We seem to have switched attention to Ruben Dias as Sevilla want megabucks for Kounde and Porto seem interested in taking Otamendi and his salary off our books.
Centre Back... Who do we go for?
- Thread starter Macern
- Start date
Overrated and overpriced
Agreed. I only use his name as it’s one that comes up frequently on here.
Highly unlikely I know but maybe we could still go for Upamecano if we can sell a few players this week, something like Dalot, Pereira, Smalling & Rojo
Upamecano is what we need next to Maguire. Fast, athletic, and can compliment Harry's skills in the air and passing the ball out of the back.
Yeah he is but will have to wait it out until next summer for him
every pundit under the sun is saying we need a different partner for Maguire, but Ive yet to see credible link that we are in for someone this window?
Upamecano isn't happening this window.
Upamecano isn't happening this window.
Sell 4 players in one week. That would be an astronomical improvement in efficiency.
But yes, he is the one. I'd prioritise him over getting a new left back.
seen the reported fee for Dias, would be paying the extra for Kounde if am honest, Dias seems a slight upgrade on Otamendi, way to rash in the tackles when I have seen him. don't think he would be a big enough upgrade for what city need at the back
Should've tried to sign Manolas at the beginning of the window.
Thing is, as much as we need a CB right now, what big club doesn't? It doesn't take a genius to realise there is a serious lack of top quality CBs in the game. Of all the top CBs playing right now, only VVD could be mentioned alongside some of those playing in the EPL 10-15 years ago.
In terms of who we could go for, I'd absolutely gun for Upamecano as a "one for the future" option, but I think we could find ourselves needing to bring in a finished article choice too. That's where I'm stumped. We're supposed to have the best scouting team in the game. They need to earn their buck on this one, because to fix our defensive issues without breaking record fees is going to take some doing. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Shaw is used centrally once Telles is here.
In terms of who we could go for, I'd absolutely gun for Upamecano as a "one for the future" option, but I think we could find ourselves needing to bring in a finished article choice too. That's where I'm stumped. We're supposed to have the best scouting team in the game. They need to earn their buck on this one, because to fix our defensive issues without breaking record fees is going to take some doing. I wouldn't be totally surprised if Shaw is used centrally once Telles is here.
Go for Rüdiger on loan with option to buy. Not a bad shout imo. Lets face it, we wont spend loads.
He has half a dozen offers from the biggest clubs in Europe lined up the day his release clause can come into effect.
Smalling, please bring Smalling back and start him over these goof balls that we have.
Problem with Upamecano is he still makes silly mistakes, which is fine as he is still developing. so you’re looking at 12-18 months to mature and adjust to the pressure of Manchester United and unique features of the Premier League.
That’s assuming he makes it out the other side and doesn’t end up as our latest version of Rojo, Darmian, Lindelöf or Bailly.
Any new incoming needs to be fully educated in his craft and prove they can handle the big stage. Smalling is an obvious fit and the crazy part of it is if he were called Smallino and available from Roma for £20m, we’d be all over it!
That’s assuming he makes it out the other side and doesn’t end up as our latest version of Rojo, Darmian, Lindelöf or Bailly.
Any new incoming needs to be fully educated in his craft and prove they can handle the big stage. Smalling is an obvious fit and the crazy part of it is if he were called Smallino and available from Roma for £20m, we’d be all over it!
Everytime I've watched Kounde he looks great. He was excellent against us too in the EL semi final.
No point wasting money on an unscouted player. Try a new pairing Baily and Lindelof. This maguire experiment has gone on long enough
Eastern European hard man.
It looks like we decided we've not got the money for both Sancho and a centre back this summer and so we picked Sancho. I supported this view to be honest on the basis that world class attacking player would win us more points over the season than a centre back, and we didn't actually defend that badly last season and the biggest improvement we could make was in our goals scored rather than goals conceded.
I didn't anticipate our defence turning into a bunch of clowns that concede 15 clear chances per game to be fair. An optimistic view is at some point we'll settle down and return to our most solid points that we were at last season, realistically there's no reason we can't at least replicate what we did last season defensively, even if it wasn't the best it was far from the shambles we're seeing at the moment.
Now it looks like the CB vs Sancho decision was silly because it looks like we'll get neither...
Not being able to shift at least 2 of Smalling Jones and Rojo is just incredible incompetence really.
The last issue is I don't think there's a stand out CB target that is established and isn't a massive risk of them turning out to be shit like our current options. But then again what the hell do our scouts get paid for.
I didn't anticipate our defence turning into a bunch of clowns that concede 15 clear chances per game to be fair. An optimistic view is at some point we'll settle down and return to our most solid points that we were at last season, realistically there's no reason we can't at least replicate what we did last season defensively, even if it wasn't the best it was far from the shambles we're seeing at the moment.
Now it looks like the CB vs Sancho decision was silly because it looks like we'll get neither...
Not being able to shift at least 2 of Smalling Jones and Rojo is just incredible incompetence really.
The last issue is I don't think there's a stand out CB target that is established and isn't a massive risk of them turning out to be shit like our current options. But then again what the hell do our scouts get paid for.
I’d rather have the original chuckle brothers Jones and smalling than the new version of maguire and lindelof.
Upamecano and or Milenkovic as starters for me.
To tell you the truth I'd take a loss and gut our whole entire center back position, this is not just based on todays gut wrenching performance.
To tell you the truth I'd take a loss and gut our whole entire center back position, this is not just based on todays gut wrenching performance.
Upamecano and Badiashile.... are of a similar age group. I think what we've lacked is CB chemistry which I feel Upamecano and Badiashile can develop.
Upamecano reminds me a lot of John Stones a few years ago. Talented and cultured centre back but has mistakes in him, usually poor concentration. Whether he can develop beyond that is a risk. He could certainly be an option next summer.
What do we think the chance is now of getting Dembele on loan and spunking some of the Sancho kitty on a CB as a panic response to last night?
If we aren't getting Sancho for 100M Euros, then it should be:
Dembele (loan with obligation to buy next year - 50m),
Telles (buy) - not a big buy, he's around 20M euros
Cavani (free) - won't even show on our club finances until next year since it's only agent fees right now,
a top CB (40-50m)
A CDM if they can scramble something together like Partey.
Out:
Smalling
Romero
Next year Out:
Lingard
Jones
In, Sancho if he's interested still (if we need him)
Dembele (loan with obligation to buy next year - 50m),
Telles (buy) - not a big buy, he's around 20M euros
Cavani (free) - won't even show on our club finances until next year since it's only agent fees right now,
a top CB (40-50m)
A CDM if they can scramble something together like Partey.
Out:
Smalling
Romero
Next year Out:
Lingard
Jones
In, Sancho if he's interested still (if we need him)
There must be a few CBs in the Championship better than what we have. Anyone basically at this stage would be an improvement.
No way Ed allows a CB signing until we get 3 of our current CBs out the door.
De Ligt next year in a part exchange deal for pogba
We tried that 2 years ago and it was horrible memory.
That Godfrey Everton just got from Norwich would’ve been an improvement over what we have now. We’ve spent another summer going for pie in the sky targets rather than getting good realistic players.
Good one. Although he's also another slow centre back but he has leadership talent.
Just about anyone atm
Oh geez i dont even remember that. I must have destroyed it from my memory it went that bad
Oh geez i dont even remember that. I must have destroyed it from my memory it went that bad
They haven't been playing together much but when they did in the league, that Brighton game 2 years when Glen Murray destroyed us wasn't a good memory at all.
What about Jonathan Tah or Milan Skriniar? Both looked available this summer..
Maguire seems to have been distracted by his off-field issues, we really need a CB today unless we are hoping for Tuanzebe to be the answer but that would be asking a lot of him.
Maguire seems to have been distracted by his off-field issues, we really need a CB today unless we are hoping for Tuanzebe to be the answer but that would be asking a lot of him.
Upamecano will only join if we're in CL. Target Milenkovic for now.
Upamecano should be the priority. Until then I'd honestly just take a punt on our younger CBs - i.e Tuanzebe/Mengi, etc. They can't be any worse than the shower that have played at the back for us recently.
We need 2 new CBs tbh
Ouch. Probably true. Nobody dense enough to buy Maguire at anywhere near what we did.