me.
He's not really a DM, I think he's a box to box and just to put a note on it that 8 of those goals were from penalties.
 

Grande

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I remember him from us being linked with him for a while. Hadn’t really looked much on his game before this face off. Impressive in the first game. Does remind a bit of a blend of McTom and Fred, so he’d have to be clearly better for it to make any sense buying him.