The whole right and left footed CB thing, according to side, was always so self limiting in my opinion. If it ends up that way I can see the advantages, yes. But just putting two really good CBs together usually does the fecking trick. Or am I crazy in thinking that Ferdinand and Vidic was a good pairing, for example?
It's one of those stupid "philosophy" things that ends up becoming self defeating.
Football is really simple on most levels. Things like data give you the edge, if used well, but to build your teams around rigid theoretical principles, not tailored to reality, is just daft.
Think about our last several big transfers, add in the concerns thrown around by fans and pundits, then imagine you're a multi-billion pound organisation with supposedly best-in-class decision makers, tons of industry experience, and access to legions of data and qualified consultation. Then try and imagine how any of these transfers went through:
Sancho - Fan Concern: Fee too big for a player who had only performed in the BL. Rumours of indiscipline and poor attitude, lateness to training etc. - Result: Pay 75M. Player flops hard.
Antony - Fan Concern: Huge fee for a relatively unproven player from a much weaker league. Seemed very one footed with one trick. Result: Pay 85M. Player flops even harder.
Casemiro - Fan Concern: Huge fee for a 30 year old. Profile of player we need now but where will we be with him on huge wages and with a huge fee in 12-24 months? Result: Pay 60+10m. Brilliant for one season, then falls off a cliff.
Varane - Fan Concern: Madrid only ever sell a busted flush, is made of glass, is looking for one last pay day. Result: Pay 40M. Been great in patches, been injured a lot, fallen off a cliff.
That's just four examples. Four examples where a lot of unqualified people on the internet saw problems with the signings, most of which were very obvious, and the club signed the player apparently oblivious to it. In most cases, I am not saying the player definitely shouldn't have been signed, but the fees we paid were mental beyond words. A 30 year old Casemiro who wanted a new challenge? 30M max. Absolute max. Antony, an unproven player from a very weak league? 30-40M max. At 70-80M, the club just has to walk away. Varane at 40M I don't have a huge issue with, he was what? 29 when he came? But Sancho? 75M for a player whop had only ever done it in the BL and had all those behind the scenes rumours, and a player who wanted to play the same position as Rashford, when you had a glaring hole at RW? Nuts.
I went on a tangent. Point was, decision making at this club has been crazy. This player in question seems like a very good signing, but I will reserve any judgement until I see the fee, and who is really driving this recruitment.