Which goes to show why we need to throw the kitchen sink at those two before someone else does. If we get both, great.
Centre Back... Who do we go for?
- Thread starter Macern
- Start date
Who is better air Koulibaly or De Ligt? We need someone strong in the air.
Probably Koulibaly. De Ligt is probably the better leader and footballer of the two though, and he's pretty good in the air as well.
If De Jong went for 75m+11m Euros, surely we can get De Ligt from them for a similar price? Khoulibaly is ~8 years older and doesn't speak English. Would rather go with the less experienced lad that can grow and mature next to Lindelof. They'd take their lumps the first year but could blossom into a special tandem.
And we’d still have Smalling who has the experience needed. I’d go for De Ligt too.
I strongly disagree.
For one thing Schweinsteiger had no experience in the prem. And he had a history of injury problems, if I remember correctly.
Alderweireld is proving every week that he is a dominate CB in this league. And I would be astonished if his form dropped off next year. So that would be at the very least one season of top performances, which automatically puts him ahead of Schweinsteiger!
I've watched Spurs a lot this season and he's been bang average every time I've seen him play, he's clearly lost a yard of pace since the last injury, he's never been great in the air which is an issue if he's going to partner Lindelof, and he's made as many errors as our often mocked CB's, it's just not pointed out as much as no one cares like they do in highlighting our problems. He'd be coming here purely as a last big contract cash grab, I've had enough of those type of players after Schweinisteiger and Sanchez.
I think he's been above average to be honest. Not world class, but doing an alright job. Considering he'd be cheap and do a better job here than most of our current crop, makes him seem like an alright solution to me. Him and a new young fresh talent would be nice for variety and both fixing our current and future team.
His price is about the only upside I see with him personally, I don't see him paired with Lindelof and I just think he'd be coming here with no ambition bar the massive hike in money we are giving him while also showing clear signs of decline.
I think he'd be good with Lindelof. Good understanding of the game, which is much needed when Lindelof goes all in and rushes up the field leaving holes behind.
Also, currently there's just not that many great defenders out there. The very best are unattailable too.
We’re 50/1 to buy De Ligt
Lindelof has been the one doing the mopping up though and Alderweireld likes a charge upfield himself, but the big issue is that when Smalling doesn't play with Lindelof we are very vulnerable in the air and Alderweireld wont help us with that.
I think Koulibaly and de Ligt are attainable if we are willing to stump up the money.
We desperately need a leader at the back this summer. We give up way too many chances which we're only getting away with because we have the best goalkeeper in the world.
I think Koulibaly, de Ligt & Alderweireld are the 3 main options. You can make a case for either of them. I don't really care which, just that we sign one of them.
The current situation is embarrassing.
I think Koulibaly, de Ligt & Alderweireld are the 3 main options. You can make a case for either of them. I don't really care which, just that we sign one of them.
The current situation is embarrassing.
Woodward has his excuse not to spend money in January. Leeches. The summer transfer window will open and Woodward will be dithering on a manager and DOF. If OGS does well he will dither on what to do. Once he is done dithering on that he will then scramble to try and sign players who are available. He will dither once more leaving it late and us in a weak position to buy. I fully expect De Ligt to go to Barca/PSG and Koulibaly to stay at Napoli. We will sign Alderweireld if we are lucky. Woodward is too incompetent to sort out our CB situation. Look at contracts, it wasn't Jose who handed Smalling a renewal. It was Woodward.
Thank you for outlining this. It's amazing how much of a free pass that him and his masters get.
Buy Manolas and De Ligt and sell Rojo (pretty much Hargreaves at this point). One seasoned, good and relatively cheap, and one that is already good and a potential world class.
Smalling is a good defender that's never had a superior defender next to him to make him a better player. He's grown on his own at United and done a decent job. United only really need the one CB to partner him now that Lindelöf has proven himself to be a good backup and Jones has tenure. In this market you can't really buy more than 1 good CB anyways. It's slim pickings.
If these reports are true that De Ligt wants to follow De Jong then Woodward needs to make sure we get Koulibaly in the summer. Nikola Milenkovic wouldn't be a bad signing either, kid is 21 and I see a lot of potential in him. It's honestly sickening that a club of this size have not been able to replace Rio and Vida for all these years. The centre backs are the most crucial part of the defense and we had two behemoths back there and have replaced them with crap players one after another. I'm happy to see Lindelöf do well recently but he needs to do good for a longer period to impress me. I had big hopes for Bailly and he did impress me during his first season but ever since his ankle injury he has never regained the same form. His rash playstyle certainly doesn't help either. They seriously need to sort this position out during the summer.
My problem with Koulibaly is that he's going to be 28 years old next season. It will feel like a temporary solution and seeing as our main talents are Rashford, Martial, and Pogba it makes more sense to get someone who will be a longer mainstay who coincides more with their tenure at the club. De Ligt to me is already good enough for me to not care so much about experience.
Koulibaly is 28. He has still 5 years on a top level. That would be enough. But for me he will be to expensive and I also prefer De Ligt.
Both would be a dream. :-)
I think De Ligt will be as expensive as Koulibaly. However, De Ligt has the higher ceiling, and lower floor based on their current respective level. De Ligt is more in line with the Pogba signing in that he's bought at such a young age that if he ever does decide to leave, we can sell him for a lot of money and if he decides to stay, he stays for a decade. The reward for De Ligt is just really big.
I think Koulibaly will cost 100-120m and De Ligt 60-80m. But we will see.
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De Ligt is a number one priority signing for me but if he wants to go to Barca there is nothing we can do really.
2 centre backs is very unrealistic. A proper experienced one who has a good injury record is the ideal candidate. Lindelof and Smalling have shown enough to deserve a chance alongside a superior defender. We also have Bailly, Jones and Rojo for Carling cup and FA cup early rounds. It's unlikely the club can move on more than one in one transfer window.
Good decision. Shows his competency if anything.
Given that his agent is Raiola, I reckon it'll come down to financials (an aspect we don't struggle with).
Alderweireld is decent in the air. Anyways it would be nice with two good ball-passers, as it would get us out of more pressure against the topsides.
Its also about spending the money right. It would leave more money elsewhere to sign a great right wing, wing-backs or future partners for Pogba. With Lindelof, Smalling, Alderweireld we'd be alright in central defence.
Manuel Akanji from Dortmund would be interesting. Well... the biggest problem is that he's a Dortmund player.
And he is having serious problems with his hip.
Alderweireld is not decent in the air, he is weak at best. He would probably be our worst in that aspect if he joins.
Sell Rojo and one of Jones/Smalling and throw the lot at Koulibaly
As McKing said he isn't good in the air and we are exposed time and again with the ball over the top, when you couple that with his loss of pace and the fact a top CB is our priority, I think cheaping out on the position with a declining player who's only interested in money would be a huge mistake.
Alderweireld and Lindelof as a partnership in PL would get destroyed in the air and on pace.2 good players in their own right but not a combination. Could possibly get away with that in CL but not in PL.
Fair enough. I think he would be a massive improvement on what we have and we could spend heavily in other areas. And he is the only possibly-available CB option from the Prem that interests me.
Even on pace? Lindelof looks rapid. Maybe he's not at a Rio or Varane level, but he is more than quick enough. And in my opinion Lindelof would be an improvement in the air on our current options.
But I am a fan-boy for Big Phil Jones, so what do I know
De Ligt. Probably be a similar fee to what De Jong went for but he'd be worth every penny.
Let Jones contract expire, sell Rojo. Lindelof, De Ligt, Smalling, Bailly as the four cbs.
Let Jones contract expire, sell Rojo. Lindelof, De Ligt, Smalling, Bailly as the four cbs.
With Lindelof looking like turning a corner and Bailly not being done here obviously, should it not change the profile of CB we are looking? I mean Lindelof will be 25 in July, I think we can look into bringing De Ligt even though he is young and we don't have to splash ridiculous money on Koulibaly.
United might as well go for Koulibaly. The current CBs have their limitations but to improve on them it's go big or go home really. Liverpool realised that by eventually splashing out on Van Dijk.
Yes we do need to splash on a CB- Varane or Koulibally, preferably this month. Is it worth risking CL Qualification for the sake of letting the Glazers steal more from us?
We need to go all out for Dr Ligt, he can become one of the greats and him being relatively young he will only get better.