Sorry, didn't get your point - what do you mean?
Raphael Varane | Signed new contract to 2022
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
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That's not entirely true. Plenty of very good sides have good but not necessarily world class keepers. Just look at this year's CL - Leicester, Dortmund, and Moncao did just fine without so called world class keepers. PSG also don't have one, nor do Barca. I wouldn't call any of these sides also rans.
Madness. Just take a look across the City at Bravo or a bit further to Anfield. There aren't many genuinely top class keepers around and, despite DDG being less of a shoe-in for player of the season again, he has still been pivotal. Didn't Mou run on and hug him after one of our flaky wins and admit he'd just saved us?
Rule of thumb. When you have a top keeper, keep him. Look at us post Schmeichel. I do think DDG is off this summer so would hope we go all out for Oblak or this new wonderkid from AC who I admittedly know nothing about.
Us post Schmeichel isn't really a good example as we consistently bought weird keepers who were obviously not good enough and also happened to coincide with a period when our defense was in flux.
Too soft and injury prone
None of those sides are winning the premier league this season. Schmeichel did play out of his skin last year as did their entire team.
When did Barca ever have a top class keeper? Zubizaretta? Baia?
When was the last time any football club ever did a swap deal? Let alone clubs as big as United and Madrid
They play in a league where they can control the game. As Pep said, the premier league is chaotic as the ball is in the air. Bravo was decent in Spain but the worst we have seen in the prem
Varane starts off the season strong, be it giving Pepe or Ramos rest or time to settle back in, he's out of the team via injury or form and he's then linked away with a move. People then tell us how next season is his season to take over so why should he move?
He's the player version of Arsenal, you can set his season by your watch
I said this back in August ( I think)
It's the same every year!
Ah, okay. There is something to it, but I merely stated the factual difference between Pique's situation at United and Varane's at Real. He doesn't need to move to get major minutes, he already gets them.
He started 31 of 36 possible games and in 4 of the 5 other ones Zidane played a B team. What happens after his return from injury remains to be seen of course, but after ~75% of the season there's been no question if he's a starter or not.
Would I be right to suggest the technical/mental side of his game never really caught up to the physical side? He's insanely fast (probably up there with Manolas/Smalling speed) and quite strong but it seems he's still quite juvenile in the mistakes he makes. The fact that most Madrid fans who have posted in here would acquiesce to a sale sells a lot too.
Yep, you're spot on
Can't stay injured free at the moment... Not sure we would want another one with this description
I just posted that Matt Law, in his Telegraph article, said we wanted Morata, Griezmann, Oblak and Dier. I said there's a centre back missing and low and behind, there's the one
I didn't know Matt Law also posts for sportsmole.I just posted that Matt Law, in his Telegraph article, said we wanted Morata, Griezmann, Oblak and Dier. I said there's a centre back missing and low and behind, there's the one
Football journalists make everything up, who knew? How pathetic!
I honestly wouldn't mind if that was our summer transfers.
Great defender on his day but he has a worse fitness record than Jones/Smalling. Just can't see it being a real link. Obviously Jose is a fan but we need somebody much more reliable.
Yes, but you can make it up just as well as he can, and you aren't going to
That's true. Silly season is well and truly underway with all the links we've had with players, from Neymar to Tierney.
Am I the only one who wouldn't be thrilled with this transfer? He has regressed to the point that it's a much better option if we keep Jones
Not the only one because I have the same reservations as you! He really isn't any Bert than Jones at this point, I'd rather keep Smalling and add a more proven CB that could fill in when either Bailly or Rojo are out and have Smalling for rotation.
Isn't he really ducking injury prone?
Yes. And hasn't progressed much at all since his debut season.
He'd be one of the ones that would interest me because of his speed but I really don't think we need another huge signing in defense. I.e. Someone we have to build our defense around. We have more than enough quality already if they can stay fit. Signing another injury prone player for huge money seems a bit silly to me too. What we should be doing is looking at top prospects under 21/22 and slowly start bringing them through with axel. Phase one of jones or smalling out gradually if they can't stay fit. Between Bailly, Axel and a new young signing- that would be the nucleus of the defense sorted for the next few years. Minor tweaking is nearly always the way to go imo
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Wow
Not really surprising. He is injury prone and he isn't better than Jones either at this moment
Jones and Smalling have got to go. Jones is injury prone and Smalling has two left feet when it comes to defending. Varane is quick and good but he's been injury prone as well. Would like to have Manolas, Rojo and Bailly as our main defenders and have TFM and Tuanzebe as their backups.
Surely he is now overrated, considering his injury record/lack of game time. How many games has in played in the last few seasons? It seems like he's just hanging onto hype from years ago.
That's exactly what he is. It's just the classic scenario of hyping every player who we are not as familiar with as our own. This is especially the case for defenders nowadays.
He is better than Jones, Smalling and even Rojo/Bailly...they aren't Sergio Ramos...
But yeah he's injury prone.
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I watched many games in which he played and he is barely as good as you say. That one game vs Barcelona aside, he hasnt done anything special. Pretty sure if he was in our squad playing the same way he played for RM for the last 3 years, people would want him gone too
Well he's one of the few ball playing CBs out there. And I don't want him in the team either. I rather go with Manolas from Roma instead.
That isn't true. And for Mourinho he would be the first name on the team sheet with Pogba and De Gea
Varane is starter for the French NT, a team with a lot of good CB ( Koscielny, Umtiti, Laporte, Kimpembe, Zouma... they are all easily better Jones )
Even when he is poor, Varane is twice the player than Jones is.
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He's a fancy Dan. Both Smalling and Jones are better defensively.
Varane starts in La Liga and CL since he joined:
7 + 4
12 + 10
12 + 4
21 + 11
23 + 6
20 + 7 (this season)
His injury isn't that bad. He's still a relatively young central defender with 3 years left on his contract and I would suggest the chances of Real Madrid letting him go are minimal.
Injury record - games unavailable for due to injury, La Liga and CL:
This season 10 + 3
6 + 3
0 + 0
10 (at least) + 3
Not easy to tell from Transfermarkt's stats in his early Madrid seasons
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He's really not better than the ones you mention.
No thank you. We don't need any more young players at the centre of our defence.
Actually he is better than all of our current CBs and only Bailly as shown the promise that he can be as good.
At 20, he was already ahead of Pepe in the pecking order at Madrid (under Mourinho). At 24, he already has 35 NT caps, which is second only to Koscielny (44) and more than any of Rami, Sakho, jallet, Mangala, Umtiti and Zouma. Laporte has not even been capped yet. At his age, he has lot more experience than several other player that are older, having played regularly for Madrid and France NT.
But he is injury prone. He was out for almost 5 months in 2012/13, and has been out injured for 2-3 month each season since then.
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