Nathan Ake

[cityboy1]

Unless he's going to grow 5 inches, he's never going to be like Van Dijk.

What makes Van Dijk special is the fact he's technical, rapid and 6'5''. Small technical defenders are not that uncommon.


I like Ake and wouldn't complain if he signed, but he's not the transformative presence that someone like Koulibaly could be, and because Bournemouth have PL money it probably woulnd't be much cheaper.

Van dijk is not 3 inches taller than laporte hes probably the same height as rodri. Hes also not that good with the ball at his feet laporte is way better with his feet imo

 

[domalino]

Van dijk is not 3 inches taller than laporte hes probably the same height as rodri

Van Dijk is 6'4 or 6'5 depending on where you look it up. He's noticeably much taller than Alisson who's supposedly 6'3.

He's massive, and rapid and that's why he's unique, it means he's incredibly good defending a high line, yet can also sit in the box and just head away balls for fun, take on big strikers in a physical fight and also chase down little speed merchants.

And IMO it's that physical prowess that makes him seem so good, because it's so much easier to defend when you're able to match someone physically, or make up any ground from slightly off positioning.

 

[cityboy1]

Van Dijk is 6'4 or 6'5 depending on where you look it up.

He's massive, and rapid and that's why he's unique. He's bigger and faster than laporte.

Hes 6 ft 3 laporte is 6 ft 2. He is bigger and faster tho but laporte is defintley better on the ball than him despite what the media says.

 

[Keeper!]

Hes 6 ft 3 laporte is 6 ft 2. He is bigger and faster tho but laporte is defintley better on the ball than him despite what the media says.

Both are high class CB, end of story.

 

[BosnianBlue]

If he was in another league, no one would ever consider us signing a centreback for a team in 15th with almost no international caps and no european experience in 6 years.

That's stupid reasoning. We signed Zinchenko from fucking no name Ukrainian club. Rags signed James from Championship club. Don't let me start where Vardy was few years ago or Kante who Leicester bought from 13th Ligue 1 team Caen and who played in Ligue 2 year before. And VVD's Southampton barely survived relegation the year he was bought by Liverpoool. All f them and their clubs are doing pretty fine with those transfers.

I'm not particularly familiar with Ake's quality, so I don't advocate his signing and neither am against, but stupid posts like yours are the reason I wrote what I wrote. Not all players finish in top club since they are kids. There are gems for anyone and/or perfect signings for particular big clubs (at positions they are lacking etc) in all kind of small teams in small or bigger leagues.

 

[cityboy1]

That's stupid reasoning. We signed Zinchenko from fucking no name Ukrainian club. Rags signed James from Championship club. Don't let me start where Vardy was few years ago or Kante who Leicester bought from 13th Ligue 1 team Caen and who played in Ligue 2 year before. And VVD's Southampton barely survived relegation the year he was bought by Liverpoool.

I'm not particularly familiar with Ake's quality, so I don't advocate his signing and neither am against, but stupid posts like yours are the reason I wrote what I wrote. Not all players finish in top club since they are kids.

All of those players cost peanuts compared to what we'd have to pay for ake.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Not happening. Not planning to sign anyone.

 

[BosnianBlue]

All of those players cost peanuts compared to what we'd have to pay for ake.

that's another pair of sleeves and legitimate stuff to talk about no matter what the club is. But "he plays at Bournemouth, so he is shit" is bollocks.

And unless you could do better with other player available, then no money (unless half a billion or so) is too much if player solves your problem. VVD, who wasn't peanuts, solved Liverpool's problem and if they paid 150m for him, it would be a good buy.

 

[Keeper!]

Not happening. Not planning to sign anyone.

Your kidding me, please say you are!

If so, is it because someone at the club won't commit long term or the players we want are unavailable?

 

[cityboy1]

that's another pair of sleeves and legitimate stuff to talk about no matter what the club is. But "he plays at Bournemouth, so he is shit" is bollocks.

Him playing for bornemouth doesnt really mean anything in regards to us buying him. My main concern is that hes another risky expensive young defender and our record isnt great with those. He's also smaller than ottamendi and height is already a problem in our team. His main advantage is that hes quick and good at the bringing the ball out but garcia is the same height as him and can do the latter albeit hes not as quick so i dont think this is worth the risk. We need someone who is world class or very close, someone who is a leader and has the attributes i mentioned before (height,pace, ball playing ability).

 

[BosnianBlue]

Him playing for bornemouth doesnt really mean anything in regards to us buying him. My main concern is that hes another risky expensive young defender and our record isnt great with those. He's also smaller than ottamendi and height is already a problem in our team. His main advantage is that hes quick and good at the bringing the ball out but garcia is the same height as him and can do the latter albeit hes not as quick so i dont think this is worth the risk. We need someone who is world class or very close, someone who is a leader and has the attributes i mentioned before (height,pace, ball playing ability).

Don't have problem with any of those concerns, all legitimate thoughts.

 

[cityboy1]

Both are high class CB, end of story.

Were already constantly told how van dik is a defensive god but no one ever talks about laporte being anything when he himself is probably the second or third best centre back in the world and probably the best ball playing.

 

[cjn]

All of those players cost peanuts compared to what we'd have to pay for ake.

And really, that's the issue. The sheer amount of money in the Premier League has inflated prices to the point where good to very good players trade more in the £50-60m range than in the £30-40 where you could expect to buy someone like Ake in years past. At this point it almost makes more sense to ignore these types all together and focus on buying a whole bunch of English prospect lottery tickets in conjunction with biting the bullet and paying way over the odds for the rare English superstar that's available, like the Sterling and Sanchos of the world. Theres no value in the middle.

 

[Keeper!]

Were already constantly told how van dik is a defensive god but no one ever talks about laporte being anything when he himself is probably the second or third best centre back in the world and probably the best ball playing.

Well I don't care what former Liverpool players think of our players, we all know he is a class act and that is all that matters. Don't get bitter like them.

 

[domalino]

That's stupid reasoning. We signed Zinchenko from fucking no name Ukrainian club. Rags signed James from Championship club. Don't let me start where Vardy was few years ago or Kante who Leicester bought from 13th Ligue 1 team Caen and who played in Ligue 2 year before. And VVD's Southampton barely survived relegation the year he was bought by Liverpoool. All f them and their clubs are doing pretty fine with those transfers.

I'm not particularly familiar with Ake's quality, so I don't advocate his signing and neither am against, but stupid posts like yours are the reason I wrote what I wrote. Not all players finish in top club since they are kids. There are gems for anyone and/or perfect signings for particular big clubs (at positions they are lacking etc) in all kind of small teams in small or bigger leagues.

No one wanted us to sign Zinchenko, which completely proves my point, and we aren't Leicester City.

Not to mention he was immediately farmed off on loan and didn't play for us for 2 years, so how the fuck is he comparable to Nathan Ake?

 

[BosnianBlue]

No one wanted us to sign Zinchenko, which completely proves my point, and we aren't Leicester City.

Not to mention he was immediately farmed off on loan and didn't play for us for 2 years, so how the fuck is he comparable to Nathan Ake?

And nobody at club gave a shit about that. Luckily.

 

[domalino]

And nobody at club gave a shit about that. Luckily.

Which has nothing to do with my point.

You whined about people not rating players at English clubs and how if he was playing in a foreign league people would want him, and I correctly pointed out that no one would be demanding or celebrating us getting linked with a CB at a relegation candidate in Serie A or Ligue 1.

Here's your comment again in case you've forgotten.

people are too fast to hit any player coming from smaller PL teams. If he played for Bologna, or even better somewhere in France, Spain or Germany (they're more fancy than Serie A these days), there would be much more positivity.

Absolutely fuck all to do with the club scouting unheard of teenagers and signing them for peanuts, your complaint was that people on here weren't positive because he plays for Bournmouth.


If you want to change the topic to players who've not made it to a top club by the time they're 25, or there being good value in signing hidden gems, fine, but that's completely different to what you complained about.

 

[domalino]

Not happening. Not planning to sign anyone.

This makes me start to worry about Guardiola's future, because if he's staying around, he knows we need a CB, so why isn't he addressing the issue? Why is he just writing this season off?

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

CBB, it's a well thought out, pragmatic post...however JFE is an ex rag.

If we were going to sign an ex rag at this point in our lives, I'd want it to be a game changing 'Tevez like' signing worthy of another city centre billboard and that would piss off the rags no end.

Call me old fashioned, but good value punts on mediocre signings aren't worth it if they're ex rags, especially ex rags who learned their trade under GPC and probably laughed at his bile aimed at us.

;-)

That is your opinion and choice which I respect, although some would say that adopting that approach might mean missing out on player who would have met the football requirements.

However that wasn't the point of my post, but more to say that there are possibly " unfashionable " players out there who might be ideally suited for our requirements and should not therefore be dismissed because of who they currently play for.
Perhaps Ake isn't good enough, but possibly be could fill a void in the team which is currently causing us such difficulty ?

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Just seen tolmie's comment which seemingly makes this particular forum dead , if correct .

And I have absolutely no idea whether accurate or not.