Centre-back

If you are going to spunk around 40m euros on a defender then please spunk it on the most solid one you can, a proven seasoned CB with little questions regarding reliability and talent.If you have to pay abit more then you do it regardless of UEFA or FIFA or whoever or ffp.

Hope we make the right choice
 
I get the feeling Txiki is keeping an open mind in regards to a central defender.

I don't think we are convinced with Benatia's fee and the fact that last season seemed to be his first real great season at the the age of 28, albeit players peak at different ages.

The ACON will no doubt hit us bad if Yaya decides to stay on with the Ivory Coast, having two key players out for a month is too much and that doesn't account for any potential injuries around that time.

With Mangala his potential looks good but he is worth half of the 40m euros fee that Porto want in my opinion.

It would not surprise me to see Txiki sticking to his roots and looking at La Liga for a potential bargain.
 
BigOscar said:
schfc6 said:
MillionDollarDream said:
YIKES this is criminal: Here's Benfica's statement which confirms €6m was Garay's fee. Real Madrid receives €3m off it. <a class="postlink" href="http://t.co/Pd1XAtvKbl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://t.co/Pd1XAtvKbl</a>


He's tried and failed at Madrid, he looks slower than MDM. There is one reason he's that cheap, most of Europe weren't interested, or his agent is Dimitri Seluk.
Sorry, but you clearly no nothing. In no world is he slow, yet alone slower than MDM, the only people I've ever met who think he's slow are people who base their opinions of FIFA ratings.

As for failing at Madrid, he was a kid who was gotten rid of after never really getting a chance, as so many do at Real, in order to let big names be brought in. Mourinho came in and dumped all the players who he was allowed to dump, in order to bring in his own players.

The reason he is that cheap is most probably because Benfica only owned 40% of his rights, so in all probability, Zenit will buy another Benfica player this window for a vastly inflated fee, to screw Real out of their cut. My guess would be Rodrigo or Andre Gomes, but that's just a guess

Unfortunately that sounds exactly the situation Nastasic finds himself in. Nastasic had a fantastic first season with his second year disrupted by injuries. Yes he did struggle initially with the high line but so did everyone else at the start of the season. Will be a sad day if we spend 40 million on a centre half and lose this lad as aprt of the process.
 
franksinatra said:
BigOscar said:
schfc6 said:
He's tried and failed at Madrid, he looks slower than MDM. There is one reason he's that cheap, most of Europe weren't interested, or his agent is Dimitri Seluk.
Sorry, but you clearly no nothing. In no world is he slow, yet alone slower than MDM, the only people I've ever met who think he's slow are people who base their opinions of FIFA ratings.

As for failing at Madrid, he was a kid who was gotten rid of after never really getting a chance, as so many do at Real, in order to let big names be brought in. Mourinho came in and dumped all the players who he was allowed to dump, in order to bring in his own players.

The reason he is that cheap is most probably because Benfica only owned 40% of his rights, so in all probability, Zenit will buy another Benfica player this window for a vastly inflated fee, to screw Real out of their cut. My guess would be Rodrigo or Andre Gomes, but that's just a guess

Unfortunately that sounds exactly the situation Nastasic finds himself in. Nastasic had a fantastic first season with his second year disrupted by injuries. Yes he did struggle initially with the high line but so did everyone else at the start of the season. Will be a sad day if we spend 40 million on a centre half and lose this lad as aprt of the process.

Couple of things:
1) He had a great season undoubtedly but what people mostly rave about is his performances at the Bernabeau. What about the home and away games to dortmund and ajax?
2) Loads of potential that is true, and will probably get used to the high line. Thats not the issue here, the issue is what if Kompany gets injured? Would you want to have two slow players (Demichles and Nastasic) to hold that high line. That's a disaster. Look at the Al Ain game, he can't carry a slow partner
3) We can always but a buyback clause. He cost us 12 million + Savic, who cost us 7 million. If we sell him for 15 million, we can put a buy back of 20 million.
 
bluechampion7891 said:
franksinatra said:
BigOscar said:
Sorry, but you clearly no nothing. In no world is he slow, yet alone slower than MDM, the only people I've ever met who think he's slow are people who base their opinions of FIFA ratings.

As for failing at Madrid, he was a kid who was gotten rid of after never really getting a chance, as so many do at Real, in order to let big names be brought in. Mourinho came in and dumped all the players who he was allowed to dump, in order to bring in his own players.

The reason he is that cheap is most probably because Benfica only owned 40% of his rights, so in all probability, Zenit will buy another Benfica player this window for a vastly inflated fee, to screw Real out of their cut. My guess would be Rodrigo or Andre Gomes, but that's just a guess

Unfortunately that sounds exactly the situation Nastasic finds himself in. Nastasic had a fantastic first season with his second year disrupted by injuries. Yes he did struggle initially with the high line but so did everyone else at the start of the season. Will be a sad day if we spend 40 million on a centre half and lose this lad as aprt of the process.

Couple of things:
1) He had a great season undoubtedly but what people mostly rave about is his performances at the Bernabeau. What about the home and away games to dortmund and ajax?
2) Loads of potential that is true, and will probably get used to the high line. Thats not the issue here, the issue is what if Kompany gets injured? Would you want to have two slow players (Demichles and Nastasic) to hold that high line. That's a disaster. Look at the Al Ain game, he can't carry a slow partner
3) We can always but a buyback clause. He cost us 12 million + Savic, who cost us 7 million. If we sell him for 15 million, we can put a buy back of 20 million.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rc1JAJZbKc[/video]

He was 19 then, didn't look too slow...

He's only 21 now.
 
bluechampion7891 said:
franksinatra said:
BigOscar said:
Sorry, but you clearly no nothing. In no world is he slow, yet alone slower than MDM, the only people I've ever met who think he's slow are people who base their opinions of FIFA ratings.

As for failing at Madrid, he was a kid who was gotten rid of after never really getting a chance, as so many do at Real, in order to let big names be brought in. Mourinho came in and dumped all the players who he was allowed to dump, in order to bring in his own players.

The reason he is that cheap is most probably because Benfica only owned 40% of his rights, so in all probability, Zenit will buy another Benfica player this window for a vastly inflated fee, to screw Real out of their cut. My guess would be Rodrigo or Andre Gomes, but that's just a guess

Unfortunately that sounds exactly the situation Nastasic finds himself in. Nastasic had a fantastic first season with his second year disrupted by injuries. Yes he did struggle initially with the high line but so did everyone else at the start of the season. Will be a sad day if we spend 40 million on a centre half and lose this lad as aprt of the process.

Couple of things:
1) He had a great season undoubtedly but what people mostly rave about is his performances at the Bernabeau. What about the home and away games to dortmund and ajax?
2) Loads of potential that is true, and will probably get used to the high line. Thats not the issue here, the issue is what if Kompany gets injured? Would you want to have two slow players (Demichles and Nastasic) to hold that high line. That's a disaster. Look at the Al Ain game, he can't carry a slow partner
3) We can always but a buyback clause. He cost us 12 million + Savic, who cost us 7 million. If we sell him for 15 million, we can put a buy back of 20 million.

He had a great season by performing consistently throughout the season. Games like Ajax and Dortmund the whole team performed badly so that argument could be pretty much used to advocate the selling of the vast majority of players.

I do not think he is that slow and in any case is much faster than de Michaelis. If we had to lose one I would sacrifice De Michaelis not because he has played that poorly but due to the fact he is approaching the end of his career and if we lost Nastasic we will be having the exact same discussion in one years time who to buy at centre back.

If we sold him, did not develop him and clearly have a lack of faith in him what makes you think he will be desperate to come back once he has achieved our 'high standards'?

Selling him will be another nail in the coffin in our ability to attract the best young players on the market. Rightly or wrongly Liverpool/United are considered a better option for young players and losing Nastasic will only reinforce this.
 
Bacary Sagna has hailed Laurent Koscielny as one of the best defenders in the world.

Arsenal’s Koscielny is set to start France’s last-16 clash with Nigeria after a three-way tussle with Mamadou Sakho and Raphael Varane for the two centre-back places.

And Sagna rates his compatriot and former club team-mate as an outstanding player who can help lead France to World Cup glory.

He said: “For me Laurent is one of the best defenders in the world. I’m lucky enough to have played with him at Arsenal and he’s a complete player.”

France cruised through their group, beating ­Switzerland and Honduras and drawing with Ecuador.

Sagna added: “He brings a lot to this team and he proved against Ecuador he’s very solid. I think he’s ready to play in any situation.

“It’s not a problem for him. We saw against Ecuador that he played on the right, for Arsenal he plays left.

“In my opinion he’s two-footed and it’s the same for him on either side. It’s not a problem for him because he’s a quality player and they can adapt to anything
 
Worth a punt?

Juve, it follows Rojo: Sporting Lisbon asks 12 million for the Argentine

The protagonist in the World Cup in Brazil with the national team of Argentina, Marcos Rojo (24) prepares to leave Sporting Lisbon groped for the experience of a top European club. The defender of the 'Albiceleste, also used by coach Alejandro Sabella sull'out southpaw, also has been linked to Juventus but TuttoSport writes that the footballer's interesting to Barcelona, ​​Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Rome and Naples in Italy also thought to Class '90. Meanwhile, Sporting hopes to get 12 million euro from the sale of Rojo, or twice the valuation dates back to the immediate eve of the World Cup.

<a class="postlink" href="http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtuttomercatoweb%26es_sm%3D122" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://translate.google.co.uk/translate ... s_sm%3D122</a>
 
I've been very impressed with Rojo this world cup, but hadn't heard of him before. Am i right to say he's a left full back? Is one of our current ones leaving?
 
FantasyIreland said:
Bacary Sagna has hailed Laurent Koscielny as one of the best defenders in the world.

Arsenal’s Koscielny is set to start France’s last-16 clash with Nigeria after a three-way tussle with Mamadou Sakho and Raphael Varane for the two centre-back places.

And Sagna rates his compatriot and former club team-mate as an outstanding player who can help lead France to World Cup glory.

He said: “For me Laurent is one of the best defenders in the world. I’m lucky enough to have played with him at Arsenal and he’s a complete player.”

France cruised through their group, beating ­Switzerland and Honduras and drawing with Ecuador.

Sagna added: “He brings a lot to this team and he proved against Ecuador he’s very solid. I think he’s ready to play in any situation.

“It’s not a problem for him. We saw against Ecuador that he played on the right, for Arsenal he plays left.

“In my opinion he’s two-footed and it’s the same for him on either side. It’s not a problem for him because he’s a quality player and they can adapt to anything

Koscielny was the best centre back in the Premiership last season. I am amazed that Sakho from Liverpool gets in the France team ahead of him.
 
Matt the Giant said:
I've been very impressed with Rojo this world cup, but hadn't heard of him before. Am i right to say he's a left full back? Is one of our current ones leaving?
He's actually a centre back, but plays left full back for the national team.
 
ifiwasarichfan said:
FantasyIreland said:
Bacary Sagna has hailed Laurent Koscielny as one of the best defenders in the world.

Arsenal’s Koscielny is set to start France’s last-16 clash with Nigeria after a three-way tussle with Mamadou Sakho and Raphael Varane for the two centre-back places.

And Sagna rates his compatriot and former club team-mate as an outstanding player who can help lead France to World Cup glory.

He said: “For me Laurent is one of the best defenders in the world. I’m lucky enough to have played with him at Arsenal and he’s a complete player.”

France cruised through their group, beating ­Switzerland and Honduras and drawing with Ecuador.

Sagna added: “He brings a lot to this team and he proved against Ecuador he’s very solid. I think he’s ready to play in any situation.

“It’s not a problem for him. We saw against Ecuador that he played on the right, for Arsenal he plays left.

“In my opinion he’s two-footed and it’s the same for him on either side. It’s not a problem for him because he’s a quality player and they can adapt to anything

Koscielny was the best centre back in the Premiership last season. I am amazed that Sakho from Liverpool gets in the France team ahead of him.

Don't they play together at centre-half?
 
Any suggestion that Koscielny was better than VK last season, is for me comical.

Koscielny, like the rest of the Arsenal team, look great against inferior opposition. However when the "best midfield in the Prem" or "best CB in the league" came up against stronger sides they were dispatched with relative ease!

I will start rating Koscielny up there with the likes of Vinny, when he puts in good performances against anything other than cannon fodder.
 
kevin1987 said:
ifiwasarichfan said:
FantasyIreland said:
Bacary Sagna has hailed Laurent Koscielny as one of the best defenders in the world.

Arsenal’s Koscielny is set to start France’s last-16 clash with Nigeria after a three-way tussle with Mamadou Sakho and Raphael Varane for the two centre-back places.

And Sagna rates his compatriot and former club team-mate as an outstanding player who can help lead France to World Cup glory.

He said: “For me Laurent is one of the best defenders in the world. I’m lucky enough to have played with him at Arsenal and he’s a complete player.”

France cruised through their group, beating ­Switzerland and Honduras and drawing with Ecuador.

Sagna added: “He brings a lot to this team and he proved against Ecuador he’s very solid. I think he’s ready to play in any situation.

“It’s not a problem for him. We saw against Ecuador that he played on the right, for Arsenal he plays left.

“In my opinion he’s two-footed and it’s the same for him on either side. It’s not a problem for him because he’s a quality player and they can adapt to anything

Koscielny was the best centre back in the Premiership last season. I am amazed that Sakho from Liverpool gets in the France team ahead of him.

Don't they play together at centre-half?

Varane is their No.1 CB, he was rested for the final group game.
 

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