Quality player - what is the figure on his clause?
Aymeric Laporte | Signed new 5 year deal with Athletic
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Agree with this. But keeping everyone fit part is important considering we've turned Shaw and Rojo into crocks as well.
If Smalling and Jones can get a good run together and stay of Injuries am quite confident they'd grow into a pretty good partnership. Especially if team in front has a solid structure.
Having said that, i disagree that we don't need experience. I love taking chances at young top prospects, but If we were to add something at the back we need a commanding leader who is at his consistent peak.
How do you pronounce his first name?
I pronounce it "Ay-mare-ick" myself. Probably wrong.
Are we actually linked with him ?
Would like to see us sign this guy......I'm a little unsure of Hummels for some reason.
Emeric - hard c as in.. well you know, i'd say.
My opinion of him at the end of February. I've been following him for a number of years now since he made his debut in the 12/13 season for Bilbao.
In my opinion as a defender he is better than Varane. As an athlete he isn't, although he still is fast and strong. But if he was to be paired with Smalling who is extremely athletic it'd be a very well-suited combo.
So, putting transfer fees and wages aside, who should it be...Hummels or LaPorte?
I would take Laporte. Experience is overrated.
I'm pretty sure van Gaal has given up on Evans. He did himself no good with the spitting accident and when he was finally back and looking to get gametime he's injured. He just can't be relied on, he hasn't really played well this season much either.
Hummels would be the obvious replacement: experienced, good on the ball, strong and tall. The only issue might be his right foot. I know he plays LCB and can use his left foot well but van Gaal might prefer a left footer. He hasn't got the greatest injury record either, our defenders are already made of glass. Could still see this happening mind, and I would be delighted if he comes.
I wouldn't be surprised if van Gaal brought in (someone like?) Laporte though: young, strong, fast, tall, smart and calm. I haven't seen enough of Laporte but he looked good in the matches I've seen. He's also left footed and van Gaal might not care that much about experience. He likes to work with younger players since they listen better and he might even believe some of our current defenders will become leaders.
Hummels would be the obvious replacement: experienced, good on the ball, strong and tall. The only issue might be his right foot. I know he plays LCB and can use his left foot well but van Gaal might prefer a left footer. He hasn't got the greatest injury record either, our defenders are already made of glass. Could still see this happening mind, and I would be delighted if he comes.
I wouldn't be surprised if van Gaal brought in (someone like?) Laporte though: young, strong, fast, tall, smart and calm. I haven't seen enough of Laporte but he looked good in the matches I've seen. He's also left footed and van Gaal might not care that much about experience. He likes to work with younger players since they listen better and he might even believe some of our current defenders will become leaders.
Is that what we're aspiring to? Not bad? Whether the current crop is fit or not we need a new CB and he needs to be a cut above every one we have.
Smalling is really starting to show some real signs of leadership so I can see LvG trusting that to develop further. Would RCB - Smalling & Jones LCB - Laporte & Rojo be ideal?
Whichever one barca don't agree a January deal for
I am very reserved that Jones and Rojo will ever be that good (especially for the former). I think that Smalling - Laporte would be a good defense though, but it probably needs a leader (if we sign Alves, then that would help a lot). Rojo and Jones so far look to miss a brain, but who knows.
Personally, I would prefer to go for Hummels this season and then depending on how Smalling/Jones/Rojo develop, to go for Laporte/Stones next season. If that is not possible then hopefully we'll sign Laporte now and then see to replace one of Jones/Rojo (if they don't improve a lot) with Stones in the next summer.
Gimenez is an another possibility. A Smalling-Gimenez partership (assuming that they'll develop well) would be the closest thing to a Rio-Vidic partership we can hope to get.
Apparently only about £25m. I think he will get snapped up this Summer by someone.
Something like that. His release clause is apparentl same as Herrera's was, but now with weak euro, it should be 25-26m.
Weak Euro; buyout clause; left footed; Mendes.
Stars align
Stars align
eh-muh-rick
I would certainly prefer Laporte to Hummels. Besides, fitness over experience anyway.
As far as I am concerned, we already have yesterday's men in attack, we will be taking a risk by signing another superstar based on form of 2 or 3 years ago. Can't run the risk of has-beens throughout the team.
As far as I am concerned, we already have yesterday's men in attack, we will be taking a risk by signing another superstar based on form of 2 or 3 years ago. Can't run the risk of has-beens throughout the team.
According to an article in today MEN Phil Jones is the best young defender in europe. Somebody is having a laugh surely. I wonder how some of these surveys come to their conclusions.
He's living in 2011.
Its according to CIES Football Observatory, ahead of Varane & Marquinhos.
You wonder how Phil Jones can be ahead of those two as well.
Well you could make a purely statistical argument about Jones being better than either Varane or Marquinhos. Not saying that he is/ isn't mind, but it does validate the notion that a discrete set of numbers or figures without due context is often erroneous while evaluating a player's performances.
eg.
vs
vs
Alternatively :
eg.
vs
vs
Alternatively :
Varane has only a slight edge in height (1.91 vs 1.89) but Laporte clearly has the upperhand with weight (85k vs 76 for Varane). In a one on one duel i would from a logical perspective bet on Laporte. Yes, weight does not tell the whole story but for a defender with that specific height it surely is a big advantage.
Probably because statistics and fan perceptions don't always match. In today's world of knee jerk, shiny new toy transfer muppetry, its always easier to perceive players who don't play for us as better than those we already have.
Regarding those who are convinced that Varana has a superiority in physical sense i would argue that Varane only has a slight edge in height (1.91 vs 1.89) but Laporte clearly has the upperhand with weight (85k vs 76 for Varane). In a one on one duel i would from a logical perspective bet on Laporte. Yes, weight does not tell the whole story but for a defender with that specific height it surely is a big advantage.
Height or weight is not the most comprehensive measure for physical superiority and athletic performance.
A 191 cm player might be visibly taller than the others. But in a sport like football, if he has a vertical jump of only 35 cm - that isn't as good as a 183 cm player who can jump 50 cm when extra height primarily comes into play for aerial duels. This is why players like Philip Lahm and Patrice Evra and Fabio Cannavaro could aerially dominate players who were significantly taller than them.
Similarly, someone weighing 70kg might be stronger on the ball and more determined than another weighing 80kg because of better muscle definition/ density and conditioning. eg. Arturo Vidal is only about 75kgs. But there was almost no midfielder around who could out out-muscle him through 2010-2014.
The height thing is especially annoying. Anything north 183cm, and the player should have no problems whatsoever in the Premier League. Carvalho was 183 cm, Carragher ditto, Terry is 186 cm and he is probably the best central defender in the league.
2cm less or more makes little to no difference. Yet there's this whole obsession with player dimensions. Exemplified by the persisting arguments that "Rojo at 6"1 is too short for the physical league".
A 191 cm player might be visibly taller than the others. But in a sport like football, if he has a vertical jump of only 35 cm - that isn't as good as a 183 cm player who can jump 50 cm when extra height primarily comes into play for aerial duels. This is why players like Philip Lahm and Patrice Evra and Fabio Cannavaro could aerially dominate players who were significantly taller than them.
Similarly, someone weighing 70kg might be stronger on the ball and more determined than another weighing 80kg because of better muscle definition/ density and conditioning. eg. Arturo Vidal is only about 75kgs. But there was almost no midfielder around who could out out-muscle him through 2010-2014.
The height thing is especially annoying. Anything north 183cm, and the player should have no problems whatsoever in the Premier League. Carvalho was 183 cm, Carragher ditto, Terry is 186 cm and he is probably the best central defender in the league.
2cm less or more makes little to no difference. Yet there's this whole obsession with player dimensions. Exemplified by the persisting arguments that "Rojo at 6"1 is too short for the physical league".
You do surprise me that Laporte weighs more than Varane. I find that hard to believe. Varane is taller and looks like a bit of a brick shit house compared to Laporte, who looks comparatively scrawny.
Not really. Stats aren't very useful (or at least you can make the judgement based only on stats) when it comes to defenders. Sure, the defender who has more interception and tackles would give the impression that he is better, but it isn't always this way. A lot of tackles for examples are a direct consequence of not being in the right place at the right time. Those 2 stats (add clearances too) don't tell how good a defender is reading the game. Or how many brainfarts a defender has had. Even defensive mistakes stats show only half the tuth. For example, there was a gamewhen Jones like a lunatic left the line when he was defending to challenge for the ball, and on that action we conceded the goal because of that. I am not sure that is counted as a mistake in these stats.
For what is worth, I think that all four of Laporte, Varane, Gimenez and Marquinhos (in that order) are better than Jones. And the first two by a good distance.
Don't forget Jones improves his tackling stats because his second touch is regularly a tackle.
That is correct. There are many elements to judge a player for his physical performance. As a defender you are faced with different challanges such as aerial duels, one on duels, physical challenges, agility to shake of an opponent, recovery speed when a duel is lost and many more. Heigth is at times an exaggerated factor. Look at the defenders at the lower leagues, they are truly walking oak trees but it will be very unlikely that they will sniff around high level competition (PL level). So yes it is a bold statement to compare players by objective statistics as height and weight. Cannavaro at 5’9 was one of the world’s best defenders with qualities that seperated him from the pack such as positioning,reading of the game and NBA air qualities. Its a bit relative aswell. Against teams as West Ham, you will be caught at times when you have shorter defenders with an average vertical leap. Against direct/attacking teams you will benefit more from your positioning and reading abilities. Interesting topic it is.
If we are going on about height and weight Fellaini would be the best CB on the planet, but he doesn't play there. There are a lot of different attributes to being a great defender, one of the is heart. You can be a big unit, but if you don't have guts you will not succeed. That is an attribute that has carried John Terry along for years( I feel ill saying it, but it's true). Anticipation, reading the game is another.
It's very subjective for the reasons in my previous post. Jones is a fantastic footballer who will continue to improve in time. If he only had a sexy foreign name that ended in a vowel. ..
Laporte is such a dream CB IMO.
Varane is kinda unreachable, Laporte should be the priority then.
Varane is kinda unreachable, Laporte should be the priority then.
And was a bit better.
Those players will continue improving too considering that they are even younger than Jones.
You're arguing with quantitative stats. Everything else is just opinion. Good luck with that.
Well you could make a purely statistical argument about Jones being better than either Varane or Marquinhos. Not saying that he is/ isn't mind, but it does validate the notion that a discrete set of numbers or figures without due context is often erroneous while evaluating a player's performances.
eg.
vs
vs
Alternatively :
Jones' performances in a shaky team chopping and changing formations this season is underrated on here due to some bad matches, injuries and past reputation.
He has highest number of interceptions in the league and among the top 3 in major european leagues per game IIRC and people would still go on how he doesn't have a brain and cannot read the game etc...
Meanwhile Varane can have a absolute shocker vs Celta Vigo (Probably a worse game than Jones has had this season.) and everyone will ignore it. While Jones gets slaughtered for one underhit backpass for weeks.
Ermm ok ?
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