Benjamin Mendy

[Dax777]

he is a game changer though...we have been desperate for a full bsck like him for years fot starters

the full backs in peps system are extremely important as well...as important as the midfieldes as thats where u often find them....fernas best games have come at right back this season.....same with navas ( even more so with him)

I don't disagree he plays a needed position. But he is not a special player. He is not Dani Alves or a young Lahm switching teams. He is more like Kurzawa or Bernat.

In fairness, you could say I'm biased against fullbacks, and for good reason. There are many good ones but most are not special.

So I tend to consider them role players. The replacement drop off is always negligible. I mean take Tottenham for example, they are considered to have the 2 best fullbacks on the league and they dropped both and yet there is little to no drop off. Davies and Trippier simply just slotted in. Neither of those replacement guys are special. But it is easier to replace role players. Even good ones.

 

[Edwin Edwin]

Comfortably Top 5 LB in the world..Only Marcelo,Alex Sandro,Filipe Luis & Rose at a push are better...Lol this isn't 2012 anymore..Likes of Alba,Bernat & Gaya wouldn't even start for West Ham let alone a top 6 team in their current states. Glad Pep agrees..Mendy or Alex Sandro it is,Grimaldo at a push.

 

[domalino]

I don't disagree he plays a needed position. But he is not a special player. He is not Dani Alves or a young Lahm switching teams. He is more like Kurzawa or Bernat

Obviously the people who matter disagree, or they'd be pursuing Bernat, a player who'll move for 1/4 the price.

If Guardiola is so keen to get him rather than a player he already knows very well, he obviously doesn't share your opinion. Either he thinks Mendy has the potential to be very special, or Bernat is bang average.

 

[Silva2021]

I will make a prediction right here.

John Stones will be a Rolls Royce defender and will captain our great team for many years to come.

I could not agree more, I think he'll have 4 or 5 years as one of the top defenders in the league and everyone will forget the price.

 

[Dax777]

Isn't the price mooted something around 50 million euros rather than pounds?

Fair enough. I did screw it up in my head. Its Stil excessive at 43, but I guess less so than I tot :-)

 

[casserole of nonsense]

Yes, lets compare the price of the best Striker and 2nd best wide forward in the world to a leftback.

No one blinks at excessive prices for the absolute best in the game because there simply aren't many comparable you can get. But a leftback?

Market forces will see the price of decent fullbacks rising. Simply that there are more rich clubs looking for quality fullbacks than quality fullbacks available.

 

[WallyA]

Again, like I've pointed out many times on many threads, attacking players simply cost more than defensive players. This is just a fact.

Top 20 most expensive transfer ever includes 2 defenders. John Stones and Big Hair. Everyone else is an attacking player. There is a reason why this is the case.

So Alcacer and Gomes at 30 and 35 million Euros puts them at around the middle range transfer prices for attacking players. 50 million puts Mendy at what? #3 or #4 of all time? Do folks really think Mendy is he next Dani Alves?

Are we talking pounds or euros here? Most of the rumours ive seen have said 39m pounds which while high for a left back, is good for one of the top LB prospects today.

It's also kind of useless to mention top 20 most expensive transfers when the market has been going on the up year after year. Heck there is a rumour that Real and City bid 114m pounds for Mbappe which is ridiculous. 39m pounds for Mendy is a good buy to me.

 

[Dax777]

Luke Shaw was £30m and that was 3 years ago.

You are making my point. There are 4 teams who do this. You've just mentioned mentionedone of them. :-)

Agaim, its the same 4 teams who pretend the market is jumping by 10 million every year. 8 of the top 10 prices paid for a defensive player were paid by the same 4 clubs. 15 of the top 25 most expensive players in world football moved to the same 4 clubs.

 

[IWasHere]

If its 50 million, it will look crazy. Just like Stones was ludicrous at 47 million, this would be ludicrous at 50.

We should stop pretending there is a sky rocketing market out there. There isn't one. There are just a few teams who tend to buy at excessive prices; Real, PSG the rags and us. That's pretty much the list of repeat offenders.

50 million will make Mendy the joint most expensive defender ever. He is not in the top 30 defenders in the world today. So what the fuck are we doing paying top 3 money for?

The main reason why its often hard to move dead weight is because of this style of purchase. Even the mindset that price = production is sad. Generally for top end players? sure. For squad and role guys? Hell no. And make no mistake, Mendy is a role player.

 

[malg]

Over on Redcaf they reckon he can't defend. We should steer clear of the fucker.....