Bart Verbruggen | Signs for Brighton
- Thread starter Santos J
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My ITK contact says were weighing it up.
If their scouting department has chosen this lad then I imagine we'll be pining for him in a year or so when he's amazing for them.
He wasn't going to start in the pressure cooker environment at United. This is a good move for both player and Brighton and a easy deal for Brighton to do due to their expectations and strategy on the football side of the club.
Plenty of quality keepers in recent years have started very young at top sides. Buffon was a kid when Juve paid a record sum for him, Casillas was also 18 when he started regularly for Madrid, DDG (who isn't a mentality monster) was only 20/21 when we splashed the cash on him, Donnarumma was a literal child when he became a first team regular at Milan.
While outfielders take time to develop, most of the time top keepers are top keepers very young. Basically, if Verbruggen is ever going to be world class, then odds are that he is already more than good enough to be our no.1 (and thrive under the pressure). Even someone like Neuer was clearly ready for a top side when he was a kid - he just had to wait until he was 23(ish) for positions to open up.
That's all good but would Erik ten Hag want to gamble on a 20 year old goalkeeper for next season? I think the answer to that seems to be a no, and he wants someone more established to help him initiate attacks from the back.
I like Verbruggen and think he's got big potential. But at this stage of his career, a move to Brighton (who are a stepping stone club) is a good choice for both the player from a developmental pov and for Brighton. Brighton finished 6th last season and it was a fantastic season for them and when we finished 6th it was a disaster.
Brighton since they hired Potter have become the go to club in the EPL for young prospects. And it's a sensible move on the players behalf to join Brighton where he can develop without the scrutiny of being the United #1.
Have to agree with this, I never liked that narrative about United's No.1 as the toughest job in the world especially after we had a mentally weak goalkeeper in De Gea for years.
Yes, occasionally there will be errors, especially in the start, but if you have quality you will find your way to deal with the pressure.
Although, I can agree that Brighton is an excellent choice for Verbruggen.
Can’t be rash, general approach is to wait until they are lifting trophies for another club before we think about maybe structuring a deal.
On page 1, I went Oooh! And on page 4 I went Aaaah¡
If this does happen and I think it probably will, I wonder what will happen to Sanchez.
Hardly any links for him anywhere apart from a dodgy rumour he’s off to Chelsea.
Hardly any links for him anywhere apart from a dodgy rumour he’s off to Chelsea.
We were loosely linked to him earlier this summer but it seemed as though we were only interested as a number two/rotation option. Caicedo was a target before he signed for Brighton too, so it clearly isn't a scouting issue.
If we get Onana over the line I'm sure we'll cope, though. The main concern would've been if De Gea stayed on and there was no firm commitment towards who would be number one next season.
That was cool
Hope he will do well at Brighton. The Dutch national team could really use an undisputed number one for in goal. One who is actually good.
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