Yes very fair comment, I am pleased we seem to be taking a few risks on young, hungry players.
Harry Maguire | Signed
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Yes very fair comment, I am pleased we seem to be taking a few risks on young, hungry players.
OPTA stats rated him as one of the 20th slowest players in the EPL. Pep himself called him slow on Amazon Documentary
Our club had a different mindset then though and it seems they've now learnt from those mistakes hence the links to the likes of Longstaff now. Can't keep beating that dead horse forever though
He isn’t by far and away the least risky option as he’ll be costing a world record fee. Lukaku supposedly wasn’t risky, neither was Sanchez hows that gone?. It’s laughable people think after Koulibaly, De Ligt or Varane it’s Maguire or no one.
There are good players all throughout Europe, our misguided transfer policy should have made everyone realise that by now. We could end up paying 140m for a RB and a CB and you seriously think you can’t find other options, that makes no sense.
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He’s honestly one of the most composed players I can think of. And I don’t think there are anyone better for less or the same amount of money, perhaps Koulibaly but he’s two years older and doesn’t speak English.
Indeed. It's almost like we're not very well run.
Almost.
Neither do I.
I am not. Sampdoria are a small club which means it rarely attracts attention from scouts outside the nation it reside. The same applies to the EPL. I mean, you rarely see Bayern or Real targeting Leicester's, Crystal Palace's or West Ham's players. Hence the only real interest from top clubs would come from the Italian league, most of whom can hardly make ends meet.Now the only Italian top clubs with real money are Juventus and Napoli. Juventus went for De Ligt while Napoli went for Manolas whose minimum fee clause made the transfer pretty straight forward. Inter took Godin on a free transfer (FFP is killing Inter)
Sampdoria tend to sell some real gems on cheap, the last being Bruno Fernandes for 8.9m.
Not really and its actually pretty simple as to why.
How many transfers of pretty unknown players can you name that Leicester made and massively flopped? I can't think of many at pal because it isn't such a big deal. Their expectations are completely different and so a club like Leicester will take far more punts. If they make 10 signings over 3 years and 1 really pays off, it looks great because noone cares about the 9 that they moved on, potentially even at a loss in terms of transfer fees.
When it happens here or at another big team, the impact is much more notable. You can carry certain players in a mid table team and maintain that position but if you mess it up at one of the big boys, you can find yourself dropping down the table. Whilst our current situation isn't great, there's a reason why you don't see a constant change in the top 5 or so clubs in a league. They make less risky buys because they can't afford to and generally sign more established players.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Look at the signing of James to see how fans react after we take a chance on one player from the championship. Now imagine we did that every window. It's much more common for big teams to buy players that have done really well at a smaller club, it's much safer. There are exceptions to the rule, Dele Alli for example but it won't be the norm.
I'd also follow that up by asking how often you think the likes of Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs send scouts to watch championship, league 1 and even league 2 games? They'll be looking at a totally different pool of players, I would imagine.
I read an article a whole ago on some teams actually using databases such as football manager, to at least highlight some potential scouting opportunities. We can't send scouts to watch every league and will focus on more prominent leagues, clubs and competitions. Smaller clubs will look at a pool from a lower category because those in a higher pool would be unattainable. There are hits and misses at every level.
My boss, who's a Leicester fan can't believe how much this guy is being valued in terms of transfer fee. He prays we take him for £70m
I'm not sure I believe a 90m bid has been submitted and subsequently rejected by Napoli. It's very hard to know what is real when it comes to them and their flamboyant president. At 130m he is priced out of the market. No one will bid that. I'd like to credible sources with regards to any bid having been rejected and how much it was as a lump sum payment.
I think they'd sell at 90m. And I'd infinitely prefer him over Maguire.
Just to add to this you have players that are just not ready for the step up to a club like united. We bought Zaha and saw the potential in him, he just was not ready for a club like ours when we bought him. He needed to be playing week in and week out making his mistakes and having good and bad games till he came into his own. At United that kind of development just cannot happen due to the ambitions of the club and fans
Aren’t City interested in him too though? Which would seem odd if that’s what Pep said.
You could say in current standings if Bissaka is £50m then Maguire can justify £75-80m but I wouldnt. I do like Maguire, but I dont love him. He is good rather than excellent on the ball, average pace, pretty slow turning, decent reading of the game and of course he is excellent aerially.
Personally I would be happy signing Maguire if he was one of two centre backs signed, but that isnt happening. WHo do you partner him with? I see him as a good upgrade on Lindelof (who I dont rate) but not a partner and I dont think his passing and reading of the game is that high that there is a quality partnership with Smalling for example. Tuanzabe looks the best bet for me, but its too soon to talk about him as a partner until he proves himself in the team.
Maguie is a good player, proven in the premiership, personally though for the fees being mentioned I would much rather a Koulibaily for more or a ROmagnoli or Upamecano for probably less
Personally I would be happy signing Maguire if he was one of two centre backs signed, but that isnt happening. WHo do you partner him with? I see him as a good upgrade on Lindelof (who I dont rate) but not a partner and I dont think his passing and reading of the game is that high that there is a quality partnership with Smalling for example. Tuanzabe looks the best bet for me, but its too soon to talk about him as a partner until he proves himself in the team.
Maguie is a good player, proven in the premiership, personally though for the fees being mentioned I would much rather a Koulibaily for more or a ROmagnoli or Upamecano for probably less
The issue is his defensive reading of the game. Plenty of slower CB's have been top level players but their awareness of danger and defensive positioning were much better than Maguire's. Defensively I am not even certain that he is as good as what we have let alone better.
I really hope I am wrong about him.
We also don't have the patience or ability to improve the players we do sign. We just signed a RB for £50m this summer, after spunking £20m on a 19 year old last summer (who would fall into your category of Maguire before Leicester).
How does me thinking that Maguire is the least risky equate to me saying there are no options other than him? Of course there are.
I like Maguire and think he’d come in and instantly improve glaring weaknesses we have. He would require little settling in time and is a leader.
Walk away, save the money to trigger deligt clause in 2 years.
Maybe they're interested in getting us paying well over the odds for a player who isn't great.
Another very good point. Especially with defenders as well, the patience just isn't there. I remember having many an argument regarding Ronaldo. Around Euro 2006? An awful lot of people wanting him to be sold because he was frustrating, a one trick pony (that particular phrase was thrown at me ALOT), wasn't consistent and had no end product.
I'll admit, I'm biased when it comes to technical or flair players because they're a huge reason I watch the sport. So I will tend to stick by players for longer than might be sensible if they are the sort that will try to regularly beat a man and be skillful.
But it's even worse these days, a couple of bad games and you'll be abused on twitter and called out in forums all over the place. Fans honestly talk so much shit and if I were a player, I would almost definitely want to take steps up to a bigger club than just jump in.
If we bid a penny more I will delete my membership with the Redcafe and never go on here again.
He's not worth it if we sign him we still will need defensive reinforcements.
Only kidding I like the Redcafe to much and i love you all I wouldn't delete if we paid 100m for him.
He's not worth it if we sign him we still will need defensive reinforcements.
Only kidding I like the Redcafe to much and i love you all I wouldn't delete if we paid 100m for him.
True just like fred. I don't think they are interested.
Ooo, they’re so sneaky that lot, bet they did that with Sanchez and Fred too. grrrrrrr (shakes fist at the BLUE sky)
I don't think Pep would want to spend that amount of money on Maguire
I agree with what you're saying, but I don't think it let's our scouts off the hook. I hate to give Liverpool any credit but look at players they have bought like Mane/Salah/Firminho/Wijnaldum where we may have laughed at them at the time and they've become CL winners now. Other players that havent worked out, they've still moved on at a profit. I just feel we should be securing the odd player before he costs us 70m+.
(Which is why I'm happy about AWB and James before its mentioned.
)We don't really have 2 years to just hang on and hope we improve.
Honestly, we narrowly missed top 4 last year having had an utter abortion of a season. We were a complete circus for most of it. Changed manager, the club was on its knees almost in terms of that particular season. We still almost got there. Say what you will about Maguire but our aim needs to be top 4, put Liverpool and City out of your minds for a season. Do we look to be putting a squad together that can compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs? I genuinely think we are and we'll build on that again to push further on next year.
It's a damn tough league these days. A top 2 moved to a top 4 which has now moved to a top 6. There are going to be fans of at least 2 of the so called 'top 6' clubs that are left really pissed off and doom and gloom because all 6 clubs feel they should be in the top 4.
Only an idiot would . Seriously this would be the worst transfer in history a complete and utter waste of money . 80 odd million for a player that barely improves on what we have and what we have is average
Everybody costs £70m nowadays. It’s a nothing price.
Also it's Guardiola. CBs probably the position he's had the most problems recruiting for throughout his career (See John Stones) & what he wants from his players is a lot different to other managers - the man converted Javier Mascherano & Javi Martinez to CBs.
For me, it's still debatable if he's better than anyone we have. Not to mention that if he is 70m better.
If City buy Maguire you may as well guarantee them going out of Europe in the same way that every Pep team has for years. Done on the counter with their Cb's way out of position. Maguire being a shitter version of Hummels as this happens.
If Pep really wanted Maguire it would be done by now.
Don't know enough about Romagnoli, would he really be cheaper than Maguire? Skriniar is a complete non-starter, he is not just settled, he is playing for the club he has supported his whole life and is adamant about not moving, I doubt he would go to Real let alone us.
Leicester should take 50 + Rojo. Spend 40 on Tielmans and have 10 for a championship prospect and be a much better team.
I agree with what you're saying, but I don't think it let's our scouts off the hook. I hate to give Liverpool any credit but look at players they have bought like Mane/Salah/Firminho/Wijnaldum where we may have laughed at them at the time and they've become CL winners now. Other players that havent worked out, they've still moved on at a profit. I just feel we should be securing the odd player before he costs us 70m+.
(Which is why I'm happy about AWB and James before its mentioned.
Sort of proves my point though to be fair.
Liverpool haven't been a consistent top 2 club for a long time. They've made the top 2 what? 4 times in 27 years? In the last 5 years they have finished 4th or lower in 4 of those seasons.
They have needed to be more savvy and they haven't been competing for players like Pogba. The very players you named were players they were mocked for signing. They were in a different market to us. They've accepted that, bought well and according to a plan and over time it seems to have paid off but they need to keep this up for a mother few years to properly consider themselves one of the top 2 or 3 in the country.
Klopp has finished 4th, 4th and 8th before finishing second. In that time he's been laughed at, their fans have been laughed at and so have a good amount of signings they made. I keep saying it but hindsight is great. If we aren't careful we could end up slipping into a similar position and we seem to be regrouping and trying to go forward with some form of philosophy/identity.
I would not mind maguire for 75 million or so.with his acquisition we would be sorting out our defence for quite some time to come.
We could also seek to recoup some of that money spent by offloading the likes of Rojo, darmian and Jones (30-40 million sales) im hoping.
We could also seek to recoup some of that money spent by offloading the likes of Rojo, darmian and Jones (30-40 million sales) im hoping.
I sort of want us to sign him so I can finally find out whether he’s shit or not.
Rather sign Koulibaly if possible.
Not completely sold on Maguire.
Not completely sold on Maguire.
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