Matěj Kovář | Leverkusen watch

[FerociousCorgis]

i did early on say jokingly the club should just go with him as the gk this year. Wouldve been a massive call though. Hindsight is 20-20 but perhaps he couldve replicated pretty much the same as what we got from Onana and that money couldve gone to other holes for us.

Or he couldve imploded under the pressure here. Who knows

 

[Glorio]

We could have made easily Kovar number 2 instead of buying Bayindar, Kovar looked pretty good in pre season

I reckon it's completely pointless being a number 2 goal keeper under EtH. Unless there's a serious injury to the number 1 you're not playing.

 

[Varun1]

Getting rid of Dave was absolutely the right decision. The build up play is a disaster with a GK like him. And while I say that, I still love Dave. He was amazing for us but his time here was up.

From the little I've watched, I don't think we look much better with Onana. Besides, the long term view would have been to bed in Kovar who is good with his feet.

 

[Cassidy]

I reckon it's completely pointless being a number 2 goal keeper under EtH. Unless there's a serious injury to the number 1 you're not playing.

If we were a smart club we would have given Kovar cup games league cup and FA cup (its not just on the manager, the club as a whole)

 

[Glorio]

If we were a smart club we would have given Kovar cup games league cup and FA cup (its not just on the manager, the club as a whole)

A smart club wouldn't overrule their hired manager on who should play for what game though, that should be purely the manager's purview, else they'll undermine his authority and cause bigger problems.

 

[Cassidy]

A smart club wouldn't overrule their hired manager on who should play for what game though, that should be purely the manager's purview, else they'll undermine his authority and cause bigger problems.

Nothing to do with overruling anyone

 

[Gandalf]

i did early on say jokingly the club should just go with him as the gk this year. Wouldve been a massive call though. Hindsight is 20-20 but perhaps he couldve replicated pretty much the same as what we got from Onana and that money couldve gone to other holes for us.

Or he couldve imploded under the pressure here. Who knows

I was very much of the view that we should have gone with Kovar as our starter. He clearly fit the profile of what we were looking for from Onana but of course lacked experience. It would have been the bold choice but it could have saved us a fortune had it worked out.

I do think his departure was about money though. Whilst on the surface the fee we received was not much more than we spent on Bayindir, with amoritization and Kovar being an academy product it actually showed a healthy profit in the books and we now know just how close to the line we were with Profit and Sustainability last summer. I think it is a shame, as I remain convinced Matej will go on to be a top keeper for quite a few years but hopefully we will see a lot less of this poor and panicky decision making under INEOS.

 

[DWelbz19]

Fair play to him and he's now a champion, but my word what was the point in letting him go and buying Bayindir??

Bayindir was a ten Hag target -- Ajax were after him in 2020/21.

 

[stefan92]

Something he did fail at because he is riding the bench in Germany now.

But he doesn't, he gets a reasonable amount of matches and shares the job with an experienced and aging keeper who he can completely replace, maybe already for next season. He likely will have 18 matches in total, Hradecky 34 when the season ends. That's pretty good. Riding the bench is what Bayindir does at United and what would likely have been his fate if he stayed.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Bayindir was a ten Hag target -- Ajax were after him in 2020/21.

…of course

 

[Bastian]

We could have made easily Kovar number 2 instead of buying Bayindar, Kovar looked pretty good in pre season

I dont' dispute that, but would he have seen any action? Would he have developed here as much? I doubt that. I'm not saying we should have bought Bayindir though.

 

[led_scholes]

Let him evolve for 2 years and then buy him back. It's better that we let him go, because ETH would never start him over Onana.

 

[hasanejaz88]

He'd be a great second choice keeper, done well at Leverkusen. Can't say he should be first choice though but that's maybe what he wants.

Would be interesting if he stays at Leverkusen because he'll likely continue in this role next season (though one can't complain about playing in every European and Cup match).

 

[Cassidy]

I dont' dispute that, but would he have seen any action? Would he have developed here as much? I doubt that. I'm not saying we should have bought Bayindir though.

If we were a smart club yes we could have given him cup games

 

[Varun1]

I was very much of the view that we should have gone with Kovar as our starter. He clearly fit the profile of what we were looking for from Onana but of course lacked experience. It would have been the bold choice but it could have saved us a fortune had it worked out.

I do think his departure was about money though. Whilst on the surface the fee we received was not much more than we spent on Bayindir, with amoritization and Kovar being an academy product it actually showed a healthy profit in the books and we now know just how close to the line we were with Profit and Sustainability last summer. I think it is a shame, as I remain convinced Matej will go on to be a top keeper for quite a few years but hopefully we will see a lot less of this poor and panicky decision making under INEOS.

Not buying Onana in the first place would have helped with FFP, unless Onana's amortised value counts towards this year's FFP and Kovar's sale counts towards last year's.

 

[Bastian]

If we were a smart club yes we could have given him cup games

Yeah. No arguments there. Maybe we will be run in a more sensible fashion from this summer onwards.

 

[Borninthe80ts]

This just feels like another stick to beat the manager with. He is at an age where he needed game time consistently to develop and is probably still not getting enough now, even though the level is high. He has played 14 games this season when I think he should be in the 20’s, even if not for his current club. If he plays consistently well the buy back clause is there for that reason.