Eric Bailly | loan agreed with OM

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Hansi Fick said:
Both Tuanzebe and Bailly leaving the club and the squad, doesn't that mean you would need to add a CB?
On paper, Maguire, Varane, Lindelof and Jones should be enough but at least one of them can be expected to be injured at any time. Or am I missing someone.
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I personally dislike having 5 senior CBs in the squad if playing a back 4, unless at least one and preferably two of them are also competing for a position at full back or DM. I suppose its becoming rarer these days to have defenders who cover CB and FB (like O'Shea, Heinze, Silvestre, Brown) as FB is becoming a more specialised attacking position, but the holding-role Busquets/Fabinho type midfielder is more common so they're probably what we need as 5th choice cover. Matic kind of fits the bill if really needed.

Otherwise 5 specialist senior CBs is just too many, the benefits of having cover in case 3 first team centre backs are simultaneously unavailable for a game or two, are outweighed by the cost. In case of emergency we could play Matic, Shaw, McTominay at CB, or whoever is the most promising CB after Mengi.

Obviously this comes with a massive caveat that Phil Jones is a perma crock, and a 5th choice might be an option. But still, it'd be better to try and sell Bailly for hypothetically 15-25m, and just buy a cheap punt as a 5th choice. He'll, there's even McShane at the club if really needed!
 
VanDeBank said:
Massive loss. He's our best CB when fit (with the exception of Varane).

We're getting rid of him instead of the worse CB we bought for 80m that we could probably flog to Newcastle for 50m.

It's understandable he wants out. Imagine having to watch Maguire stink up the place week in, week out and never getting a look in. That must be frustrating.
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Yeah, we're really going to miss the bloke who's hit 20 matches in a season once since he joined, 2 if you're counting all comps. In 2 of the last 4 seasons he hasn't even made it to double figures :lol: he's fecking useless, he's never fit.
 
Some quality moments from him. However, during a 90 minutes he can go from looking like a Rolls Royce of a defender to a disaster. He’d definitely get into our Mad Bastard XI but sadly he’s too much of a crock so time to move him on.
 
Can the mods edit the title to say "Milan looking for a loan deal"? Seems like everyone is already saying their goodbyes. We are stuck with him till 2025.
 
Dante said:
You know when you're playing pool and you're losing and you're pissed off and you know there's no way back? So then you just say feck it, and smack the ball as hard as you can on every turn and hope that something bounces off the cushions into one of the pockets?

That's how Bailly plays football.
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:lol:

I saw a good one somewhere when he was heading off the Olympics with Ivory Coast saying he’d probably come back with a medal for some other sport :lol:
 
VanDeBank said:
Massive loss. He's our best CB when fit (with the exception of Varane).

We're getting rid of him instead of the worse CB we bought for 80m that we could probably flog to Newcastle for 50m.

It's understandable he wants out. Imagine having to watch Maguire stink up the place week in, week out and never getting a look in. That must be frustrating.
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Not this absolute nonsense again. Didn't think there was any left saying this.
 
Trequarista10 said:
I personally dislike having 5 senior CBs in the squad if playing a back 4, unless at least one and preferably two of them are also competing for a position at full back or DM. I suppose its becoming rarer these days to have defenders who cover CB and FB (like O'Shea, Heinze, Silvestre, Brown) as FB is becoming a more specialised attacking position, but the holding-role Busquets/Fabinho type midfielder is more common so they're probably what we need as 5th choice cover. Matic kind of fits the bill if really needed.

Otherwise 5 specialist senior CBs is just too many, the benefits of having cover in case 3 first team centre backs are simultaneously unavailable for a game or two, are outweighed by the cost. In case of emergency we could play Matic, Shaw, McTominay at CB, or whoever is the most promising CB after Mengi.

Obviously this comes with a massive caveat that Phil Jones is a perma crock, and a 5th choice might be an option. But still, it'd be better to try and sell Bailly for hypothetically 15-25m, and just buy a cheap punt as a 5th choice. He'll, there's even McShane at the club if really needed!
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I do agree with the point.
I was thinking to the Bayern squad, and while we do have 5 CBs on paper in Upamecano, Hernandez, Süle, Nianzou and Pavard, three of those are also competing in full back positions as you describe, Pavard and Süle right back (Pavard arguably the starting RB), Hernandez at left back. Nianzou has played DM.

I was merely noticing that you'll have 2 less CBs in the squad (well Tuanzebe was already out on loan) without adding another one, and the caveat of Jones's availability is a serious one.

But it's obvious Rangnick considers the squad bloated, too.
 
VanDeBank said:
Bailly's madness doesn't cost us any more than Maguire's/Lindelof's non defending/ball watching.


Maguire really wasn't that good last season. He was better than Lindelof playing through a back injury. His start to the season was atrocious (understandably so, then again, maybe he shouldn't have played) and his ability on the ball and elegant first touch is rightfully a meme at this point.

Maguire's international performances are about as relevant as Pogba's/Fred's. Tyrone Mings did a fantastic job replacing him btw.

It's not just about Bailly having a supporting role. He hasn't gotten a serious look in and was last choice both this season and the one before.
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Now I know you are WUMming
 
AneRu said:
Shouldn't we at least wait until the closing hours of the window to see how our other CBs recover. I mean Jones was back for one match and swiftly returned to the treatment room whilst Lindelof is back but not really fit and Maguire and Varane have their issues too. Billy is a crock but I would rather have 5 crocks than give away one for a lousy loan deal that won't help us at all.
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We can be pretty confident that Varane, Maguire and Lindelof are not permacrocks. They’ve had injuries this season, but nothing more than ordinary issues every faces from time to time. The massive wildcard is Jones, whose issues are well known and apart from another injury in the next few weeks there’s nothing more we’re going to learn about him.
 
We can't afford to lose a senior CB without replacement so big no.
 
AltiUn said:
Yeah, we're really going to miss the bloke who's hit 20 matches in a season once since he joined, 2 if you're counting all comps. In 2 of the last 4 seasons he hasn't even made it to double figures :lol: he's fecking useless, he's never fit.
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He has been pretty much a Regen of JOnes. Decent first season and then a host of niggling inuries and rash moments. So yes I would agree it is time for him to go.

However I do partly agree with the poster you were answering, for me ability and general performances, he has shown he is actually better than most of the other centre backs, Only one that seems able to defend crosses and runners, does have ability on the ball...but, no we wont miss him if he isnt playing liek you say.

But there isnt a single centre back we would really miss in all honesty. Varane its too early to see how he does in the premiership. Maguire has onyl really had a good 3months before missing the end of last season, only stays by default of the others being so poor, Jones has played once in a long lon gtime and Lindelof has been average at best most of his time here, was actually looking like he might be "decent" early on this season but now gone back closer to the awful Lindelof of his earl days here, seriously cant understand peopl edefending him
 
lex talionis said:
We can be pretty confident that Varane, Maguire and Lindelof are not permacrocks. They’ve had injuries this season, but nothing more than ordinary issues every faces from time to time. The massive wildcard is Jones, whose issues are well known and apart from another injury in the next few weeks there’s nothing more we’re going to learn about him.
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So we are comfortable with finishing the season with just three reliable CBs? And taking that risk for a low ball loan fee where we might end up paying half of Bailly's wages?
 
If the reports are true that Bailly wants to move on, then I would let him go on to condition that he's either loaned with minimum full wages paid or an outright sale. We will still have 4 CH's with the possibility of Mct, Shaw and Matic being able to cover in the event of a crisis.
If players are unhappy and have failed to deliver, move them on. We have to try to clear the deck of the deadwood before the new manager comes in; Bailly and a good few more fit that category.
 
AneRu said:
So we are comfortable with finishing the season with just three reliable CBs? And taking that risk for a low ball loan fee where we might end up paying half of Bailly's wages?
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i definitely would not endorse sending Bailly on loan to Milan and pay all or most of his wages. That would
daft beyond belief.

But on your core point as to whether we should consider loaning out the fourth choice of our five CBs, a player whom we know is unhappy with getting no playing time, the answer is yes. I’m Consider, not send him out on loan at all costs. He’s unhappy never being picked, whereas Jones is delighted regardless he’s picked or not. And there’s no doubt that Bailly is fourth on the depth chart, regardless of what we think about Maguire.

If three of our CBs are out with injury, a horrifying but imaginable prospect, we could scrape the barrell and stick McTominay in. But rotting Bailly on the bench right next to Donny when a suitor is out there would not be optimal player management.
 
We'll end up keeping him because moving him on is too much effort or Joel Glazer loses his cellphone and cant access his voice messages. Something in accordance with our current level anyway.
 
lex talionis said:
i definitely would not endorse sending Bailly on loan to Milan and pay all or most of his wages. That would
daft beyond belief.

But on your core point as to whether we should consider loaning out the fourth choice of our five CBs, a player whom we know is unhappy with getting no playing time, the answer is. Consider, not send him out on loan at all costs. He’s unhappy never being picked, whereas Jones is delighted regardless he’s picked or not. And there’s no doubt that Bailly is fourth on the depth chart, regardless of what we think about Maguire.

If three of our CBs are out with injury, a horrifying but imaginable prospect, we could shears scrape the barrell and stick McTominay in. But rotting Bailly on the bench right next to Donny when a suitor is out there would not be optimal player management.
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It's not about what I think over Maguire but the mere fact that we are one injury and suspension from relying on Jones and picking U23s after Jones gets his customary knock after one match.
 
UncleBob said:
He barely plays, and when he does he usually does something stupid or injures himself.
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He didnt play much but was needed at times. For me that's enough for him to stay. He can go in the summer.

lex talionis said:
i definitely would not endorse sending Bailly on loan to Milan and pay all or most of his wages. That would
daft beyond belief.

But on your core point as to whether we should consider loaning out the fourth choice of our five CBs, a player whom we know is unhappy with getting no playing time, the answer is yes. I’m Consider, not send him out on loan at all costs. He’s unhappy never being picked, whereas Jones is delighted regardless he’s picked or not. And there’s no doubt that Bailly is fourth on the depth chart, regardless of what we think about Maguire.

If three of our CBs are out with injury, a horrifying but imaginable prospect, we could shears scrape the barrell and stick McTominay in. But rotting Bailly on the bench right next to Donny when a suitor is out there would not be optimal player management.
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It sounds alot right. But when we look into it, its just a lot of numbers but not much reliability.
We recalled Bailly after releasing him for Afcon. We have actually already played with Matic as CB this season. That's how reliable all those numbers are.
Varane has been injury prone, Jones is yet to show he can be relied on rather than be just a number. He is already injured again after 1 game. If its Jones that is going on loan, I would drive him there myself.

We would be more than fine with 4 reliable CBs. But if 2 of them are Jones and Varane, while playing twice a week, and our solution is to weaken further our already weak midfield....what's the actual point. Its like we want to set ourselves up.
In the summer I wouldn't mind seeing the back of both Jones and Bailly and replace them with 1 new CB.
 
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He is an injury prone CB, with many question marks around his capabilities. He is our 4th CB option. And people are actually questioning the notion of loaning him?

Why he should be loaned:

A) better have a kid as our 4th/5th option. Liverpool went for a year without senior CBS and we lose our mind about our 4th option.
B) he may play there and actually improve
C) we cover his wages.
 
Gandalf said:
Rarer than a Unicorn, someone who believes Calamity Bailly is a better defender than Raphael Varane.
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No, I don't think he's a better player than Varane, but he's put in better performances for United than what we've seen from Varane so far, IMO. Varane has had an unfortunately disjointed start to his United career due to injuries and the mess we're in. We haven't seen the best of him at United yet
 
Gandalf said:
Rarer than a Unicorn, someone who believes Calamity Bailly is a better defender than Raphael Varane.
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Varane has been poor this season. Poorer than Bailly? Not exactly a controversial opinion but not enough samples to find that.
 
Per DiMarzio (tonight) Milan could accelerate for the loan of Bailly or Diallo (PSG) depending on the severity of Tomori's injury.
Injury is not expected to be serious.
 
AneRu said:
It's not about what I think over Maguire but the mere fact that we are one injury and suspension from relying on Jones and picking U23s after Jones gets his customary knock after one match.
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I hear you. But Bailly is in reality just as injury prone as Jones, is he not? There's no doubt we need four CBs in the first team stable, but do we need a fifth? Jones is going nowhere, so the question comes to down to whether we need 5 CBs or only 4. If Bailly were happy to get virtually zero appearances, as was the case in the first half of the season, there wouldn't be a reason to give a moment's thought to as whether to keep Bailly on the same permabench status as Van De Beek.

All that said, a fit Bailly would be my first choice to partner with Varane. But that's not going to happen. And not only that, it's pretty clear Lindelof is the first choice behind Maguire. Bailly has every reason to be frustrated by his status, although surely he would acknowledge his fitness problems were largely responsible for his relegation to fourth choice as CB.
 
Transfer Window podcast said that Newcastle want Bailly but Utd dont want to sell.
 
Bailly is very inconsistent and injury prone but he'd be an enormous upgrade for Newcastle. I wonder what they'd be willing to pay.
 
Satsuma United said:
Bailly, Jones, why are they still United players ?

Our Board and managers created this system that rewards injury-prones and mediocrity.
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Jones was given his contract before this career threatening 18 month injury. At the time he was in our first team and the England squad. So let’s cut the other narrative
 
some good french sources are saying we (Milan) have fired up communication with United for Bailly.
Don't believe it, apparently, according to top Milan sources. We no longer have a non-EU slot left to sign Bailly after signing Lazetic (Serbian striker) today.
 
Yeah, nobody is putting hard cash down for Bailly given his wages and injury record. A loan with a respectable option to buy is probably our best bet.
 
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