If we had signed Roy Keane after a dozen PL games would he have been a less-than-shrewd signing? Is there a minimum game limit where a player's talent suddenly counts?
It's not about wanting "shiny new toys" but if we're going for these under the radar gambles as our primary targets it is a massive risk. We desperately lack quality, is Longstaff really going to improve on Matic/Scott/Fred? Is he even a bigger prospect than our own Garner? I don't mind signing someone like Longstaff or Dan James so long as they are going to supplement the 5-6 new starters we need. I suspect though that the club will be bringing in only 3 or 4 players including the likes of these, it isn't enough and worrying that they appear to be our priorities.
He’s not done his ACL
Completely different type of player. More like Carrick. Not sure what video's you're watching.
It should go without saying that we're not going to do "enough" in this transfer window. That's why our manager has publicly said we're looking at a multi-year rebuild. Four players in one summer won't be enough but twelve players in three summers might be and that's closer to the timeframe we're realistically looking at.
Great stuff chaps. Let's stick to buying big names because that truly guarantees success. And I hope you don't complain about us failing to sign good players before they become pricey.
It depends on A) How good the two players. Have you seen them week in week out? And B) Who we sign alongwith them and how well our manager manages us. I bet they won't be our only signings this summer. And no matter who we sign, Ole and co will have to coach the team well.
And you know worst part about negativity is ,he does look a good player who if developed properly could become very good deep playmaker one our team is crying out for but no ignore all that just crib and complain .
Which is very worrying, we need a major overhaul of the squad with lots of ins an outs. A slow rebuild where we tinker with the squad by adding 3-4 unproven players on top of the shite we have is not going to help us become competitive. As I said, is he better than our current options? or even our own academy prospect in the same role? We shouldn't be prioritising the signing of a player who in all honesty is a bench player for a team that wants to compete for top honours. It is absolutely not enough for now, and is indicative of the ambition and the competence of the people in charge.
There's tweets from 2011 of him supporting man utd, so he's a fan or at least used to be.
Sadio Mane was bought from a mid table side, Robertson was bought from relegated Hull. We're hardly packing our side with these type of players either. He's got DLP capabilities and looks defensively solid as well, he's exactly what we need.
Rooney was/is Everton through and through. Supporting a club as a boy has little input usually to furthering your career.
Maybe if he was Seanius ElongatedShillelagh from the Nice academy.
I'm sweating for this transfer as much as De Ligt to be fair. Matic did a good job of replacing the Carrick role for the first 6 months, but now it's 18 months later from that point and there's a massive hole in the midfield again. He'd be a huge signing.
Like Mane, Robertson and VVD? Yeah let's do that.
I haven’t seen much of him to be fair, is he that good? Would he come straight into the side?
The last 6-7 years has made most of our fans pessimists. Any move the club makes is seen as another mistake. I'm actually liking our move away from big money signings and going for younger players with great potential. It's these kind of signings that actually pay off for us. Evra, Vidic, De Gea, etc were all just good prospects before they joined us.
Potentially he is that good, and he'd get straight into our midfield. Pundits singled him out more or less every game he played up until he got injured.
Yes even this won't be a straightforward deal. We'll have to hope that Newcastle will be happy with a 20-25m offer for him.
Yeah, he was their best performer for close to 2 months before the injury. I was keeping an eye on him because of my draft league.
Mane and VVD both had 2 or 3 full PL seasons before joining Liverpool, and Robertson had a full season at hull compared to the 9 games Longstaff as played in the league this season. Furthermore, they all joined what was an improving team under a top coach. We're asking the likes of Longstaff to come to a poor team under an unproven coach and improve our fortunes. It's a tall order.
Can't profess to knowing all that much about him. But he appears to be highly rated and I don't see the sense in being very critical of somebody purely based on how established they are. Good to hear that he performed excellently against City.
Excellent post.
Opinions mate
Well said. The way football is played now, work rate is so important. Even players who are limited technically like Henderson, Milner, Mctominay become important and look good in their teams because they are aggressive and work hard for the team, not to say Longstaff is technically limited because he looks like he has good qualities but he would be hungry to work hard for the team as well.
- I actually did watch him when Newcastle beat City in Jan/Feb. Thought he looked alright to be fair but I don't think he is the calibre of player we need in midfield just yet. With the small sample size we have of 9 games, it's a gamble to bring him in and hope he takes the step up that's required.
Agreed completely, Mctomminay for all his shortfalls since his debut has been one of our best players at the club in his position. This despite having spent a combined 170 odd million centrally and his price was simply promotion from the youth ranks.
So I can say Scholes was like Keane then
. MCL?
They did not cost a lot of money but, Evra and Vidic were established players when they were signed. Evra played in a CL final for Monaco and Vidic was part of a Serbia backline that broke a record for fewest goals conceded in a World Cup qualifying campaign. De Gea won the Europa League as a 19 year old.
