devilish
Juventus fan who used to support United
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2002
- Messages
- 63,195
In which case you may have replied to the wrong post, because mine had absolutely nothing to do with names. Here is a simplified version:
Varane provides both the experience and the aerial ability, which is needed in our strongest backline, as noone else has those qualities. Todibo has been playing with Dante these past seasons, who has also provided both these things for Nice's backline. So Todibo has never had to be the leader and he has never had to be the first responder to heading situations. So he would probably have a difficult start if he was suddenly expected to do those things.
I am aware that names have been used, but that was inescapable as language more or less demands them in order to denote specific entities succinctly. However, I cannot stress enough that the intention was never to refer to the entire concept of 'Names' during the post. I had thought that would be abundantly clear, however I now realise that I should have added a disclaimer so that posters did not land at the conclusion that I was summoning up unrelated metaphysical entities out of thin air during a discussion about a footballer. I shall set about drafting up such a disclaimer post-haste, as I now see that virtually every post going forward will need it adding in order to avoid confusion.
This is the way I see it. United is a long term project. I'd be extremely surprised if we seriously challenge for the EPL title in the next 2 seasons. This would push Maguire to 33, Varane to 32 and Lindelof to 31. As things stand Lindelof and Maguire already lack the pace to play a high line. Meanwhile Varane is injury prone and at 32 things can only get worse. These are players on the decline with huge salaries and contracts running out
Next summer the club is looking forward to have Martinez back and its evident that its putting branthwaite on top of their shortlist. Martinez certainly has experience and leadership while Branthwaite with his 6ft5 frame will add his aerial prowess to the mix. Both are EPL proven. Todibo on the other hand will probably become our 3rd CB on the condition that Varane and Maguire are sold while if Lindelof leaves we'll go for a cheap young CB (Anselmino?). All of these players are young, they are hungry, they are suited to the high tempo and they are relatively young which means that they'll hit their prime when United will be competing for the juicy stuff.
Now let's have a look at the salaries. Lindelof is on 6m+ a year, Maguire is on 8m+ a year while Varane is on an eye watering 17m+ a year as opposed to Anselmino on 500k a year, Todibo's 1m+ a year and Brantwaite on 3m+ a year. Assuming we double our new signings salaries then we look to spare 22m a year on salary alone. If we sell Maguire for 30m and Lindelof for 25m then in total we'll be recouping 77m between salaries and fees. Now Brantwaite is rated 70m, Todibo is 40m and Anselmino is 17m. That's 50m in red (give and take) for a new CB department that is suited to the modern game, they have the right mix of age and experience and will hit its prime when we do.
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