Aymeric Laporte | Signed new 5 year deal with Athletic

[Kakeru]

Activate that clause!!!!

Seconded.

 

[Sir A1ex]

You know, surely if any club in England secluded the whole world of football apart from UK players would that not count as racism or seclusion?

I reckon secluding would count as seclusion, yes. Wouldn't be an issue in itself, as as far as I know there are no laws (or even widely held moral codes) against being secluded.

Their may be issues to do with employment laws, mind.

Interestingly, Yorkshire CCC used to only field players from Yorkshire until pretty recently (about 15-20 years ago now maybe? Can't be bothered looking it up).

 

[Ekeke]

Is he actually a clear cut, Rooney, ferdinand, hazard level talent? where its absolutely nailed on their going to be top players.

Yes. He's one of the best CBs in Spain over the past couple of seasons at a very young age

He's like a French,CB version of Shaw. Someone who is already able to perform among the very best in the league despite being a teen and now obviously he's 20 year old at this point and has a proven record over the past 18 months or so

 

[Sam]

Whats his release clause price anyway?

 

[waza7111]

£33 million

 

[Sam]

£33 million

Can't say I know anything about the guy, but if he's anywhere near as good as people on here are saying, then we need to get Herrera on the phone ASAP. Thats a terrific price.

 

[Devil may care]

Given LvG's obsession with having one leftie and one righty in his CB partnerships we need a second LCB as Rojo only has Blackett as competition.

 

[bosnian_red]

Would be great if we got him. Along with varane, the best young defenders in the world. There aren't many centre backs who look very promising or available who would improve teams, but he is one.

Just as long as he doesnt turn injury prone of we sign him. Don't care about the price, £35m is a lot but its not bad considering he'd be the main man in our defence for the next decade, similarly to Shaw.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Can't say I know anything about the guy, but if he's anywhere near as good as people on here are saying, then we need to get Herrera on the phone ASAP. Thats a terrific price.

More like terrifying.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

More like terrifying.

This.

 

[Sam]

More like terrifying.

Why?

I can't say I know anything about him, apart from whats been said on here. And the impression I got was that he's rated up there alongside Varane (someone I'd be more then happy for us to buy for £33 mil)

 

[Barney]

Why?

I can't say I know anything about him, apart from whats been said on here. And the impression I got was that he's rated up there alongside Varane (someone I'd be more then happy for us to buy for £33 mil)

Varane is on another level to any current CB prospect around IMO.

 

[JPRouve]

Varane is on another level to any current CB prospect around IMO.

Laporte is pretty close, if Deschamps wasn't in love with mighty mamadou the all world could have witnessed that, already.

 

[GloryHunter07]

Why?

I can't say I know anything about him, apart from whats been said on here. And the impression I got was that he's rated up there alongside Varane (someone I'd be more then happy for us to buy for £33 mil)

I fail to see how £33m for a 21 year old can be considered "terrific" - regardless of potential.

Its a huge amount for a youngster, even if he turns out well.

 

[Devil may care]

Like it or not it's the going rate these days.

 

[shivab]

From what ive seen of him he seems to be good at anticipating danger and his positioning is decent as well but hes prone to making errors espcially when passing out of the back.
Hes nowhere close to Varane's level yet. If he keeps improving then he could obviously become a world class CB. But theres no guarantee that he will keep improving.

Dont think hes anywhere close to be worth 33 mil.

 

[RedorDead21]

From what ive seen of him he seems to be good at anticipating danger and his positioning is decent as well but hes prone to making errors espcially when passing out of the back.
Hes nowhere close to Varane's level yet. If he keeps improving then he could obviously become a world class CB. But theres no guarantee that he will keep improving.

Dont think hes anywhere close to be worth 33 mil.

Im pretty sure early 20s would be enough for him the clause wont be met my barca or real thats for sure.

 

[SambaBoy]

Im pretty sure early 20s would be enough for him the clause wont be met my barca or real thats for sure.

It's Bilbao though. They don't let players go unless they run down their contracts (Llorente) or their release clauses are matched by the buying club (Herrera) so we would most likely have to pay the £33m if we want him, is it £33m or Euros?

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

This guy is left footed, right? Currently, we have Blackett, who Van Gaal seems to like, and Rojo, who we've just bought, therefore, if Van Gaal sticks with his left footed centre backs on the left and right on right, then it would mean getting rid of, or lessening the amount of games and progression of Rojo and Blackett.

Although we've been severely struck with injuries in the centre back area, we've got way too much, and some will need to go within the next few seasons, especially if we want to bring in more.

Unfortunately, our centre backs our injury prone, but if they could stay fit, four be more than enough, in my opinion. Most EPL teams have four centre backs (three first teams, one back up). For example:

City:

Kompany
Demichelis
Mangala
Nastatic

Chelsea:

Terry
Cahill
Ivanovic
Zouma


Currently we have 6 centre backs that needs to be reduced to four or five. I'd keep five, because we haven't got the greatest injury record at centre back.

United:

Smalling
Jones
Rojo
Evans
Blackett
McNair


If I had my choice, I'd reduce it to:

Jones (RCB, RB)
Smalling (RCB)
Rojo (LCB, LB)
Laporte? (LCB)
McNair or Blackett (Back up)


Rafael/Jones - Smalling/Jones - Laporte/Rojo - Shaw/Rojo

Having said that, we could do with an experienced head at the back. As good Laporte supposed to be, he's only 20.

 

[bucky]

It's Bilbao though. They don't let players go unless they run down their contracts (Llorente) or their release clauses are matched by the buying club (Herrera) so we would most likely have to pay the £33m if we want him, is it £33m or Euros?

The former.

 

[shivab]

why would be buy another young CB like Laporte. We should be going for tried and tested not promising and inexperienced. we have plenty of that already. ezequiel garay imo is ideal.

 

[bucky]

why would be buy another young CB like Laporte. We should be going for tried and tested not promising and inexperienced. we have plenty of that already. ezequiel garay imo is ideal.

Because Blackett and McNair are no way near established players for us; Smalling, Evans and Jones are mostly injured and Rojo seems a decent alternative to have, but in the long-term nothing more. People keep on coming up with this experienced centre-half or someone who is proven quality, if you then look at the players available or actually fitting that criterion there aren't many around. For what it's worth I'd argue that Garay isn't a better player than Laporte from the few bits I've seen from Garay. Garay and Vertonghen for that matter would be signings which Ferguson classified as buying for the sake of buying in my eyes. We obviously will need to buy a centre-half, if we are going to persist with Evans, Jones and Smalling, but why not buy someone who will improve us massively in the long-term? Garay and Vertonghen would be stop gaps and nothing more. Furthermore why do people think that Garay is actually an option? He just changed clubs during summer, stranger things have happened obviously, but I just don't see it. Both, Garay and Vertonghen wouldn't be cheap either, especially as the past suggests when dealing with Tottenham. Oh and so far Laporte has a good injury record.

 

[Kag]

why would be buy another young CB like Laporte. We should be going for tried and tested not promising and inexperienced. we have plenty of that already. ezequiel garay imo is ideal.

Garay is no more experienced than anything else we've got at the club, in truth. There's not a lot to suggest he's better either.

 

[Santos J]

Garay is no more experienced than anything else we've got at the club, in truth. There's not a lot to suggest he's better either.

Garay's comfortably better than our CB's and there's probably only 2 or 3 in the league better than him.

 

[Sam]

I fail to see how £33m for a 21 year old can be considered "terrific" - regardless of potential.

Its a huge amount for a youngster, even if he turns out well.

As I say, I don't know much about the lad, apart from whats been said on here. But if he's as good as people are suggesting, then I don't think £33 mil is a bad price at all. Its basically what Rio and Rooney went for, and that was 10 years ago.

Varane is on another level to any current CB prospect around IMO.

Fair enough, Varane is absolutely fantastic.

 

[Kag]

Garay's comfortably better than our CB's and there's probably only 2 or 3 in the league better than him.

Which is why he's playing at Zenit. I'm being a bit prickly there but sometimes the club a player plays for is quite relevant. Smalling and Evans have previously played in Champions League quarter and semi finals, for Manchester United, while also playing in big Premier League games, and successfully so. They have contributed towards some of our title wins, and demonstrated many qualities, irrespective of how poorly they have started this season.

Garay may well be better, but he hasn't really played at a level high enough to say for sure. I think people can be very quick to forget things when discussing our defence. If Garay was such an excellent player then surely the best team coming in for him wouldn't be a side that desperately needs fit defenders and finished 7th in the Premier League last season - if we did, that is. Let's bare in mind that all of Arsenal, United, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool have bought defenders this summer and not one of them has taken a punt on Garay.

 

[Ringo 07]

Our top 4 hopes would be in serious doubt if we can't bring in some decent defenders like Laporte or Garay etc

 

[Redo91]

Which is why he's playing at Zenit. I'm being a bit prickly there but sometimes the club a player plays for is quite relevant. Smalling and Evans have previously played in Champions League quarter and semi finals, for Manchester United, while also playing in big Premier League games, and successfully so. They have contributed towards some of our title wins, and demonstrated many qualities, irrespective of how poorly they have started this season.

Garay may well be better, but he hasn't really played at a level high enough to say for sure. I think people can be very quick to forget things when discussing our defence. If Garay was such an excellent player then surely the best team coming in for him wouldn't be a side that desperately needs fit defenders and finished 7th in the Premier League last season. Let's bare in mind that all of Arsenal, United, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool have bought defenders this summer and not one of them has taken a punt on Garay.

Also he played at Real Madrid and flopped. Same happened to Robben and Sneijder and they recovered well but it's still worth noting.

 

[Bwuk]

Laporte is much better than Rojo. He'd demote Rojo to back up to himself and Shaw.

 

[FromTheBench]

He's pretty talented and i rate him very highly and have mentioned him before but his readiness to come into our team and sort out the issues is being overrated by many.

 

[Manucho the boss]

Don't think we should be buying potential anymore, we need a centre back that's in his prime now.

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

Don't think we should be buying potential anymore, we need a centre back that's in his prime now.

Godin is probably the best quality centreback that is realistically available

 

[bucky]

Which is why he's playing at Zenit. I'm being a bit prickly there but sometimes the club a player plays for is quite relevant. Smalling and Evans have previously played in Champions League quarter and semi finals, for Manchester United, while also playing in big Premier League games, and successfully so. They have contributed towards some of our title wins, and demonstrated many qualities, irrespective of how poorly they have started this season.

Garay may well be better, but he hasn't really played at a level high enough to say for sure. I think people can be very quick to forget things when discussing our defence. If Garay was such an excellent player then surely the best team coming in for him wouldn't be a side that desperately needs fit defenders and finished 7th in the Premier League last season - if we did, that is. Let's bare in mind that all of Arsenal, United, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool have bought defenders this summer and not one of them has taken a punt on Garay.

Good post.

He's pretty talented and i rate him very highly and have mentioned him before but his readiness to come into our team and sort out the issues is being overrated by many.

I struggle to see the quick fix for our defensive issues, regardless of who we bring in, since we can't bring in Boateng, Benatia, Varane, Thiago Silva and others of that quality. No one is saying that he's supposed to solve all our issues there, but we need a new centre-half and the best people come up with for an experienced centre-half as an alternative are Vlaar, Garay and Vertonghen. I really don't see United moving forward with those kind of players, whereas with Laporte if he keeps on progessing, he'll be absolute quality.

 

[Rozay]

Laporte is fantastic, although I always thought we would miss out on him due to finding ourselves in a position where we were after experience.

I think him, alongside Smalling would be a solid, athletic partnership for years I believe. In today's market, £30m-odd for him is a fair price.

 

[Cassidy]

Laporte is fantastic, although I always thought we would miss out on him due to finding ourselves in a position where we were after experience.

I think him, alongside Smalling would be a solid, athletic partnership for years I believe. In today's market, £30m-odd for him is a fair price.

You spoiled it right there. Players need to be fit to form a solid partnership

 

[Sarni]

Which is why he's playing at Zenit. I'm being a bit prickly there but sometimes the club a player plays for is quite relevant. Smalling and Evans have previously played in Champions League quarter and semi finals, for Manchester United, while also playing in big Premier League games, and successfully so. They have contributed towards some of our title wins, and demonstrated many qualities, irrespective of how poorly they have started this season.

Garay may well be better, but he hasn't really played at a level high enough to say for sure. I think people can be very quick to forget things when discussing our defence. If Garay was such an excellent player then surely the best team coming in for him wouldn't be a side that desperately needs fit defenders and finished 7th in the Premier League last season - if we did, that is. Let's bare in mind that all of Arsenal, United, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool have bought defenders this summer and not one of them has taken a punt on Garay.

Neither of them has played in a semi final, to be precise though both featured in our only QF, against Bayern, since they joined. I think Garay has played in QFs as well and he played in two EL finals if I remember correctly.

 

[Kag]

Neither of them has played in a semi final, to be precise though both featured in our only QF, against Bayern, since they joined.

I thought one of them played against Schalke, from memory? The Marseille tie was also in my thinking because I remember Smalling being very good, but that was a last 16 tie, I think.

 

[Sarni]

I thought one of them played against Schalke, from memory? The Marseille tie was also in my thinking because I remember Smalling being very good, but that was a last 16 tie, I think.

Correct, Smalling played in second leg against Schalke although the tie was solved at the time, I forgot about him joining in 2010. Jones didn't join until 2011 though.

 

[sizzling sausages]

I thought one of them played against Schalke, from memory? The Marseille tie was also in my thinking because I remember Smalling being very good, but that was a last 16 tie, I think.

Yeah, Marseille was last 16, with Chelsea in the quarters.

 

[Rozay]

You spoiled it right there. Players need to be fit to form a solid partnership

That is a huge problem with Smalling of course. It is a difficult situation though. If he just had a recurring knee or hanstring injury, it would be easier to discard him as dodgy. The variety of injuries makes it seem more a case of bad luck however.

He is definitely worth sticking with I think though. I believe he is England's best centre-half right now, and with a run of games (I know, injuries!) he will not let us down. A truly exceptional young defender. Right now, I believe Evans is the weakest of the three, and the one I'd let go.