I feel like if Diomande can be bought for a reasonable price then it's worth exploring that deal this season rather than wait another season. Probably a moot point anyways as there has been no reports so far that he's up for sale and if Sporting will accept anything less than his release clause.
Ideally for me if we could sign Diomande along with Branthwaite, then would be fantastic. But as Diomande is still very young it might be best for him to develop at SCP for another without the media glare in England.
Jonathan Tah is very good in the air and his numbers do reflect it (70% success rate in duels is exceptional). I think a big part of Leverkusen's excellent defensive record was also how well they kept the ball - something we'll struggle to do to the same extreme in the Premier League.
Isn't he close to joining Bayern?
No idea, but in all honesty he probably doesn't suit the age profile we're supposedly targeting now at 28.
No, because the club only qualified for Europa after winning the FA cup. INEOS have been in discussions with UEFA about how both United and Nice would compete in the same competition since they started their bid to buy part of the club. UEFA have started to be a lot firmer on multi club owners and introduced a bunch of new rules last year.
that's been the rumour for a while, but new reports suggest Bayern and Leverkusen are still far apart regarding a fee. Still expect it to happen when all is said and done.
It depends on where you take your data from but I agree that Tah is strong aerially and has always been someone that is aerially strong. But he's someone that I spoke about years ago and he was a big prospect as a youngster. But it seems he went through a tough time for several years and that early potential looked as if it may never come to fruition. But it was good to see him play a pivotal role in Leverkusen's success last season and now he's wanted by Bayern. But I think his signing only makes sense instead of Branthwaite, and Branthwaite being 7 years younger would be the more logical choice for me right now. I think the RCB signing should be someone who kills two birds with one stone by being a option at both RCB and RB and Kossounou is definitely someone who could be that player imo.
Call it personal preference if you want, but I don't think our owners should aspire to be like their Chelsea counterparts.
They are definitely amateurs. We can only hope this all changes when Berrada becomes the CEO, assuming this lot takes a back seat and lets him run the club
Yea and like the other poster said, probably not the age profile we should be targeting anyways. If Bayern gets him then that's surely the end for De Ligt there. As is the norm with the media, De Ligt to us will pick up pace if that happens.
I'm surprised it hasn't really happened yet. It's pretty clear they are going to try to sell him, as he's easier to shift than Upamecano/Kim and should still fetch a decent fee. Given that he's worked under ten Hag before, the rumours really write themselves.
I think for now our priority is Branthwaite for CB reinforcements so most of the media probably will focus more on that deal to get early scoops.
Up until now that has definitely been the case. Ineos might have changed that.More ambition
No. We cannot buy him or loan him.
To be honest they are doing the exact kind of transfers I want to see us doing under INEOS. Their starting 11 is arguably already as strong as ours. Watkins, one of Diaby/Bailey, D.Luiz, Maatsen, one of Todibo/D.Carlos/P.Torres, E.Martinez and maybe even Kamara would all start for us imo.
How have they not been doing that? Other owners manage multiple teams just fine, and have more ownership of said clubs.
Think we'll finish above Villa this season?More ambition
It sounds like we were close before the INEOS deal was finalized tbf
So these rules were released last year, but we weren't aware of them?
So this has been dead in the water since around the beginning of the year then, presumably. And if not, then it seems we're still pursuing ETHs targets.
This only happened after the FA Cup, right after we qualified for Europa League by winning it. If we were in Champions League, I believe there would've not been an issue for him to transfer to us, seeing how the issue at hand is the fact that both Nice and United are in the same competition.
So you are saying we shouldn't sign any players from Villa or Newcastle then because by your definition the players there were only linked to clubs of that height.
Yeah clearly not mastered the loopholes
Not sure how they were meant to plan for this?
Yeah, Tah's age is outside of the bracket we're supposed to be shopping in so I wouldn't really expect him to have ever been someone we were seriously considering for this summer.
Of course they were, they already own football clubs. All these teams and their owners are obviously trying to find loopholes and ways around them.
