Matic was fecking 28 when he signed for United. Ageing my arse.
N'Golo Kante
- Thread starter Giggsyking
- Start date
Technically true but unfortunately he turned 29 the day after we signed him.
And everyone knows that 29 is the new 40 on the caf.
I know it's a running joke but there is no rule that fits all. So it's always better to avoid players in their last 20s.
You take Modric who is still class when he is 36 and then Matic who was already past his peak when he hit 30.
IMO Liverpool have the right approach, they don't sign young players, they don't sign old players. They sign players with good experience with good years ahead of them, who are hitting good numbers in their analytics.
Never been his biggest fan even in his pomp so at this point it would be a massive massive no from me. Injury prone and not good enough on the ball for what we need.
The point is his peak was quite clearly behind him. Why would Chelsea be willing to sell him to a rival otherwise?
Ageing doesn‘t mean he’s a grandpa. It means his fitness and physicality is going down.
Yeah with Matic it was the £40m that did the trick. Chelsea would have preferred to keep him but when United offered that much, Matic was like 'damn they want me that badly, let me go please' and Chelsea were like 'would be stupid to turn down this kind of offer for Matic'.
Every player is different and clubs can make mistakes in judging the future ability of ageing players. Milan let Pirlo go due to age and he went on to be even better at Juve at the age of 32.
Pirlo joined Juventus for free so it’s a good and reasonable gamble. Chelsea wouldn’t let Kante go this summer for free, thus, what coming out of the transfer fees budget would be considered as waste of money aka bad investment if it doesn’t work out like Pirlo. Basically, the board can’t have these excuses again thinking that the club had invested transfer fees in signing DM (Kante) so we are good to go for the next 3-4 years without signing a DM like what happened to Matic.
Agree with those who say they would take him as a stop gap until Rice price drops
Always been a huge fan but his injury record is so concerning that I don't want United to try to sign him.
The food supply chain has been hammered by COVID, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
An injury prone 31 year old work horse is useless. I'd rather see us sign a young player on the cheap (ex sangare).
Pirlo was never a work horse
I never said he was, I was just saying that for every Matic there can be a Pirlo, not all players drop off a cliff at 30.
His whole game is based around being able to cover ground. Injuries are starting to rack up now. One to avoid.
Love this player, but I think this ship has sailed. The time to get him, was when he left Leicester.
You missed the point. Work horse player has style of play that relies so much on physical and fitness. As player gets older, their physique and fitness might be on declined. Injury is also one of the consequences.
If the club signing a declining Kante means McTominay will be pushed further back in the pecking order, then I am all for it. He is still better than what we currently have in the middle and will be fairly cheap.
Yeah we missed the boat massively in 2016
Are you still all for it if we need to pay £30m transfer fees with 350k p/w wages on 3-4 years contract?
Opting to sign Kante over a DM who is physically capable of playing more regularly guarantees McTominay more opportunity to play.
Linked to Arsenal now. If they're getting rid, I'd quite like us to take him. If we're not signing a bona fide DM he'd fit the bill much better than most other central midfielders, with his incredible work rate.
His work rate has been falling off a Cliff, his legs are going and he’s currently Chelsea’s highest paid player. We’d be paying massive money for a crock who’d need replacing within a year.
Yes, let's go for a player who's trending downwards physically for a few years now and will be on high wages. What can go wrong.
This true @duffer ?
Didn't know he was their highest paid player but he's got a year left on his deal and is now 31. It's pretty unlikely he'd get a similar deal for 3 years or so, and the games he's managed aren't that few.
His legs haven’t gone and his work rate is still as good as it ever was. When he’s fully fit he’s still an amazing player. The issue is just that he’s more prone to niggling muscle injuries now that constantly disrupted his season last year.
I think a summer without international football will do him a whole lot of good. Expecting a great season out of him.
I think a summer without international football will do him a whole lot of good. Expecting a great season out of him.
They're just getting linked to DMs because the party is almost over.
We're just a couple years too late. It would be like the Matic signing. He could give us a good year's worth of performances across the contract but don't think he'd hold up as a starter. And like others have pointed out, wages are pretty high.
I'd still take him if he's open to a lesser role.
Arsenal are desperate it seems. You are right some party went wrong. Arsenal why not try to sign ward prowse but try to sign kante. They are trying to fool their fans.
If Chelsea are looking to shift him, he's likely looking to get his last decent pay day, which would likely be significantly lower than 290K (if he's really on that), but he might hold out for a 3 year deal. Given we're linked to absolutely no one, besides Paredes, I'd definitely take him. If he continues to manage around 30 league games that would be great. Also an outstanding character.
The closer the start of the season gets and we still haven't landed FDJ, the more tempting this will be providing Chelsea are willing to be reasonable.
Swap for Ronaldo 
He is certainly not in his prime anymore but could still do a job for a couple more years I feel. Just look at Modric who is still running around for 90 minutes without pause at the age of 35. I think pace and accelration is something that will go with age but stamina can pretty much be maintained up till your mid 40s.
There is something to be said about having a premier league winner and WC winner of his character in the squad. Not to mention, if you like sporting serendipity he does have a knack for winning the league when he transfers
And then in 1-2 years time we can go through the process of having to rebuild our midfield again. Marvellous.
Criminal that we weren't even in for Mahrez or Kante or even Vardy. I don't know how you can watch a side like that and be like eh, it's fine, we're good.
Rebuild? De Jong would be the central figure in a new midfield. You'd rather see us pair him with Eriksen in midfield, or Donny? I wouldn't.
I'd rather seem him paired with someone who won't need replacing in a year or two.
I think the whole antivax stance has killed this transfer in any case, but he's really not what we need at the moment. Our midfield needs long term starters.