Ben Chilwell

[kun]

Clichy was quality in the first title winning season, can’t recall him having a bad game. Never reached that level again though, wasn’t he ripped apart in the cup final the following season?

Always thought Kolarov was pretty wank. Scored some important goals though.

I think it’s fair to say he had a good debut season. Consistently good, however people talk about him being consistent when he had 1 good year out of 6.

 

[yankblue]

The thing that bothers me most that he sounds like an EDM DJ with a really bad stage name

 

[p.taker]

I think Clichy is on par with post-surgery Mendy or even a little better. Mendy is a bit better going forward and with his crossing, but Clichy was faster than Mendy is now and that's pretty valuable in our setup. Both are/were prone to lapses in concentration.

 

[Cityfan]

I think it’s fair to say he had a good debut season. Consistently good, however people talk about him being consistent when he had 1 good year out of 6.

He helped us win two titles, was at least decent for most of his first three years and cost us twopence hapenny. Have we had a better value left back since Willie Donachie?

 

[lasereyes]

I think Clichy is on par with post-surgery Mendy or even a little better. Mendy is a bit better going forward and with his crossing, but Clichy was faster than Mendy is now and that's pretty valuable in our setup. Both are/were prone to lapses in concentration.

That was another urban myth. Clichy was an average-paced full back at best. I saw him out-paced 1-on-1 on several occasions, and I never came away thinking "wow, he's snappy"

 

[nmc]

I actually would pay a fortune for a left back who can’t defend, IF he could attack like Roberto Carlos or Marcelo

I agree but that’s not Chilwell he’s bang average in every department

 

[nmc]

Not for me. Poor man’s Scott Hiley.

or Jason Van Blerk.

 

[nmc]

I think Clichy is on par with post-surgery Mendy or even a little better. Mendy is a bit better going forward and with his crossing, but Clichy was faster than Mendy is now and that's pretty valuable in our setup. Both are/were prone to lapses in concentration.

My memory is patchy but I remember (I think) Clichy having a purple patch in the Championship season under Roberto.

 

[kun]

He helped us win two titles, was at least decent for most of his first three years and cost us twopence hapenny. Have we had a better value left back since Willie Donachie?

Who cares? Value for money doesn’t matter to me. We are not evaluating the transfers, but the quality of player. Based on “value for money” then Sagna was arguably better than Walker, which of course he isn’t. Kolarov And Mendy would be worse than Zinchenko and Delph, again they aren’t.

 

[_a_o_]

I remember watching in a Youth Cup match years ago and he was easily one of the best on the pitch.

Always thought he'd become a good player and he's reached a decent level.

Only Pep knows if he can get more out of him and bring him to the standard required. I think he's more dependable than Mendy defensively, but he lacks attacking qualities and isn't worth that kind of money.

That was the time to sign him - I remember at the time thinking how much more accomplished than Angelino he looked; we could have got him then for a few million, and really cultivated his obvious talent to the level we require now, over the past 4 years. It’s too late now - both in terms of his scope for improvement, and also the outrageous fee required to bring him in.

Ryan Bertrand is the only low-risk/decent value option for us to bring in and be able to improve the first 11 immediately - after perpetual compromises in the position for the past decade, someone proven to be a default 7/10 with another 2/3 years left in them should be the priority; we should have signed him when we were first linked circa January 2018.

Just noticed aswell that Antonee Robinson is still at Wigan after his move to Milan in January fell through, and hasn’t been resurrected yet - he’s a better footballer and athlete than Chilwell; another homegrown option we could pick up for a relatively small fee who we’ll probably ignore until he breaks through somewhere else and we end up having to pay circa £50m for.