Aymeric Laporte

[itisrising]

I'll have a go at the 12 off the top of my head:

smalling, cahill (it seems Roy believes so)
Terry (considered by many to be the best in the division irrespective of his personality)
Koscielny, Mangala and Sakho (all have more caps than Laporte)
Kompany, Vertonghen, Alderweld
Arguably Jagielka and the Argentinian at Everton (when Stones was kept out of the team)
Denayer (according to the masses on here)
Morgan (was in PFA team of the year)

That's 13 but Denayer doesn't count as he's not yet played in the premier league..

PS I am not actually suggesting that Stones or Laporte are good or bad buys. It is clear that neither are the finished article as there are others picked ahead of them at club or international level, but somebody has to make a judgement on whether they believe they will evolve into Bobby Moore or David Luiz. I suspect the margins between these different outcomes are very fine.

Wait, better than who? I hope you're not referring to Laporte

 

[RichardDunneOwnGoal]

Fair enough. Valid points.

Micah's development suffered badly because of injuries. And as a result he was in and out of the team and shoved to full back. I've always thought he should have always been a centre half. Also it's clear Micah doesn't have a football brain whereas I think Stones clearly does.

A lot of Stones fee is down to potential but I firmly believe he would be ready to play in Peps system when comparing him to Pique and Boateng.

He's had two full premier league seasons at the age of 20 and 21 and has made a few mistakes granted. You could name me a dozen better centre halves but I will be able to show you mistakes for each and everyone of them I'm certain. All footballers make mistakes. He's still learning a position in which players don't perform until mid to late 20's.

Anyway name your 12. I'm curious :)

Re Micah, injuries didn't help his progression, but I think that serves to whitewash the fact that he just peaked early, and never ironed out inherent flaws to his game.

Micah garnered so much hype because he had a man's physique when he was 16. He had flaws to his game but he was hungry and everyone believed they could be ironed out.

They couldn't, and they weren't, they were inherent flaws. And they were rooted in a fundamental lack of footballing IQ, and with all due respect, actual IQ. His potential wasn't as great as people believed it to be,

He didn't nail down a position and he didn't learn his trade, then he was just an adult who had superb natural gifts - which were then dampened by injury.

You need to cut through the the hype and recognise that it amounts for very little.

Micah actually had a much more impressive CV than John Stones at his age, he'd achieved much more, and actually had some very impressive individual performances and seasons up to that point.

Stones hasn't, he's shown great footballing ability for a centre half consistently, but that's about it. Everyone is presuming he'll iron out similar footballing IQ flaws that Micah had, and become a top centre half, and that's far from a given. He's yet to even become a very good centre half, let alone a top one.

I don't know, I'd just be very very cautious with him, and I'd sooner we just trusted Denayer, personally. I don't think Stones is worth the gamble at circa £45m.

Re the dozen centre halves in the PL who are currently better than Stones, in no particular order:

Kompany
Smalling
Cahill
Otamendi
Reid
Huth
Morgan
Koscielny
Van Dijk
Alderweireld
Williams
Vertongen
Zouma

That's 13, all currently better than Stones as of right now, could probably name more but they'd be more debatable.

Stones has the potential to be better than most of those according to some, but the question is, will he realise it? And is he worth the gamble that he will at circa £45m?

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

Re Micah, injuries didn't help his progression, but I think that serves to whitewash the fact that he just peaked early, and never ironed out inherent flaws to his game.

Micah garnered so much hype because he had a man's physique when he was 16. He had flaws to his game but he was hungry and everyone believed they could be ironed out.

They couldn't, and they weren't, they were inherent flaws. And they were rooted in a fundamental lack of footballing IQ, and with all due respect, actual IQ.

He didn't nail down a position and he didn't learn his trade, then he was just an adult who had superb natural gifts - which were then dampened by injury.

You need to cut through the the hype and recognise that it amounts for very little.

Micah actually had a much more impressive CV than John Stones at his age, he'd achieved much more, and actually had some very impressive individual performances and seasons up to that point.

Stones hasn't, he's shown great footballing ability for a centre half consistently, but that's about it. Everyone is presuming he'll iron out similar footballing IQ flaws that Micah had, and become a top centre half, and that's far from a given. He's yet to even become a very good centre half, let alone a top one.

I don't know, I'd just be very very cautious with him, and I'd sooner we just trusted Denayer, personally. I don't think Stones is worth the gamble at circa £45m.

Re the dozen centre halves in the PL who are currently better than Stones, in no particular order:

Kompany
Smalling
Cahill
Otamendi
Reid
Huth
Morgan
Koscielny
Van Dijk
Alderweireld
Williams
Vertongen
Zouma

That's 13, all currently better than Stones as of right now, could probably name more but they'd be more debatable.

Stones has the potential to be better than most of those according to some, but the question is, will he realise it? And is he worth the gamble that he will at circa £45m?

It's a game about opinions but i think a fair few of those are debatable.

 

[blueparrot]

Re Micah, injuries didn't help his progression, but I think that serves to whitewash the fact that he just peaked early, and never ironed out inherent flaws to his game.

Micah garnered so much hype because he had a man's physique when he was 16. He had flaws to his game but he was hungry and everyone believed they could be ironed out.

They couldn't, and they weren't, they were inherent flaws. And they were rooted in a fundamental lack of footballing IQ, and with all due respect, actual IQ. His potential wasn't as great as people believed it to be,

He didn't nail down a position and he didn't learn his trade, then he was just an adult who had superb natural gifts - which were then dampened by injury.

You need to cut through the the hype and recognise that it amounts for very little.

Micah actually had a much more impressive CV than John Stones at his age, he'd achieved much more, and actually had some very impressive individual performances and seasons up to that point.

Stones hasn't, he's shown great footballing ability for a centre half consistently, but that's about it. Everyone is presuming he'll iron out similar footballing IQ flaws that Micah had, and become a top centre half, and that's far from a given. He's yet to even become a very good centre half, let alone a top one.

I don't know, I'd just be very very cautious with him, and I'd sooner we just trusted Denayer, personally. I don't think Stones is worth the gamble at circa £45m.

Re the dozen centre halves in the PL who are currently better than Stones, in no particular order:

Kompany
Smalling
Cahill
Otamendi
Reid
Huth
Morgan
Koscielny
Van Dijk
Alderweireld
Williams
Vertongen
Zouma

That's 13, all currently better than Stones as of right now, could probably name more but they'd be more debatable.

Stones has the potential to be better than most of those according to some, but the question is, will he realise it? And is he worth the gamble that he will at circa £45m?

Well you can take out the ones that are good defenders but can't pass or play out, because Pep isn't going to buy a centre back that just defends. If he sees enough in Stones to think he can do both jobs, I'm willing to at least wait and see.

 

[richards30]

How the fuck are people puffin smalling ahead of stones???

 

[TonyM]

Stones is better

Are you a fisherman!?!?

 

[TonyM]

John stones= most overrated centre back I've ever watched, good on the ball but fucks about too much, average defender, never seen this guy play but prefer him regardless

There we go again. :-)

 

[sk3ptical]

I'll have a go at the 12 off the top of my head:

smalling, cahill (it seems Roy believes so)
Terry (considered by many to be the best in the division irrespective of his personality)
Koscielny, Mangala and Sakho (all have more caps than Laporte)
Kompany, Vertonghen, Alderweld
Arguably Jagielka and the Argentinian at Everton (when Stones was kept out of the team)
Denayer (according to the masses on here)
Morgan (was in PFA team of the year)

That's 13 but Denayer doesn't count as he's not yet played in the premier league..

PS I am not actually suggesting that Stones or Laporte are good or bad buys. It is clear that neither are the finished article as there are others picked ahead of them at club or international level, but somebody has to make a judgement on whether they believe they will evolve into Bobby Moore or David Luiz. I suspect the margins between these different outcomes are very fine.

paulinho was picked ahead of fernandinho for brazil.

and we all know who turned out to be the better player

 

[TRUE BLUE NO1]

It’s time for Manchester City-Laporte: In a few days the 50 million release clause will be paid

http://gianlucadimarzio.com/en/eng/...s-the-50-million-release-clause-will-be-paid/

David Amoyal
01-06-2016 19:36

The first reinforcement for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is set to arrive shortly. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager will be satisfied as Manchester City have invested in one of the positions he deemed vital. Aymeric Laporte will be the center-back Guardiola so desperately wanted. The young defender turned 22 just a couple of days ago and is one of the best players in his position at the moment. In a few days Manchester City will pay Athelitic Bilbao the player’s 50 million euro release clause, at the moment the documents to finalize the deal are being prepared both in England and Spain. The youngster has given his blessing to the transfer, he couldn’t say no to Pep’s call. The new Manchester City is starting to shape up.



@EddieBenedetti

 

[Daz_Blue]

I have honestly never seen him play....lets hope he is more Vinny than Eliaquim