Because they need money, and I think the main reason is because they already have some of the very best young talented midfielders in the game, in Pedri and Gavi, and also potential good midfielder such as Nico. They can afford to sell De Jong and play Pedri+Gavi+Busquets midfield, with Nico as backup, and with no real drop of quality.
Alternatives for Frenkie De Jong
- Thread starter redIndianDevil
- Start date
Not only that you can pay to play on their pitch!
https://www.pulse.ng/sports/footbal...-and-events-at-starting-prices-of/e4dtvcj.amp
Skint
I wasn't joking or making a comment about how much MadDogg had watched him. I was agreeing with the part about Koopmeiners looking like a stand out whenever he's on the pitch. Nor am I saying FdJ doesn't make sense or couldn't do the job. He clearly appears to be the stand out candidate. With the shiny toy comment I was referring to United's endless pursuit of top players already playing at top clubs (see the Sneijder, Vidal, Ramos, Fabregas sagas) and how I'd rather us go for a slightly less blockbuster move. Especially since it seems like FdJ has no desire to play for United.
In short, I'd love FdJ but I really hope we aren't narrowing our options down to just him.
Fabian Ruiz or Enzo Fernandez.
For the OP, are you concerned why Barca are selling him because you think they are no longer in financial stress, and it shows he isnt as big a player
It's like a football club doing a boot sale, or a yard sale for Americans. So skint
It's like a football club doing a boot sale, or a yard sale for Americans. So skint
Love reading this, offering stupid wages above their means biting Barcelona and Juventus in the backside. Woodward's prophecy is coming true!
. And if Barcelona take out further loans then they will be sitting on close to €2Bn in debt.. Why should they be allowed to continue trade if their debt is so high that they can't afford to pay them back and continue to increase debt.. They should have a fire sale and sell all their jewels like Gavi and Pedri I disagree with almost everything said in the OP, but my alternative is Konrad Laimer of RB Leipzig. Although I would imagine if we wanted him we would have waited to sack Rangnick, but we did apparently have scouts at the last Austria game.
Never seen him and maybe that is why he seems the best fit to me. DeJOng is the best of his type out there I believe.
People mentioning Noorgard must be on something, several levels below, decent player but at the right level now if you ask me.
Bissouma I like but totally different player, wouldn tmind him nex to DeJong actually.
I think the closest available fit would be Neves and slightly further forward, Tielmans, personally dont think either transform us and are levels below again.
But back to Fernadez, only seen youtube *sigh* and read about him....but he seems very highly rated, versatile and the big thing for me is the release clause. Mad to say about a plyer never even watched, but that release clause and what I have read about him kind of tells me we should be in fo rhim as a midfield signing regardless of whether or not we sign DeJOng.
Much closer to home, I feel Hannibal actually has a lot of good attributes to play a similar role to DeJong, but the temperament playing there is a concern currently
Maxence Caqueret of Lyon
Afraid to say this but has anyone mentioned Guendouzi? The guy wasn't great at Arsenal but he seems to have had a massive leap since then and comes up at the far right of every progression scatterplot. He's excellent at both passing and particularly carrying forward. Also chips in with a healthy amount of goals and assists.
In terms of what they can offer, but not necessarily positionally, I think Jacob Ramsey is another in the rare breed of midfielders that can pass well and carry the ball well. He's one too keep an eye on but is probably less obtainable than FdJ.
I rated him at Arsenal and actually had an argument with one of their supporters on here where I said he's one of their better players potentially
Was surprised they let him go, though if I remember there were other issues. I wouldn't have minded if we took a punt at the time.Interesting to hear he's doing well in France.
I rated him at Arsenal and actually had an argument with one of their supporters on here where I said he's one of their better players potentially
Interesting to hear he's doing well in France.
Yeah I always thought he looked a talent. Seemed to be a proper little shit but Arsenal often had that effect on young players, he might have grown up from the experience by now.
This is no time to lose our nerve. Bring in the class footballer.
FDJ was an upgrade over him at Barca. Was a huge talent but has a stinking attitude, which we do not need.
We need a proper little shit who can play football.
It's another concern for me, the fact that all the targets we seem to be chasing are guys who ETH has worked with before. Didn't Mourinho do the same thing too? I don't remember Klopp and Guardiola or even Tuchel bringing in only players who they have worked with before.
Absolutely no chance of getting him. Any English player on contract will be slapped with a 100m fee the moment we show the slightest interest.
No we don't. We need grown ups.
Yea, most of them are free agents.
They are in a situation where they have to sell to buy(or sign free agents).
And FDJ is their most valuable player that they can sell.
Did I misread the the thread title or is this actually the “Name midfielders nothing like De Jong” thread? His best attributes are picking the ball up off the defence whilst being impossible to press and progressing it forwards, accurate short metronomic passing and reading the game in defensive transition high up the pitch.
If this is what ETH wants from his CM then there is really no one attainable as an alternative, seeing as Verratti, Thiago, Kroos, Jorginho, Rodri and Modric are all out of the question.
Neves can’t dribble or pass as well, Bissouma isn’t as good at progression and Fabian Ruiz is too small and easily bullied for a premier league midfielder. Perhaps Caqueret could do the job but he would be a risk given his current level.
If this is what ETH wants from his CM then there is really no one attainable as an alternative, seeing as Verratti, Thiago, Kroos, Jorginho, Rodri and Modric are all out of the question.
Neves can’t dribble or pass as well, Bissouma isn’t as good at progression and Fabian Ruiz is too small and easily bullied for a premier league midfielder. Perhaps Caqueret could do the job but he would be a risk given his current level.
Free agents aren't exactly free, you'd have to pay them all a signing on fee.
Fabian Ruiz is small? All my life I thought I stood relatively tall at 6"2.
I largely agree with your overall point.
Tielemans, Ruben Neves and Frenkie De Jong.
I will not settle for anything less.
I will not settle for anything less.
Zubimendi and Mikel Merino
Fair point, didn’t realise he was as tall as that, watching him fail to win headers made me think he was much shorter.
Hannibal and Garner can duel it out for the role under the guidance of Erik.
It’s really hard to contextualise how good he is, though he’s going to be featuring more and more for Austria under Rangnick now, but Nicolas Seiwald is an interesting player in this mould.
His heading number are incredibly poor relative to his height to be fair, but it's hardly de Jong's game either. Timber could probably outjump Fabian if he started on Frenkie's shoulders!
I think Neves could come with De Jong if we sell a few players.
Anyone else worried that so far it seems like we're only going for one midfielder?
We needed one already before last season and now we lost the two with real quality on the ball, so signing 2 midfielders is a must.
We needed one already before last season and now we lost the two with real quality on the ball, so signing 2 midfielders is a must.
I really can't think of a better or more obvious option than de Jong when it comes to addressing our troubles in moving the ball forward efficiently. But as far as I can see he's really not a deep midfield anchor, rather a high-grade no 8? Which means he'd be great, but we still need that deep midfield anchor. As well as, at a bare minimum, one forward - up front it's not yet a question of upgrading, we have actual holes on the depth chart. Then there's RB, where we plainly lack a remotely credible starter. So my main question over this one is, does it still leave us with the resources to address those other needs?
You think Yves Bissouma is a better football player than Frenkie de Jong?!
I think I'd see that the other way around. Both Fred and McTominay have shown they have something to offer in a no 8 role, but I think it's safe to say they've both demonstrated pretty conclusively that they're not adequate in a deep holding role. At least not regularly. Not sure why you'd conceptualise that as a "deep lying playmaker", I don't think that's descriptive of the function of the less defensive half of the midfield pivot in this team.
I rated him at Arsenal and actually had an argument with one of their supporters on here where I said he's one of their better players potentially
Interesting to hear he's doing well in France.
I think "other issues" were very much at the forefront there, I also thought he looked great on the occasions I saw him for Arsenal. But he's not really the kind of player we're talking about here I think. Either in terms of type of player or in terms of current level.
Is he any slower than Rodri?
Yep. I've brought up Koopmeiners once or twice before and no one seems to care. Which is really strange, because I think he can be a good player. He just turned 24 and we can nab him for spare change.
Him or Fabian Ruiz.
Neither of them seem to be getting much attention and are ripe for the taking.
It’s obviously a bit of dilemma for de Jong? On the one hand, we’re a massive club with history, plus he’d be working with Ten Hag again and Barcelona need to sell players to balance their books, but missing out on UCL was an extremely damaging to us. I think we’ll struggle in attracting major signings this season as a result.
Think you're misunderstanding me. If we sign Frenkie, then there is more hope to make McTominay or Fred work as his partner as kinda the stable support guy who can work like a ball winner, rather than turning them into a playmaker and have their partner be a DM (like Rice, hypothetically). I'm calling it a deep lying playmaker because that's what Frenkie is. We need a midfielder who will pick the ball up off the defenders and start the build up for us. We severely lack in ball progression from the defensive and midfield thirds of the pitch. That's why we need a player like De Jong who will pick the ball up and dictate tempo. Mctominay or Fred as his partner could be OK, as they would no longer have the need to do that, which they struggle with.
Whether that's as a 6 or as an 8, the position on the pitch isn't as important as the role they are assigned. Frenkie likes starting off as the deepest but he for sure would be the less defensive of the 2.