Jan Oblak

I think it would be bad business if we ended up selling David for less than what we would pay for Oblak. David was recognized as the best keeper only slightly over a year ago. He can get back to that level IF he wants to stay here.

And if he doesn’t want to stay here?
 
Any keeper we sign has to be a good shot stopper by default.

But the question is, how does Oblak's distribution and command of the area fare in the games regular observers have watched him in?

Not seen much of him this season, but from what I recall he is better at long balls and his command of the area is excellent. The only element where I thing DDG is significantly better(or have a better method) is the way they conduct themselves with shots from and angle and close range. Oblak has a bad tendency to go down early.
 
I think it's pretty clear DDG doesn't want to stay here. This feels exactly the same as last time but this time there won't be a fecking fax machine to save us

Yeah. If his mind is made up and he wants to go, then we really don’t have any choice but to get a replacement.

It really is a crappy situation that we ended up in. How did our higher ups let a keeper of his quality get into the situation we’re in where we couldn’t sell him at high enough value to pay for an equivalent replacement.
 
Many of their recent signings have been flops but I don't think you can ignore the fact that they built a league winning team for very little money and when they started spending extravagantly on big money signings, their signings started to flop. But that's not what I wanted to say through that example. Even those flops you mentioned, most of them are young players with lot of potential - Lemar, Vitolo. They also signed Rodri and Correa in the last few years. Although they signed Costa back for a huge amount (I'm sure they regret that now), I don't expect them to be interested in DDG
Yes, they have been flops, and Vitolo is 29. That should be enough of a red light to caution you on replacing a world class keeper with a £10mil hopeful. The point is if they could so readily find these hidden gems at a steal they wouldn’t need to spend mega money on established players. The simple truth is these players are few and far between, and basing a transfer policy on it isn’t viable long term.
 
De gea isnt a keeper that will get better with age because he is a guy who works purely on reflexes. That's not going to work forever. Sell him if he wants out.
 
Yeah. If his mind is made up and he wants to go, then we really don’t have any choice but to get a replacement.

It really is a crappy situation that we ended up in. How did our higher ups let a keeper of his quality get into the situation we’re in where we couldn’t sell him at high enough value to pay for an equivalent replacement.

Our higher ups did nothing but try to get him to sign a deal for a very long time. It’s also not their fault that equivalents are being priced at 120m now.

De Gea has opted to run his deal down, and according to reports, it is not due to a lack of effort from us.
 
Our higher ups did nothing but try to get him to sign a deal for a very long time. It’s also not their fault that equivalents are being priced at 120m now.

De Gea has opted to run his deal down, and according to reports, it is not due to a lack of effort from us.

I know, have read, and have followed the contract situation but it is still down to incompetence of whoever is/are in charge of getting us to this situation.
 
I can see us keeping ddg for the season and lose him for free next year. We have to spend on other positions first and more urgently that we can't afford to spend money on a new keeper. Don't think we would get much for ddg in his last year of his contract, maybe 30m. While it makes sense to cash in now, who knows what will happen during the season and whether or not he will be first choice at whatever team he goes to.
 
I know, have read, and have followed the contract situation but it is still down to incompetence of whoever is/are in charge of getting us to this situation.

So basically, they should have put a gun to his head and asked him to extend the deal.
 
De gea isnt a keeper that will get better with age because he is a guy who works purely on reflexes. That's not going to work forever. Sell him if he wants out.

Tell that to the likes of Floyd Mayweather.

I'm surprised how many people suddenly rate Oblak higher than De Gea, after he's been universally accepted as one of the best keepers in the world for years now. Never hear Oblak mentioned in those discussions and i mean that sincerely because I've not really seen him play.
 
Tell that to the likes of Floyd Mayweather.

I'm surprised how many people suddenly rate Oblak higher than De Gea, after he's been universally accepted as one of the best keepers in the world for years now. Never hear Oblak mentioned in those discussions and i mean that sincerely because I've not really seen him play.
Mayweather had the best defense ever seen. It's easy to see why he stayed at the top for so long in the game. There was a reason they called him the pretty boy.
 
Oblak would be great, but this disrespect towards our best player for the last 6 years has got to stop. 3 month poor form. 6 years excellent service. Imagine the last 6 seasons with anyone else in goal...I think that's about 10 points less a season.
I don't know about 3 months, he was pretty poor most of last season and in the World Cup before that. Added to which he's held a metaphorical gun against the club's metaphorical head for years now. But yes, I appreciate he's been great for us until last season.
 
So having followed the contract situation as you said, what are the other ways that we could have made him sign a deal.

I don’t know as I wasn’t tasked with getting him to sign a contract. However, I am confident I would be able to if I was given that task and role in the club:)
 
Keeping DDG might be the best move to be fair. We cannot afford the release clause for Oblak and fill our other positions of need and buying an inferior player just to try and squeeze a nominal fee for Dave could be a disaster. If we tell Dave he can leave in 12 months he may well be a happy camper and knuckle down to ensure he goes out on a high whilst also considering that the better final season he has the bigger the signing bonus at his new club is going to be. We can then take our time to plan properly to replace him, maybe if Henderson stays at Sheffield and has a good year in the PL we won't need to buy anyone at all.
 
Tell that to the likes of Floyd Mayweather.

I'm surprised how many people suddenly rate Oblak higher than De Gea, after he's been universally accepted as one of the best keepers in the world for years now. Never hear Oblak mentioned in those discussions and i mean that sincerely because I've not really seen him play.
huh? You’ve never heard Oblak in those conversations? Wasn’t there a massive piece just recently where a bunch of sports journos and ex keepers were asked to choose the best GK in the world and Oblak was their choice.

If god forbid DeGea was to leave he’s probably the only man that could step in to his shoes and be just as good. To be honest I can’t really choose between the two but on form for me they are the two best keepers in the world.
 
With De Gea not willing to sign an extension, I wouldn't mind having Oblak as his replacement. He's been the superior shot-stopper this past season. However, I'm not sure how good is his ball distribution? Could anyone shed some light?
 
With De Gea not willing to sign an extension, I wouldn't mind having Oblak as his replacement. He's been the superior shot-stopper this past season. However, I'm not sure how good is his ball distribution? Could anyone shed some light?

Well Atleti don't play out the back much.

Either way, it's not as good as Ederson, Ter Stegen or Neuer's.

Might be a tier or two below that.

Perhaps similar to De Gea.
 
Well Atleti don't play out the back much.

Either way, it's not as good as Ederson, Ter Stegen or Neuer's.

Might be a tier or two below that.

Perhaps similar to De Gea.

Shaka Hislop was grading the top keepers on ESPN the other day and he actually commented that Oblak and De Gea are pretty much the same player. Obviously there are some differences but his point seemed to be that if you go with Oblak you are committing to playing the same way you are now, if you want to go for the sweeper keeper system then Oblak is not your man.
 
Shaka Hislop was grading the top keepers on ESPN the other day and he actually commented that Oblak and De Gea are pretty much the same player. Obviously there are some differences but his point seemed to be that if you go with Oblak you are committing to playing the same way you are now, if you want to go for the sweeper keeper system then Oblak is not your man.

Yeah if we want a sweeper keeper, then Oblak wouldn't be the best choice.
 
What about Donarumma? Does he have the ability and inteliigence to play as a sweeper keeper?
 
Keeping DDG might be the best move to be fair. We cannot afford the release clause for Oblak and fill our other positions of need and buying an inferior player just to try and squeeze a nominal fee for Dave could be a disaster. If we tell Dave he can leave in 12 months he may well be a happy camper and knuckle down to ensure he goes out on a high whilst also considering that the better final season he has the bigger the signing bonus at his new club is going to be. We can then take our time to plan properly to replace him, maybe if Henderson stays at Sheffield and has a good year in the PL we won't need to buy anyone at all.

He must be allowed to leave immediately if he doesn’t want to be here. The thought of him putting in performances like he did in the last 2 months over next season is terrifying.
 
Is he good with his feet. If we are replacing Dave the new keeper has to atleast be better than Dave with distribution. Which to be honest isn’t hard.
 
If De Gea leaves there is no better keeper to take. Saying that, would cost 100m. Also I would rather we fix our problem positions (current), even if we lost De Gea. I'd rather properly fix right back, center back, center midx2 and right wing and sit with Romero as our main goalkeeper next season compared to signing Oblak and missing out on one of those positions. Been too long that our outfield 11 has been fecked up, it's time to fix it properly. The goalkeeper we can sort out later.
 
Oh yeah I change my mind. The lad is going to be like Van der sar or Buffon who dominated their box. :rolleyes: Instead he is going to keep jumping around with the same reflexes he always had :lol:
Yeah sure sure, that's all he has, great reflexes, nothing else. Once those are gone he'll barely be able to walk unaided. feck sake. :lol: