Ibrahima Konate’

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therealtboy said:
This same thing was said when Chelsea signed Werner, Ziyech and Harvertz and Spurs signed Bale and Liverpool signed Thiago but yet here we are comfortably ahead of all these teams. Let's not over react and write off our chances for next season already based on assumed signings.
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Liverpool's collapse may continue of course, but my guess is that they won't be quite so bad next year. I am expecting Chelsea to do well largely because of their new coaching setup - Tuchel is a big step up from Lampard in my view and if they can find a striker this summer (Haaland seems a possibility), then they could be the closest challengers to City next year.

I don't expect Arsenal/Spurs/Everton etc to make the kind of step forward this summer that would put our top 4 chances in serious jeopardy, though (we will have a relatively quiet summer, but will definitely do some business, which should be enough to keep our noses ahead of the chasing pack).
 
They will be signing an injury prone player to play in a more physically challenged league.
I don't think it takes a lot of working out how this will end.....Fosu Mensah comes to mind
 
Infra-red said:
I think there's a reasonable chance that we'll finish behind City, Liverpool and Chelsea next season, but that wouldn't see Solskjaer fired (unless we were also outside the top 4).

The club will be looking to keep our noses in front of Leicester, Spurs, Arsenal, Everton etc and will spend the minimum required to achieve that.
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If Leicester can keep a hold of their players, Everton will look to strengthen, Arsenal will make some useful loans deals. Spurs are the only team that look to implode and finish behind us. It's a shame what two quality CBs could do for us. It would completely change the way we play from the back. Our midfielders will be playing about 10 yards upfield and would bridge the gap with our attackers. We got a glimpse of it when Bailly played. As seen in the case of Liverpool, not having enough depth in defense pretty much have them struggling for top 4. If we were to get Konate/ Kounde/ Koulibaly + Pau Torres. We would be a lot stronger. That would also eliminate the need to play 2 DMs.

Let's face it, we need 4 proper CBs who are not injury-prone. Right now, we've got Maguire (Not good enough), Lindelof (Not good enough and is also carrying a back injury), Jones, Bailly, Tuanzebe (all injury-prone) which has led us to play Maguire and Lindelof every single time.

If we want to see incremental progress, I would get 2 CBs and a quality RW in Sancho. I think that would be good enough to bridge the gap. Yes, we do need a ST, DM and a CM (if Pogba leaves) but I think getting an upgrade on the CBs and the RW will help us bridge the gap. Let's take notice of the fact that Liverpool won the league because of their defense, Man City tightened their defense and are in pole position to win the league this year and what's the first thing Tuchel did when he came to Chelsea? He tightened their defense.

Once we've got our back 4 finalized, we can move to strengthen our attack. Honestly, speaking getting Haaland and working with a bit part defense is gonna paper over the cracks.
 
I'm not so bothered by Liverpool getting Konate as much as i am by liverpool doing their business early. We have a reputation for negotiating at the pace of a glacier and being incredibly slow in the transfer market. So it would good if utd secured a target or two early. Especially if any of are targets are due to play in the euros.
 
If anyone's read the article can you please shed some light on what Honigstein is reporting when he states "the truth about his injury problems"?

 
Adnan said:
If anyone's read the article can you please shed some light on what Honigstein is reporting when he states "the truth about his injury problems"?

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There’s a perception that the player has been injury-prone. In reality, he’s suffered one serious injury: to his hip flexor muscle. It needed surgery in France last summer after a recurrence and is the main reason his game time has been limited, and the hype turned down a lot. Previous and subsequent complaints have been very minor, though. Rangnick, for one, is certain that he is destined for great things. “Whereas Dayot relies a lot on his physique and his pace, Ibu plays with his head more. He’s got great anticipation and positioning,” he said.
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Case of it being overblown perhaps..? Still, the numbers don't lie - he has missed a lot of football over the past 2 years.
 
Harry Harries said:
Case of it being overblown perhaps..? Still, the numbers don't lie - he has missed a lot of football over the past 2 years.
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having a big hip injury like that at his age is not a good thing IMO.

Look at Andy Murray, he had the same and he's never recovered properly.

He's obviously a great footballer when fit, but we moan enough about Bailly's fitness. This guy is 10x worse so far.
 
Harry Harries said:
Case of it being overblown perhaps..? Still, the numbers don't lie - he has missed a lot of football over the past 2 years.
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You can say the same about Phil Jones. Someone posted on here that he never injured the same muscle group twice, which is incredible if you think about it.

The way I view it is injuries are injuries. It's the number of games you play that matters. It's not like he's Lindelof who was sidelined with an injury in the last 2 years. The man has been a regular in the physio room.
 
beingshe7don said:
If Leicester can keep a hold of their players, Everton will look to strengthen, Arsenal will make some useful loans deals. Spurs are the only team that look to implode and finish behind us. It's a shame what two quality CBs could do for us. It would completely change the way we play from the back. Our midfielders will be playing about 10 yards upfield and would bridge the gap with our attackers. We got a glimpse of it when Bailly played. As seen in the case of Liverpool, not having enough depth in defense pretty much have them struggling for top 4. If we were to get Konate/ Kounde/ Koulibaly + Pau Torres. We would be a lot stronger. That would also eliminate the need to play 2 DMs.

Let's face it, we need 4 proper CBs who are not injury-prone. Right now, we've got Maguire (Not good enough), Lindelof (Not good enough and is also carrying a back injury), Jones, Bailly, Tuanzebe (all injury-prone) which has led us to play Maguire and Lindelof every single time.

If we want to see incremental progress, I would get 2 CBs and a quality RW in Sancho. I think that would be good enough to bridge the gap. Yes, we do need a ST, DM and a CM (if Pogba leaves) but I think getting an upgrade on the CBs and the RW will help us bridge the gap. Let's take notice of the fact that Liverpool won the league because of their defense, Man City tightened their defense and are in pole position to win the league this year and what's the first thing Tuchel did when he came to Chelsea? He tightened their defense.

Once we've got our back 4 finalized, we can move to strengthen our attack. Honestly, speaking getting Haaland and working with a bit part defense is gonna paper over the cracks.
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We need 4 new centre backs? Come off it for gods sake
 
Judas said:
Wasn't James 15m? Have we really got to the point where 40m counts as a relatively cheap punt?
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Course it is, that’s why no one is kicking up a fuss that our cheap punt on Donny isn’t working out as expected. I’m sure if Konate is on the bench and can’t replace VVD next season everyone will be saying Klopp doesn’t fancy him
 
Adnan said:
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Yup, that's what I've seen many people echo. Even if he's this brilliant but injury prone CB, I'd rather Liverpool miss out, as there's a chance he could get it right there and we're all fecked having to deal with VVD and him bullying everybody.
 
Adam-Utd said:
having a big hip injury like that at his age is not a good thing IMO.

Look at Andy Murray, he had the same and he's never recovered properly.

He's obviously a great footballer when fit, but we moan enough about Bailly's fitness. This guy is 10x worse so far.
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Pretty much this. Don't think there is anyone who wouldn't want him on ability, but we can't be buying someone with that injury record this summer.
 
Big ol Harry gets a lot of hate. But he is an iron man and available every game.

Seems like there are many CBs these days that get injured. I guess the new way that defenders are supposed to play is too hard on the body.
 
Outside of The Athletic, French news outlets have been getting involved in getting the latest Konaté scoops.
mazhar13 said:
L'Equipe apparently got in touch with Konaté's camp, and they mention that Chelsea are the only other club in contact with them, and whilst Liverpool are ahead, they aren't necessarily so far ahead that they're close to sealing the deal.


EDIT: Loïc Tanzi of RMC Sport has something different, though.
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Interestingly, RMC Sport (probably the most reliable French outlet) have a source telling them that Konaté's conducting some medicals in Paris! Now, to me, this is wild because I don't think that Leipzig have even reported on Liverpool getting in touch with them over the player let alone submitting an offer.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Yup, that's what I've seen many people echo. Even if he's this brilliant but injury prone CB, I'd rather Liverpool miss out, as there's a chance he could get it right there and we're all fecked having to deal with VVD and him bullying everybody.
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He's a phenomenal talent, has everything to be one of the, if not THE best CB around in few years. Ofcourse, his injury woes may continue and he ends up being average but I sure as feck don't want to see how it pans out at Pool of all teams.
 
Varun said:
He's a phenomenal talent, has everything to be one of the, if not THE best CB around in few years. Ofcourse, his injury woes may continue and he ends up being average but I sure as feck don't want to see how it pans out at Pool of all teams.
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Depressing if this happens. Let's hope another team bags him then.
 
mazhar13 said:
Outside of The Athletic, French news outlets have been getting involved in getting the latest Konaté scoops.


Interestingly, RMC Sport (probably the most reliable French outlet) have a source telling them that Konaté's conducting some medicals in Paris! Now, to me, this is wild because I don't think that Leipzig have even reported on Liverpool getting in touch with them over the player let alone submitting an offer.
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He has a release clause, doesn't he? Contact between the clubs would be nothing more than a formality once agreement has been reached with the player.
 
Does anyone think VVD at 30 will come from a big injury like an ACL and remain the same player / same pace / physicality etc? I very much doubt it. I think Konate might be their punt around replacing VVD for the longer term if injuries work out.

If not, you take the loss and move on.
 
Infra-red said:
He has a release clause, doesn't he? Contact between the clubs would be nothing more than a formality once agreement has been reached with the player.
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That's right, so Liverpool must have told Leipzig about planning to pay the release clause amount, but Bild reported yesterday via Leipzig sources they didn't get contacted by Liverpool, which makes all of this even more interesting.
 
mazhar13 said:
That's right, so Liverpool must have told Leipzig about planning to pay the release clause amount, but Bild reported yesterday via Leipzig sources they didn't get contacted by Liverpool, which makes all of this even more interesting.
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A case of intermediaries contacting intermediaries rather than a direct approach from club-to-club, perhaps. Everyone has deniability while the deal progresses swiftly in the background.

With a release clause on the table, there isn't much negotiation needed between the clubs anyway (unless Liverpool wanted to get him for less than his release clause of course, but that seems unlikely given that it's fairly cheap).
 
Infra-red said:
A case of intermediaries contacting intermediaries rather than a direct approach from club-to-club, perhaps. Everyone has deniability while the deal progresses swiftly in the background.

With a release clause on the table, there isn't much negotiation needed between the clubs anyway (unless Liverpool wanted to get him for less than his release clause of course, but that seems unlikely given that it's fairly cheap).
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Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, too. In that case, this deal should get completed in the next couple of weeks at most.
 
Teja said:
Does anyone think VVD at 30 will come from a big injury like an ACL and remain the same player / same pace / physicality etc? I very much doubt it. I think Konate might be their punt around replacing VVD for the longer term if injuries work out.

If not, you take the loss and move on.
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I didn’t think VVD was lightening quick, and given his age would be slowing down anyway.

in this day and age, most players should recover from an ACL as long as not rushed back.
 
Adnan said:
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RMC Sport's Loïc Tanzi indicates otherwise (based on other particular sources), which I find quite interesting. When covering the L'Équipe article, Sport Witness themselves stated that it could be the player's camp trying to keep things on the down low whilst Liverpool sort things out.
 
Teja said:
Does anyone think VVD at 30 will come from a big injury like an ACL and remain the same player / same pace / physicality etc? I very much doubt it. I think Konate might be their punt around replacing VVD for the longer term if injuries work out.

If not, you take the loss and move on.
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Those aren’t inherently career-killing injuries these days, especially for a CB.
 
Organic Potatoes said:
Those aren’t inherently career-killing injuries these days, especially for a CB.
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Certainly did a number on vidic who wasn't especially pacey or athletic to begin with. He'll likely return strongly but would do very well to hit his previous level
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
I didn’t think VVD was lightening quick, and given his age would be slowing down anyway.

in this day and age, most players should recover from an ACL as long as not rushed back.
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Organic Potatoes said:
Those aren’t inherently career-killing injuries these days, especially for a CB.
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I thought his pace was very underrated in general. Especially with the high line Liverpool want to play, having a slow CB is a liability regardless of how well he reads the game.

I'm mostly guessing though, I can't think of a lot of examples of 30yo CBs who either made it / didn't make it after an ACL.
 
SER19 said:
Certainly did a number on vidic who wasn't especially pacey or athletic to begin with. He'll likely return strongly but would do very well to hit his previous level
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Everyone is different. It’s not generally something to plan a significant transfer based on if you have any faith in the other CB.
 
mazhar13 said:
RMC Sport's Loïc Tanzi indicates otherwise (based on other particular sources), which I find quite interesting. When covering the L'Équipe article, Sport Witness themselves stated that it could be the player's camp trying to keep things on the down low whilst Liverpool sort things out.
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What I find quite baffling is the players representives making it known that there's still 'many options' on the table. Which opens up the possibility of a hijack which Chelsea have a history of doing.

And if he is having a medical then Liverpool might be trying to push the deal over the line due to those other options which have been reported to be Chelsea and United some weeks back if Christian Falk is to be believed. But Chelsea have someone working within Tuchel's back-room staff who knows the player, and that could open up for a interesting conclusion to this chase along with Roman's roubles.
 
Missed opportunity whilst in all likelihood watching a rival significantly strengthen in an area we desperately need to strengthen in at a fair price. Awesome.

The injury stuff is the only reason we should have a doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if he goes to Liverpool or Chelsea and play 35+ games next season.
 
Adnan said:
What I find quite baffling is the players representives making it known that there's still 'many options' on the table. Which opens up the possibility of a hijack which Chelsea have a history of doing.

And if he is having a medical then Liverpool might be trying to push the deal over the line due to those other options which have been reported to be Chelsea and United some weeks back if Christian Falk is to be believed. But Chelsea have someone working within Tuchel's back-room staff who knows the player, and that could open up for a interesting conclusion to this chase along with Roman's roubles.
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What's baffling? The more sought after he can make his client look, the better cards he has when negotiating a contract.
 
Adnan said:
What I find quite baffling is the players representives making it known that there's still 'many options' on the table. Which opens up the possibility of a hijack which Chelsea have a history of doing.

And if he is having a medical then Liverpool might be trying to push the deal over the line due to those other options which have been reported to be Chelsea and United some weeks back if Christian Falk is to be believed. But Chelsea have someone working within Tuchel's back-room staff who knows the player, and that could open up for a interesting conclusion to this chase along with Roman's roubles.
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Exactly, and that's why I think that this transfer will still take a while. If Konaté's entourage is still in touch with Chelsea, and Konaté himself hasn't been involved yet, then we can't just rule out everyone else at this point. With that said, I think that we can rule United out. L'Équipe have only mentioned Chelsea in their report, which makes me think that we aren't necessarily in active contact with Konaté's reps.
 
Rob said:
What's baffling? The more sought after he can make his client look, the better cards he has when negotiating a contract.
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You'd think if he was having a medical then personal terms and the agent fees would be agreed before a medical would take place.
 
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