Full Backs?

[City_Sean]

Ghoulam, Gaya or Grimaldo for LB with Hysaj, Fabinho or Sidibe for RB.

 

[Sleeping_Easy]

Zabs and Sagna did fine for their low cost.

Kolorov wasn't cheap. The mistake we made with him was extending his contract instead of cutting our losses and letting him go.

Widening it out to defenders - Mangala and Otty weren't cheap and it's hard to say either have been value for money.

I'm hoping Stones will be.

I was thinking of Maicon, Clichy and Sagna. They all had the feeling of being a stop gap rather than someone who'd go straight into the starting 11 and own the spot for the next 5 years. They've each had varying degree's of success.

If you think of the money we've spent on centre backs we've not really spent on full backs. Since the takeover the only big spending I can think of at full back is Kolarov. Now its got to the point where we have 4 full backs over the age of 30 on decent money and not one of the four has really had claimed the spot for their own.

 

[Lkzerinho]

Ghoulam, Gaya or Grimaldo for LB with Hysaj, Fabinho or Sidibe for RB.

Gaya's Level seem's to have dropped the last season or two, Grimaldo from what I have seen looks to be quite decent but still in Portugal the style is very different, so whether it transfers to England is a different question.. I haven't seen enough of Ghoulam, but he would be off at AFCON every two years. Personally at right back I feel Maffeo deserves a chance, he has passed every test we have given him, and I think he should have been starting here this year. But Hysaj and Sidibe would be good options.

 

[MarsLlama]

DIsappointed we missed out on Vrsjalko and Peres. Don't want to see us buying from the EPL. Better a hidden gem.

 

[The Riot Club]

Ghoulam, Gaya or Grimaldo for LB with Hysaj, Fabinho or Sidibe for RB.

Never heard of any of these people!

Surely it's better to sign players with either proven experience in this league, and/or established top class internationals from big CL teams? We'd be guaranteed improvement and quality then. Wouldn't we?

I actually thought Clichy was a good signing when we got him, he just seems to have become progressively worse every season, bar the odd performance.

 

[Easy]

I'd rather we just told the rest of the football world to go fuck themselves and signed Alaba as left back and Bellerin as right back for whatever it costs. Full back positions then sorted for the next 5 or even 10 years.

Exactly, they would be worth it what ever the cost IMO. Just one of the two would also be absolutely amazing. Alaba is maybe the best LB in the world and Bellerin could be the best RB soon.

 

[Dax777]

Never heard of any of these people!

Surely it's better to sign players with either proven experience in this league, and/or established top class internationals from big CL teams? We'd be guaranteed improvement and quality then. Wouldn't we?

I actually thought Clichy was a good signing when we got him, he just seems to have become progressively worse every season, bar the odd performance.

Not necessarily. We can simply deduce from the fact that if most CL caliber teams bought our fullbacks (who clearly have "experience in this league" and "from a big CL team," they wouldn't necessarily improve.

So best our scouts just find good players where and whoever they are.

 

[Dax777]

Grimaldo and Pereira will cost crazy money along with Semedo.

Bernat is rubbish from what I've seen, the archetypal Spanish fullback who is really just a winger who can't score goals.

Pep's system requires fullbacks who aren't only good players, they must be good athletes capable of running down the wing for the entire game. not sure how Veltman would fit in... if we played 3 at the back, he would be perfect for it as a ball playing centreback, just like Azpi who plays there now.

Agreed on Grimaldo and Semedo. Not so sure Perreirra is as rated though, we should find out.

 

[The Riot Club]

Not necessarily. We can simply deduce from the fact that if most CL caliber teams bought our fullbacks (who clearly have "experience in this league" and "from a big CL team," they wouldn't necessarily improve.

So best our scouts just find good players where and whoever they are.

I think most other big CL teams or others in the top 3 or 4 of our league have at least one better full back each than us, so signing a couple of them would most certainly improve us.

 

[dublinblue12]

Reckon Bernat will be our number 1 target.

Theres not many decent established fbs out there likely to be sold.

Whoever we go for will probably be under 25 and a prospect going off recent signings.

Alaba would be a dream signing but never going to happen.