Surely neither will get on the pitch. Bit of a silly risk if so.Both still in the squad (on the bench) that will play against Tottenham tonight:
De Ligt | €45+5m agreement reached pending medical | Signed!
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Oooh. This looks good. What time is this?Both still in the squad (on the bench) that will play against Tottenham tonight:
Game is at 5.30
English time 17:30
I do not think they will play if it is not an emergency. But they are with everybody in London - so why take them out of the squad before they leave.
3 of them will be at United - one is at Liverpool. (Was at Bayern's community shield win 2022 if I am right)
Cheers. Will give it a watch for sure.English time 17:30
3 of them will be at United - one is at Liverpool. (Was at Bayern's community shield win 2022 if I am right)
Rejected by Juventus, Bayern, Madrid, Barca, Brazil, The Jamaican Bobsleigh team and for the lead role of Christopher Nolan's next mindfeck movie. I am skeptical.
Must feel awful, spreading that long.
45m+5m every year for three years is ridiculous money.
Pretty sure this was done ages ago and just hinged on bayern completing their own transfer. Well done to the staff for bringing in two quality players that will fit our style
It was held up waiting on AWB to be sold.
Why the feck is Orny quoting both fees in different currencies
Best in 20 years in my books, young, huge potential and with a clear strategy and identity with players that will fit in a system of play.
Antony looked good at ajax though
I was joking, had no clue what happened
Good luck to him, and I hope he will become a great player for us. Was a dream target for many, including me back in 2019 after his breakout season at Ajax.
However, I think the need for Branthwaite was bigger, and signing de Ligt only makes sense if we're offloading Maguire.
Both of them are organizer type CCBs with not a lot of pace and cannot really be deployed as wide, channel defenders IMO, like your van de Vens, Konatés, etc. Both of them are high value, great players for me but I think they'd make an awful pairing, as well as switching to a back 3 in possession with one of them forced to be a wide defender would likely often end in tears. Having two very similar CBs of this level, who cannot really be paired with each other doesn't make a lot of sense IMO, hence my preference for Branthwaite (and I think he's overall better with a higher ceiling anyway).
We only really have Yoro to do what I described in the current squad, but getting Branthwaite next year should give us serious quality and depth at CB, as well as tactical flexibility. Two arguably generational pacey and physical defenders as well in Jarrad and Leny, with de Ligt and Martínez would give us 4 genuine quality CBs.
De Ligt could prove to be a great addition but it's a smaller step forward than Branthwaite or another similar CB could've been. But like I said, it could easily be a good signing in the long term, especially for £42m. A 25 year old Maguire or Dias (another similar type) would easily be worth that, so de Ligt should turn out to be a bargain. But ten Hag not salvaging Maguire and making him a key player is one of his biggest mistakes IMO. Signing de Ligt basically confirms he never really intended to do that anyways. Or maybe the club and ETH both feel like Maguire's started to decline physically. We'll know more in 12 months.
However, I think the need for Branthwaite was bigger, and signing de Ligt only makes sense if we're offloading Maguire.
Both of them are organizer type CCBs with not a lot of pace and cannot really be deployed as wide, channel defenders IMO, like your van de Vens, Konatés, etc. Both of them are high value, great players for me but I think they'd make an awful pairing, as well as switching to a back 3 in possession with one of them forced to be a wide defender would likely often end in tears. Having two very similar CBs of this level, who cannot really be paired with each other doesn't make a lot of sense IMO, hence my preference for Branthwaite (and I think he's overall better with a higher ceiling anyway).
We only really have Yoro to do what I described in the current squad, but getting Branthwaite next year should give us serious quality and depth at CB, as well as tactical flexibility. Two arguably generational pacey and physical defenders as well in Jarrad and Leny, with de Ligt and Martínez would give us 4 genuine quality CBs.
De Ligt could prove to be a great addition but it's a smaller step forward than Branthwaite or another similar CB could've been. But like I said, it could easily be a good signing in the long term, especially for £42m. A 25 year old Maguire or Dias (another similar type) would easily be worth that, so de Ligt should turn out to be a bargain. But ten Hag not salvaging Maguire and making him a key player is one of his biggest mistakes IMO. Signing de Ligt basically confirms he never really intended to do that anyways. Or maybe the club and ETH both feel like Maguire's started to decline physically. We'll know more in 12 months.
thanks - does look good news. but not sure I see the New York Times as the greatest football authority. Will wait to hear it from SJR or ETH. But does look promising
New York Times own The Athletic and have hijacked all their links.
He already had a role in Oppenheimer. He was Fat Man.
Thought we played well against City but our play from the back was poor, especially in the first half. Have heard he's a good/decent passer of the ball but I hope De Ligt is confident at beating the oppo press? It really is a weakness in our game when our best centre backs don't start.
How the hell did I miss that? Oops just looked, it was while I was under the surgeon's knife and I missed it completely! Still, I want to hear ETH say it - he wouldn't be drawn pre-match... ah, sam luckhurst has it too. OK, I'm a believer!
Deligted with this
This is huge news. Very happy that we won't see Maguire/Lindelof/Evans defense as often this season, esp when Yoro comes back. Maybe Maguire or Lindelof even finally gets the point and leaves instead of warming bench all season. We can only dream
We really needed it. Made my day
We really needed it. Made my day
It would be a miracle if we were not, we have a net spend of over a billion and we aren't competing for the major trophies that rake in the money. We pay more than 80% of CL teams yet participate in the said tournament 1 year in 3.
It's going to be a long road back to financial health and the level of competitiveness we aspire to. A long ride ahead. Hopefully this latest batch of signings isn't a complete bust like the 2020-23 ones and we approach the next summer not needing five new players as we have done since 2016.
Only question now is if both can be registered before The Fulham game.
Another good deal at a reasonable price. Especially when you consider he’s still only 24.
LCB Martinez/Shaw
RCB Yoro/De Ligt
Spare Maguire/Evans
I assume Lindelof will move on but the above gives us good options.
LCB Martinez/Shaw
RCB Yoro/De Ligt
Spare Maguire/Evans
I assume Lindelof will move on but the above gives us good options.
When would that need to be?
Fab news. Let's get in a midfielder or two.
One selling in Euro, one in UK.
Wrong. The term you missed was 'Shrewd'
They in north London should just have them both on the train back to Manchester for their medicalBoth still in the squad (on the bench) that will play against Tottenham tonight:
Didn't we do some medicals in London a couple of years back?
Is that sarcastic? We’ve just got in one of the best CBs in the last 5-7 years for a bargain price and not crazy salaries. He starts for Bayern when fit and it was a concern over his long term fitness that made Bayern look at other targets in that position. His stock is at his lowest that it could be in his career and we capitalised on that and got him for a great price (cheaper than AWB, Lindelof and Maguire).
Maguire has shown enough times that he feels uncomfortable when playing high up the pitch. So it’s sensible that we are not relying on him learning something overnight (which he couldn’t do for 3 seasons in a row). Ole tried to do it even before ETH, and the moment we switched to a high press with Harry in the team - Ole lost his job.
The spaces in midfield last season was also a sign of his inability to step up and fill the gap that our midfield vacated when going for the press.
If anything, De Ligt just enables the club to do something different and see if it works. Instead you rather have us doing the same thing with Maguire and failing again?
Also, on Branthwaite - he was clearly first choice for us. But if you see how Ineos are doing their deals - the actual cash flow that we have paid is nothing for these 2 deals. 60 m for 2 plays payable over 3 years - I.e 20m a year. This money is coming from the sale of AWB (and we will have to find it again next year).
For Branthwaite, Everton wanted 70m upfront + add-ons. If we did that, we would have no cash to spend this year and wouldn’t have been able to do any other real deals.
Would you rather have 1 CB, than have 5-6 players come in this season for slightly better quality in CB (and that also arguably better at best)?
All 4 will be plying their trades in the North of England this season
Free trip for team bonding
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