Chris in London said:inbetween said:Chris in London said:I was clinging to the faint lingering hope he was going to agree a new deal. He has been one of my favourite players on and off the pitch for the last few years.
As I said, if there was any doubt this has removed it.
He's been great for us indeed and has stepped in this year well. He is certainly though without a doubt getting past it now and it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up at somewhere like Villa who he supports and finished his career there. If you look at Messi's goal against us at the Nou Camp you can see that Joleon was only going to be second fiddle at the highest level and especially as it seems we are bringing in a new CB. No doubt though he's been great for us but I agree with him that he has done well here and it is time to move on. Richards is the same, both fantastic servants but I feel they aren't quite good enough for the level we are trying to push to. It isn't fair they are sat on the bench for 75% of the season when they would be the first name on the team sheet at many clubs.
There's an interesting paradox there though, in that there are not many right backs out there who would dislodge Zaba. So by definition we are looking for someone who is better than Micah but is happy to play second fiddle to Zaba. Take for instance two England right backs, both of whom are apparently ahead of Micah in the national team pecking order, namely Kyle Walker and Glen Johnson. Is either as good as Zaba? Nowhere near. Is either an improvement on Micah? Marginally, perhaps. Would either be willing to come away from being a first team regular at a top 6 club to be Zaba's deputy? Almost certainly not. Would we replace Micah with Walker or Johnson anyway? No, because if Micah isn't good enough for where we want to be, they probably aren't either.
So we are looking for a player who is better than England's best right backs but who is nonetheless happy to be understudy to Zaba.
They aren't going to be 10 a penny.
Replacing Joleon is slightly different because I think MDM's natural role is as third/fourth choice CB, and we are looking for a first choice partner for VK. But a right back better than Micah who is willing to accept that he will not play a lot of first team football will not be easy to find.
Good post. That sums up the dilemma very well. Not sure where the Sagna situation fits in all of this. He seems to me to be an upgrade on Micah, but not the sort of player that would be happy playing second fiddle.
