Smalling and Balling.
Eric Bailly | BBC say signing is imminent
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I can't honestly remember. I was in and around the same time as Paris and maybe an hour ahead of Dublin. I think. Anyway, point is I don't think Jet Lag should be that big an issue for West Africa. It wasn't for me anyway and jet lag kills me anywhere else I go!
Anyone think we will announce Bailly and Ibra at the same time like Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin?
I'm saying that the month you pointed out had nothing to do with the ACON since its held in the last two weeks of January and up until the end of the first week of Feb. I understand a month in football is important, but the tournament doesn't have any CL games or FA Cup games at that time.
Similarly the tournament doesn't last the whole of Feb and any potential player who plays, will be back probably in the first week unless their team gets to the semis/ or wins.
You are right about the jetlag and to be honest Nigeria is in West Africa and in the same time zone than Paris.
Doesn't make any financial sense to do that.
The AFCON is the biggest money puller for the African Confederation. There simply isnt enough money in the African game from sponsorships to play it over 4 years.
It's inconvienent for the European clubs,but such is life.
You are right about the jetlag and to be honest Nigeria is in West Africa and in the same time zone than Paris.
The travel and jet lag thing must be a killer for the South American players in fairness. But they seem to cope fine. I think the big issue people have with the African Nations Cup is it comes right in the middle of season and is not in line with any other international break. Its disruptive on a player more than just making them tired etc.
Yes.
United have too. We have just tended to sign crap African players though. Jose has signed genuine quality though. Hope he can do that here.
Yeah, it's often played during the dry season, on bad fields and in the middle of the season. But to be fair if they play it during the summer, they better transform the competition into a waterpolo tournament.
Yeah, fair point.
30M Euros reported by Cadena Ser and they say it's close.
Not a chance.Ibra will probably want a whole week exclusively dedicated to celebrating his arrival.
Like many, hadn't even heard of this guy before the rumors started yesterday. Can't really say I have much of an opinion though, parts of his game game sound promising and a good age to develop. Disciplinary record is a concern though, but that probably would get better with age. AFCON is a concern for me too, it's not a deal breaker but I've always thought that this was not ideal as you know a player will miss a certain amount of games everytime it's held.
Playing it in the Summer would be equally as disastrous.
Especially in West Africa rainy months. Would greatly increase the chance of serious injuries too. Also the games would be quite poor,affecting perhaps sponsorships in the long run.
Well if Sierra Leone will beat Ivory Coast in September then Ivory Coast will not qualify for the ACON next year.
http://www.livescore.com/soccer/africa-cup-of-nations/qualification-group-i/
http://www.livescore.com/soccer/africa-cup-of-nations/qualification-group-i/
If we'd buy him I'm for Sierra Leone
This seems to be gathering pace. I've never heard about him before, but I like his pace and tackling precision in the vids.
His tackling is insane but he needs to be careful in PL not to cause too much penalties decision and he may be just perfect alongside Smalling.
Yeah, he seems to lunge into those tackles. Could potentially hurt himself or the opposition. I am surprised he only got 1 Red card last season.
Assuming this guy signs, we really are building a quick team all over the park save for the central midfield positions
I wasnt being serious lad, it was the obligatory racist? post you see on many threads here. Chill.
Not convinced he'll be starting right back for us, I think Valencia is exactly the type of player Mourinho loves, physically strong, fast, has stamina to get uo and down the pitch and not afraid to get a bit dirty.
Wouldn't surprise me if Mourinho see's Bailly as an option from the bench to be used to see out games, same way he used Mikel at Chelsea. I don't see him changing his way just because of our renowned style of play, I'd expect to see an extra centre back on if we've a point or three to hold onto late in a game.
Wouldn't surprise me if Mourinho see's Bailly as an option from the bench to be used to see out games, same way he used Mikel at Chelsea. I don't see him changing his way just because of our renowned style of play, I'd expect to see an extra centre back on if we've a point or three to hold onto late in a game.
Mourinho's fullbacks have almost always been fantastic defenders.
That's what I was trying to say before people started getting their knickers in a twist. It really shouldn't matter whether the player's going to be missing for a few weeks. If he's good enough sign him but don't be moaning about it come January when he's off representing his country. We lose players all the time due to injury and have to make do.
Nations Cup is not an issue, in fact, it's ridiculous. For years we've been bullied by Yaya for instance, and if anyone feels they would not have rather had him in our midfield than what we have had for the last 5 or so years then I seriously question them. Football is a squad game, and we should be able to deal with an absence every couple of seasons for just a few games.
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At Chelsea Mourinho went through countless full back signings on both flanks, expensive ones at that and bar Cole and Ivanovic off the top of my head, virtually all of them I can remember have been utter shite
A world class star at the back end of his career and a relatively unknown younger player who has had a great season. Lets hope if he does it turns out better than last years versions!
The last time I said 'who the feck is that', we got Martial and he's the greatest footballer ever. So yeah, why not?
So because its a different time of year its impossible for them sequence of results or similar to be repeated, especially because we are missing, what we'd all hope to be a top defender?
Filipe Luis was a strange case because he was great at Atletico, average at Chelsea and then got back to being great at Atletico.
Azpilicueta was very good there.
Azpilicueta is a very good defender but you're spot on, he's signed some amount of journeymen defenders too.
Apologies, he was signed before Jose returned
Is it? I haven't seen anything since the initial report
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