Nicolas Otamendi | City Player

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Ramshock said:
Otamendi
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I just don't think he's the perfect 'type' of defender we need. I do, however, think he's well suited to the PL and would adapt well.

Basically, the complete opposite of Hummels who, in theory, is what we need (good on the ball, leader, calming influence) but I don't think would suit the PL in the slightest, and hasn't played consistently well for about 2 years now.
 
Question. He's 27 now, what exactly has he been doing all this time? Don't think I'd ever heard of this guy outside of FM or Fifa before this season.
 
prarek said:
20gqag.jpg
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That is beautiful. That's as enjoyable to watch as any wonder goal or mazey run, for me anyway.
 
saivet said:
Question. He's 27 now, what exactly has he been doing all this time? Don't think I'd ever heard of this guy outside of FM or Fifa before this season.
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What do you mean? He moved to Porto from Velez Sarsfield in 2010. Then he went to Valencia in 2014, emergency loan to Atletico Mineiro, and now this season playing for Valencia.
 
What i heard about Otamendi is that he has been one of the best defenders this year, not Hummels like passing though, but is the perfect partner to Smalling imo.
 
Sam said:
I just don't think he's the perfect 'type' of defender we need. I do, however, think he's well suited to the PL and would adapt well.

Basically, the complete opposite of Hummels who, in theory, is what we need (good on the ball, leader, calming influence) but I don't think would suit the PL in the slightest, and hasn't played consistently well for about 2 years now.
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Theres not exactly a wealth of CBs in world football.
 
Otamendi is a top-drawer CB, he's had a fantastic season for Valencia.

My only concern is that he isn't necessarily young, although he is in his prime years. I imagine, and hope, he won't be the only CB signing van Gaal makes this summer.
 
I can't find any enthusiasm for this potential buy, he's not that that great, already 27 having been in the wilderness for ages and he's not very good on the ball, yet our manager is insistent on CB's bringing the ball out.
 
I don't know much about Otamendi at all, so i'll reserve judgment. But he seems to be pretty highly thought of by people on here.
 
He seems decent but this whole thing also reeks of 'flavor of the month' for me. I've been aware of our links to him for a while btw. Its probably been mentioned but he's pretty short for a CB. This means a lot in the PL.

Infra-red said:
He's an excellent defender, good in the air and quick, but pretty limited on the ball. The type of defender I'd imagine Mourinho signing rather than Van Gaal. Still, we could probably do with a no nonsense type of CB to solidify things at the back.
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Doesn't sound like a 36M player.
 
Loublaze said:
He seems decent but this whole thing also reeks of 'flavor of the month' for me. I've been aware of our links to him for a while btw.
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Take your point on his lack of height - maybe LVG is thinking Champions league here - Mascherano & Pique is a decent pairing & LVG won't want to freeze out either of Jones or Smalling, so we could have a decent back three set up?

As to him being flavour of the month - as you say, "I've been aware of our links to him for a while"

I think he could be a good addition & bargains like Vidic are pretty rare these days.
 
He has a big leap and wins the ball in the air quite a bit, so that makes up for his height. Also playing next to Smalling means height isnt as big of an issue. For me the only issue is the fee.

Also to note he has 5 league goals this season, which is more than any CB in the premier league. Smalling has 4

 
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izec said:
What do you mean? He moved to Porto from Velez Sarsfield in 2010. Then he went to Valencia in 2014, emergency loan to Atletico Mineiro, and now this season playing for Valencia.
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So he has a point? That season is basically his first very good one with 27. I know him from his Porto days and he wasn't anything special there. He couldn't get in Argentina's starting 11 despite their lack of good CBs.
I think that guy won't repeat that season and will be exposed in another club in a different league.
 
Pyroblazer said:
So he has a point? That season is basically his first very good one with 27. I know him from his Porto days and he wasn't anything special there. He couldn't get in Argentina's starting 11 despite their lack of good CBs.
I think that guy won't repeat that season and will be exposed in another club in a different league.
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Like any player coming into a new league, if we did sign him, it would take him 6 months to a year to get to grips with the PL. The good thing about him though is that he likes the tackle (much like Vidic) and that will definitely help him settle.
 
Pyroblazer said:
So he has a point? That season is basically his first very good one with 27. I know him from his Porto days and he wasn't anything special there. He couldn't get in Argentina's starting 11 despite their lack of good CBs.
I think that guy won't repeat that season and will be exposed in another club in a different league.
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Argentina always have plenty of quality players left out of the team. In fact they usually pick dodgy defenders and leave some of the more solid ones out, but it also extends to midfielders with the likes of Banega but more importantly Cambiasso being left out for significant periods of time. Zanetti too

In fact come to think of it, as young players both Rojo and Otamendi were put in the national team when there were more solid looking options. Neither impressed me at that point.

Now he's one of the better CBs around, he's not playing. Typical Argentina politics
 
I haven't watched Otamendi play for enough time to give my opinion on him however I don't see his age as a problem TBH. At 27 he's still got at least 6 good years left in him. Also his experience and hopefully leadership would help the likes of Smalling, Rojo and Jones to develop to the next level. We don't need boys in the defense, we need men.

Also from what I read, he seem to be an old fashioned type of defender. Which means that we may well make a second signing in the defense to compliment him (a ball playing defender like Hummels maybe?)
 
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izec said:
What do you mean? He moved to Porto from Velez Sarsfield in 2010. Then he went to Valencia in 2014, emergency loan to Atletico Mineiro, and now this season playing for Valencia.
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I'm just interested as to why he's not been widely recognised until recently.
 
saivet said:
Question. He's 27 now, what exactly has he been doing all this time? Don't think I'd ever heard of this guy outside of FM or Fifa before this season.
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Could really say the same about Miranda and Godin - both only really came to notice about 2-3 years ago; at Otamendi's age.
 
Loublaze said:
He seems decent but this whole thing also reeks of 'flavor of the month' for me. I've been aware of our links to him for a while btw. Its probably been mentioned but he's pretty short for a CB. This means a lot in the PL.



Doesn't sound like a 36M player.
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What will happen if he's 2 inches taller? He's already good in the air, that's one of his strengths actually and he's already very strong physically. I don't see what 2 inches would give him that he doesn't already have. Its just for visual satisfaction. A bit like people complaining about De Gea's height when we first signed him. There was an entire thread about that.
 
saivet said:
Question. He's 27 now, what exactly has he been doing all this time? Don't think I'd ever heard of this guy outside of FM or Fifa before this season.
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To be fair 27 is not old for a defender. Vidic was 25 when he moved here and his prior experience was in Serbia and Russia, hardly top leagues. Otamendi moved to Valencia at the same age having had experience at a top European club (Porto).
 
All the noise coming off Twitter is that its a confirmed signing for us. Which would make sense when the last few days we had reports of LVG needing the last nod before transfers are completed.
 
I don't get all the negativity surrounding Otamendi. Based on last season he is one of the best CBs playing in European leagues. He's not slow, not as good on the ball as Hummels but the defending part of his game is good and it helps that he doesn't shy away from physical battles.

At 27, we can benefit around 7 seasons at his peak. The perfect moment in a defender's career between experience and physical ability.
 
Kill 'em all said:
I don't get all the negativity surrounding Otamendi. Based on last season he is one of the best CBs playing in European leagues. He's not slow, not as good on the ball as Hummels but the defending part of his game is good and it helps that he doesn't shy away from physical battles.
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He'll be terrific at United and form a very good partnership with Smalling imo. I think the negativity probably stems that most United fans had their hearts set on Hummels and Otamendi has blind sided them.
 
RedSky said:
He'll be terrific at United and form a very good partnership with Smalling imo. I think the negativity probably stems that most United fans had their hearts set on Hummels and Otamendi has blind sided them.
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Exactly and it annoys me to no end. Those who regularly watch Hummels would be terrified at the thought of a ball played behind him with someone like Sanchez running towards it.

It was my main concern when it comes to Hummels and I'm sure our scouts have seen this.
 
Kill 'em all said:
Exactly and it annoys me to no end. Those who regularly watch Hummels would be terrified at the thought of a ball played behind him with someone like Sanchez running towards it.
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I honestly think we probably had the option to buy both and we've come to the conclusion that Otamendi is the better fit. Just seems a bit too coincidental that the stories of Hummels staying and Otamendi coming broke at pretty much the same time.
 
hebegebe said:
You sure about that?
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Sure, he was a mainstay in Uruguay's national team and Atletico before that but he only really established himself as a top tier CB in the last couple of seasons.
 
Kill 'em all said:
I don't get all the negativity surrounding Otamendi. Based on last season he is one of the best CBs playing in European leagues. He's not slow, not as good on the ball as Hummels but the defending part of his game is good and it helps that he doesn't shy away from physical battles.

At 27, we can benefit around 7 seasons at his peak. The perfect moment in a defender's career between experience and physical ability.
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I think the price has a huge effect on the impression of potential signings.

£25m is a lot for any footballer, even in today's market, never mind a football who hasn't really proven anything in a cup winning team.

Having said that, I've like the look of him everytime I've seen him play. I do think he is the type of defender United should be going for, like people say, he's a bit like Heinze, but the price tag is a tad excessive imo.
 
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