Kalidou Koulibaly

That all helps absolutely and the fact he speaks better English than 90% of the posters on here will help too but he's still moving to a new country, a different culture and way of life. Age and experience is irrelevant in those circumstances, players can move at 14 and settle quickly, others can be 30+ and not settle at all, it's all about personality and character.

Agree but if we take that into account, we can't really guarantee any signing will come good, just have to trust it really.
 
it will be 75m euros, and yes if we offer 75m 3 weeks ago he would have been here now since 3 weeks.

wasnt a plane scheduled for 5th of September thats bringing koulibaly and another player to England?;)))
I am sure I read that info here.
 
it will be 75m euros, and yes if we offer 75m 3 weeks ago he would have been here now since 3 weeks.

wasnt a plane scheduled for 5th of September thats bringing koulibaly and another player to England?;)))
I am sure I read that info here.

That was about Allan to Everton, who was going for €80m last summer but ADL demanded €100m, now he went for €30m. Same will happen to Koulibaly unless he just accepts a much lower fee than his asked €100m
 
Really hope we can get this one wrapped up.

Laporte needs a leader and world class defender next to him and Koulibaly fits that description perfectly.

We saw all too briefly at the back end of 2018/19 how formidable the Kompany/Laporte partnership was. The combination of Koulibaly alongside Laporte has the potential to be even better and we'd hopefully be well set with those two for the next few seasons.
 
How is 29 old for a centre back ffs. Just about to enter his prime as well.
He will be a top signing for us no matter the price, but then again people here thought Otamendi was a warrior and reliable. Time will tell.
You're talking £20m plus a season for five years, that's a huge gamble considering there's no contingency plan if it doesn't work out. No one else is going to pay his wages to move on, so you're potentially stuck with a player (because of his age) for a long time, just look at Arsenal with Mesut Ozil. He's 31 on big wages and no one wants to touch him despite his unquestioned ability to be a match winner on his day. If Koulibaly fails at City, you're in the same boat.
 
When last season finished I think if you had asked most City fans what signing they wanted to make, most would have said Koulibaly.

I can't understand those people who think it's too much money. Do you watch european football. Koulibaly has been an outstanding defender for 3-4 seasons.
 
You're talking £20m plus a season for five years, that's a huge gamble considering there's no contingency plan if it doesn't work out. No one else is going to pay his wages to move on, so you're potentially stuck with a player (because of his age) for a long time, just look at Arsenal with Mesut Ozil. He's 31 on big wages and no one wants to touch him despite his unquestioned ability to be a match winner on his day. If Koulibaly fails at City, you're in the same boat.
The wages, rather than his age, would be the biggest problem in that scenario. It’s the same risk with any big signing we make, regardless of age. There are only a handful of clubs able to pay the wages we do, and most of them are direct rivals of ours.
 
You're talking £20m plus a season for five years, that's a huge gamble considering there's no contingency plan if it doesn't work out. No one else is going to pay his wages to move on, so you're potentially stuck with a player (because of his age) for a long time, just look at Arsenal with Mesut Ozil. He's 31 on big wages and no one wants to touch him despite his unquestioned ability to be a match winner on his day. If Koulibaly fails at City, you're in the same boat.
Fair enough, but let's be honest, if going for a defender like Koulibaly goes wrong as well then we're just cursed in buying defenders who either turn shite or are injury prone.

All these fancy names that aren't on market like Upamecano or Koundé are too young and have had 1 or 2 good seasons with little experience, signing them could be an equal mess (do get value for them moving on, but a failure would be useless and their value recouped would mean nothing in the bigger picture). There has to come a time where the club changes policy to sign an experienced player who would not only help the backline but potentially be a leader. We have a fairly young squad in general, barely any players who's age is a big concern. Sometimes experience like this is necessary, I just hope, like most that if he comes he is great and more.
 
I prefer young and hungry with something to prove
This would be Koulibaly's chance to win major trophies. What we do not need s an upand coming player, but a leader at the top of his game.

Did you watch City last season? We're crying out for a player like this.

Koulibaly is made for us. He is the only defender I have seen who one on one has destroyed Salah. And he's perfect for the Premier League. City fans will love him....if we sign him
 
Agree but if we take that into account, we can't really guarantee any signing will come good, just have to trust it really.
No you can't guarantee any signing (including Messi) and that's why every signing is a calculated risk. If we're happy to pay €70m for Koulibaly, I'm not going to complain because I will get to experience watching another top player. My personal opinion however is that he is way too expensive and represents too big a risk at the €70m plus talked about. I think there's better options, although I won't go into that because it's all subjective and I know my opinion wouldn't be popular and to be honest it's late and I'm ready to go to bed.
 
Would you take van Dijk if he was available this summer?
But this guy isn’t like signing Van Dijk. He comes with all the caveats of signing someone from a foreign league, a league where Smalling, Ashley Young and Sanchez look world beaters. He then comes with the down side of being 29, coming off a comparatively bad season, and needing to adapt to a new system.

He may turn out well, I hope he does because we desperately need, at the very least, a competent centre half, but this isn’t like signing Van Dijk.

These things don’t need to be immediately definitive by comparing him to the best defender in our league.

At his age it’s a huge gamble at the price quoted, in a Covid market, and in our system there’s no certainty that he’ll be the answer.

The scepticism is well merited in my opinion and deserves to be debated.
 
The wages, rather than his age, would be the biggest problem in that scenario. It’s the same risk with any big signing we make, regardless of age. There are only a handful of clubs able to pay the wages we do, and most of them are direct rivals of ours.
A younger player is much easier to sell on if it doesn't work out, that's just common sense. If Ozil was 25 and not 31, someone would probably take a gamble, at his age now I highly doubt anyone will.
 

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