Thanks, very informative!
The left-back market…
- Thread starter Rozay
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Just pure quality
1. Theo
2. Davies
3. Mendes
4. Kerkez
And you can just flip the list when it comes to most attainable to least
Bit of a left-field (hur hur!) shout - anyone keen on Rico Henry? Been out injured for a year but before that his fitness record was excellent, and he was a really solid PL player at Brentford. Arguably could have become Englands #1 LB if not for the injury.
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Injury and age goes against him massively.
Shame because he was/is a great LWB. I just think there are better options without risk. Given we’ve had no LB/LWB consistently starting for nearly 2 years this need to be a sensible and risk free signing on that front.
Theo Hernandez was great yesterday. Think he would be great in the LWB role and we should be looking at him if he's available.
I‘d be shocked if he went to a non-CL team.
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I’ll be amazed if Kerkez doesn’t move very soon.
Can’t see Bournemouth selling in Jan. They’ve just signed a very highly rated young Argentinian LB who you’d guess is the potential replacement.
A summer move to Liverpool is my bet.
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Bingo.
Someone should tell Slot that buying ex Eredivisie players didnt end well for ETH! He should just leave Kerkez (and Isak)
If this actually true then it’s an absolute no brainer as Alvaro is a proper wing back, has been in great form, has potential to keep getting better, has been playing in the CL, would count as homegrown and Amorim would know him well from the Sporting/Benfica games.
Alvaro in January and either Kerkez/Gutiérrez in the Summer would be perfect.
Yeah, if we can move on Malacia and bring in Alvaro for a similar amount then it would be great business.
I hope the front office isn't putting all their eggs in the Leon basket as he's almost a complete unknown. For a position of such weakness and importance, I don't know why the top options lists above aren't inclusive of Antonee "Jedi" Robinson. Seems like we're handing him to Liverpool.
Last season, as a LB, he recorded 10 assists - top 10 in EPL, 4 more than any other defender. This season he already has 7 assists. If our biggest complaint is lack of balls into our strong strikers, look no further. And his work rate/motor is exactly what we need.
Defensively compared to other sidebacks this season:
Last season, as a LB, he recorded 10 assists - top 10 in EPL, 4 more than any other defender. This season he already has 7 assists. If our biggest complaint is lack of balls into our strong strikers, look no further. And his work rate/motor is exactly what we need.
Defensively compared to other sidebacks this season:
- 3rd in tackles
- 1st in interceptions
- 1st in clearances
Think some one is putting 2 and 2 together without all of the information, almost certainly the buy back clause and the sell on clause cannot be activate together.
Benfica should sue their lawyers if it does, very odd if the buy back price could be circumvented by the same club who benefits from the sell on clause.
I've been impressed with him every time I've watched him play. However, there's no way Fulham will let him go for anything less than £40-50m, which is completely fair given his form and profile.
For us that might be a bridge too far unless Amorim wants to go all in for him in the summer. He'll be 28 starting next season.
Alvaro Carreras would fit perfectly.
100% Would be an instant upgrade and cheap too. We can then go for Nuno Mendes in the summer.
His assist last night for the second goal was brilliant.
EtH banked on Shaw and Malacia. Malacia isn't great, but no one could foresee those injuries. He did seem to have the potential to make it here.. show is a complete crock.
Take the loss, and get Alvaro back please.
Take the loss, and get Alvaro back please.
Alvaro doesn't have the pace to really shine. I know people have enamored themselves with the idea of signing him because of the buy back clause but I don't think he'll work out. Folks would be asking to sign a starter after watching him play a few games.
We should have kept him instead of signing Malacia, but that ship has sailed now.
I do wonder if the Alvaro news is being fed somewhat? Like they are drumming up his potential?
I think giving minutes to Malacia (it might have helped him get a loan) and potentially Shaw (we’ll learn either way if he has some reliability) is a pragmatic approach to end the season.
By that time Mendes will be on his last year, Alvaro will have had 6 months regular game time and theres also Kerkez.
Or if the Dorgeles rumour is true we spend alittle on a prospect to add some depth and variety.
I think giving minutes to Malacia (it might have helped him get a loan) and potentially Shaw (we’ll learn either way if he has some reliability) is a pragmatic approach to end the season.
By that time Mendes will be on his last year, Alvaro will have had 6 months regular game time and theres also Kerkez.
Or if the Dorgeles rumour is true we spend alittle on a prospect to add some depth and variety.
Why? We have a 16m buy back clause on him, that's chump change.
Is he good enough to be starting for us week in week out? Not yet. Will he be an upgrade on what we currently have? 100% yes.
16m is cheap even for a backup left back. Ideally we have him and Nuno Mendes to rotate with going into next season with Maz and Dalot (Hopefully he's sold and replaced with a younger prospect) occupying the right side.
You would imagine that's the case.
Even if we can buy him back for £16.7m then we should let him play the rest of the season for Benfica and trigger it at the start of the summer window. We can then use him as 1st/2nd choice LWB or sell him for a profit like Aston Villa have done with Jaden Philogene. After a full season of CL football at Benfica he will easily be worth £30m.
In our financial situation we don't exactly have "Chump change". We need a starter for the position first and the foremost, other luxuries like a back-up can wait. For now, Dalot or Maz can be used as back-up LB's.
Alvaro was too slow and hasn't changed, hence we let him go.
Absolutely not. Much too old for our squad. Robinson shouldn't be on our radar. Turns 28 in the summer, when the average FB peaks at age 25. He'll be the next in a long line of expensive busts at United. FBs tend to age poorly.
I'll be thrilled if Liverpool adds him; likely will be a guy that hurts a club financially in 2-3 years when he's 30 and hopefully we're ready to compete again by then. Unfortunately their management team is too smart to add a guy like Robinson. They're likely to get someone like Kerkez and have a really good player for 7-8 years.
With how far off this squad is we shouldn't be looking at guys a day older than 25. We want guys peaking in the next 2-3 years, not about to hit their decline phase. We've made mistakes adding players on the wrong side of the age curve for a long time. No more, please.
Oh, and nobody wants Malacia. We'd be lucky to get £5M for him. Out for 18 months and comes back to struggle badly, he's not worth much on the market at the moment.
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