Potential CB Options

golden_blunder said:
What about that Smalling fella? Big, quick and strong in the air. I reckon he’d compliment maguire. 15m should do the deal
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The fee we actually got for Smalling was a disgrace. He was worth more than that. He’s not a modern ball playing CB but I suppose Ole’s obsession of having that type of CB made him overlook the most obvious skill you need from your CB, defending.
 
Giggsy13 said:
The fee we actually got for Smalling was a disgrace. He was worth more than that. He’s not a modern ball playing CB but I suppose Ole’s obsession of having that type of CB made him overlook the most obvious skill you need from your CB, defending.
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He’s a much better defender than Lindelof but apparently ball playing is more important. We haven’t really seen much evidence of that so far. I’d rather have a defender who can actually defend
 
How about Christian Romero? He belongs to Juventus, is currently on loan to Atalanta and is having a very good season. He might feel he needs to leave considering Juventus already have de Ligt and Demiral, and it's his second spell on loan.
 
Judas said:
Your posts are relentlessly negative. You'd think we were having a season like Spurs and not 2nd in the table.
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This mainly stems from frustration that we had three holes in our first XI and because of our crappy owners we couldn't address any of them whereas two of our main rivals can spend whatever they like without any care in the world. I think I long for the days where oil backed takeovers weren't a thing in the game but they are here to stay now
 
croadyman said:
This mainly stems from frustration that we had three holes in our first XI and because of our crappy owners we couldn't address any of them whereas two of our main rivals can spend whatever they like without any care in the world. I think I long for the days where oil backed takeovers weren't a thing in the game but they are here to stay now
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I think being a realist will always have backlash here. I for one don’t think we‘ll sign a marquee CB this summer. We lost a one horse race for Sancho last summer, not sure why anyone would be optimistic that the Glazers will suddenly change their approach this season. They have Ole who won’t complain publicly about a lack of signings. As long as there are supporters who are convinced we’re in a rebuild and long term approach there’s no reason for them to invest heavily now.
 
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I think we need to convince Raiola and Juventus for a exchange deal with De Ligt for Pogba. This deal will benefit all parties.
 
golden_blunder said:
He’s a much better defender than Lindelof but apparently ball playing is more important. We haven’t really seen much evidence of that so far. I’d rather have a defender who can actually defend
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Roma have an average defence and are having an average season. Lindelof is a far better centre back.
 
Jibbs said:
I think we need to convince Raiola and Juventus for a exchange deal with De Ligt for Pogba. This deal will benefit all parties.
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How would this benefit Juve when they have two aging defenders?
 
Isotope said:
Then.. Maguire and AWB were the best they can find. Hmm..
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The scouts headed by Marcel Bout don't make the calls when it comes to recruitment at first team level, the manager still calls the shots. Marcel Bout along with Mick Court and Jim Lawlor do have the power of veto though.

But when it comes to our recruitment at youth level, then yes Marcel Bout makes the final call on all incoming signings since he was appointed in his position at the back end of 2016.
 
Giggsy13 said:
The fee we actually got for Smalling was a disgrace. He was worth more than that. He’s not a modern ball playing CB but I suppose Ole’s obsession of having that type of CB made him overlook the most obvious skill you need from your CB, defending.
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Said this last season and in the summer, it boils my piss as when you look at the attributes needed to play alongside Maguire it’s clear Smalling has all of them.

Smalling is quick, great in the air, strong, regularly fit and most of all just defends rather than wanting to bring the ball out from defence.

I don’t understand why we waited so long to sell Rojo or why we didn’t simply release Jones then keep Smalling even if only for this season so Bailly could prove his fitness and Tuanzebe could progress.
 
bucky said:
How about Christian Romero? He belongs to Juventus, is currently on loan to Atalanta and is having a very good season. He might feel he needs to leave considering Juventus already have de Ligt and Demiral, and it's his second spell on loan.
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I believe when they loaned him they arranged a buy option also so they'll be taking that. I mentioned him last summer before that but we were never linked or anything
 
Varane is my first choice for years. Varane- Lindelof/Bailly pair would be great.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Varane is my first choice for years. Varane- Lindelof/Bailly pair would be great.
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I would be happy with either of Varane/Kounde but my concern with Konate is that he could end up suffering a lot of niggly injuries like we have seen with Bailly for the last four years
 
golden_blunder said:
He’s a much better defender than Lindelof but apparently ball playing is more important. We haven’t really seen much evidence of that so far. I’d rather have a defender who can actually defend
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AWB is a bit targeted by the pressing, can you imagine also having Smalling there? We would play hoof ball against every high pressing team.
 
golden_blunder said:
He was as capable of passing it sideways endlessly as lindelof and maguire. That’s my point
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Lindelof and Maguire do a bit more then that though. A combination of Lindelof and Smalling would have been ideal imo, that is what we have to find.
 
jackal&hyde said:
Lindelof and Maguire do a bit more then that though. A combination of Lindelof and Smalling would have been ideal imo, that is what we have to find.
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Anyway I’m just messing, smalling has gone. I did think he was probably our best defender at the time though.

re the above, I have to disagree. I don’t think lindelof is good enough, got too many mistakes in him and overall I don’t think he suits the PL. we need to upgrade on him not maguire.
 
golden_blunder said:
Anyway I’m just messing, smalling has gone. I did think he was probably our best defender at the time though.

re the above, I have to disagree. I don’t think lindelof is good enough, got too many mistakes in him and overall I don’t think he suits the PL. we need to upgrade on him not maguire.
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I miss spoke. I meant a player that has some of Lindelofs qualities plus Smallings defensives attributes. Hard to find.
 
Fofana has looked really good for Leicester. Annoying as hard to buy now.

I would like to see Bailly get a run though.
 
Lately French teams are competing really well with PSG. Any good CB options to consider from those teams (Sorry, I don't follow Ligue 1)
 
LUC1f3R said:
Lately French teams are competing really well with PSG. Any good CB options to consider from those teams (Sorry, I don't follow Ligue 1)
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I would say Loic Badé looks like a really interesting prospect. I think Adnan has mentioned him here before. From what I've seen of him, he has quite decent pace, strong in the air, very athletic, very good 1v1 and good at intercepting, good on the ball and often strays long passes to the wings. He is an aggressive defender that likes to sit close to opponent attackers, hence the high amount of interceptions. The closest comparison I can think of is van Dijk, although obviously not same level yet.

I have tried to make a statistical comparison with some of the names mentioned here and compare to Maguire and Lindelöf.
https://www.squawka.com/en/comparison-matrix/?compare=5Azig-rQPa8D_D5rYejWT
 
bucky said:
How about Christian Romero? He belongs to Juventus, is currently on loan to Atalanta and is having a very good season. He might feel he needs to leave considering Juventus already have de Ligt and Demiral, and it's his second spell on loan.
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on loan but Atalanta will prolly buy him out for18m
 
I think we are 1 CB away from sorting our defense.

From the games so far this season I've seen that both Lindelof and Maguire perform a lot better when they're paired with a pacy aggressive CB like Bailly or Tuanzebe.

If we can sign someone similar to Bailly, we'll have 2 potential CB partnership options and won't have to sweat it when anyone gets injured.
 
LUC1f3R said:
Lately French teams are competing really well with PSG. Any good CB options to consider from those teams (Sorry, I don't follow Ligue 1)
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Yes - Sven Botman. Plays for Lille, who have the best defensive record in Europe's big 5 leagues this season. 21 years old, 6ft 5, left footed, good on the ball. Liverpool, Spurs and Inter Milan are reportedly chasing him for the summer.
 
I found myself caught in a whirlwind of watching videos of Stam, Vidic and Ferdinand. My God were they good from every possible metric. Where we will ever find the likes of them again I have no idea. It feels like every half decent defender that can play the ball is regarded as a premium player but looking at the best teams, not even them have what I would describe as world class quality central defenders.

it feels like the World of football has chanced in some sense, where it is easier to find a goal scorer and even a creator then a centre back of high quality. I would not be surprised if defenders become the most expensive players going forward.
 
davidmichael said:
Said this last season and in the summer, it boils my piss as when you look at the attributes needed to play alongside Maguire it’s clear Smalling has all of them.

Smalling is quick, great in the air, strong, regularly fit and most of all just defends rather than wanting to bring the ball out from defence.

I don’t understand why we waited so long to sell Rojo or why we didn’t simply release Jones then keep Smalling even if only for this season so Bailly could prove his fitness and Tuanzebe could progress.
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We didn't register Jones or Rojo at the start of the season. So it was clear we wanted rid. We just couldn't find buyers. Jones was injured too so we couldn't release him or we'd have to pay up his wages. Better to let him get fit first and then try to sell him then.
 
I like the idea of de Light bu don't think he'll be for sale. But - and I know he's getting on now - what about Matt Hummels, who no only reads the game well but can pass as well as defend (oh, and joined Juan Mata's charity, donating 1% of his salary, which is a nice touch)
 
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