I think PB's info related to us lining the player up last year - it might be that the deal is no longer applicable and we have dropped our interest.
No he was told we had signed him this window.
I have no doubt that @Prestwich_Blue was posting reliable info in good faith, but whatever he was told about Aouar - that it was done but wouldn't be announced until the CL ended - clearly didn't happen for whatever reason.
If we were in for him, it seems incredibly unlikely we wouldn't already have it done by now, with the team back in preseason, with Arsenal and Juventus making bids for him.
We need to get this guy.
Hardly a failure if the club don’t want him, don’t think we want or need a midfielder myself.If we dont, I see it as yet another massive failure by Txiki.
I don’t see us buying him at all. It’s not a priority for us. I reckon he will see other clubs that want him more and will join Arsenal/Juventus.
Juventus are financially challenged. They have announced a £71m annual loss and are struggling to get rid of several players off the books. They include De Sciglio,Khedira, Bernadeschi, Ramsey, Diego Costa and Rugani too add to recent departures Higuain, Matuidi and goalkeeper Perin. No way wil they make it 10 league titles on the trot next season.
.Hardly a failure if the club don’t want him, don’t think we want or need a midfielder myself.
Fair enough ,don’t agree myself think we’ll do enough around them to give them more protection, but if the club have decided we don’t need or can’t get him for squad or financial reasons or other priorities we can’t blame Txiki for not going getting him..
IMO we need a C/M with pace and aggression and ability.
We again in my IMO can`t have a mixture Fern, Rodri and Gundogan as a two and still maintain our silverware gathering. Gundogan has never been the player we thought we were buying due to 2 near career ending injuries. Weak and timid in the tackle since the injuries compared to before which is a shame because I thought he was a brilliant player prior to those 2 injuries.
Why?Put a cheeky bid for de ligt. 100 mill
I think we need a proper decent central midfielder as much as we do a centre half and more than we do a left back or striker..
IMO we need a C/M with pace and aggression and ability.
We again in my IMO can`t have a mixture Fern, Rodri and Gundogan as a two and still maintain our silverware gathering. Gundogan has never been the player we thought we were buying due to 2 near career ending injuries. Weak and timid in the tackle since the injuries compared to before which is a shame because I thought he was a brilliant player prior to those 2 injuries.
Put a cheeky bid for de ligt. 100 mill
did they not pay around £60 million?
Not followed him at Juventus, how has he done?
Crap.
Can't judge a player in is first season. Still young. Got the right attributes to be a top defender.In that case we should be glad Juve won the bidding war for him then.
I think we need a proper decent central midfielder as much as we do a centre half and more than we do a left back or striker.
Three years ago our midfield was: Fernandinho, DSilva and de Bruyne. It was the best midfield in the world! While we still have de Bruyne, the quality of our midfield is miles behind what it was in 2017-18. Fucking miles behind.
Rodri is okay, decent enough but slow, and that’s not good enough. Gundogan was brilliant in 2018-19 but was so far off the pace last season it was painful. Foden will be inconsistent at 20, which is expected but won’t be good enough to win the league with players that aren’t of standard behind him...
So you say that and at the same time say we should pay £100m for him? Fucking hellCan't judge a player in is first season. Still young. Got the right attributes to be a top defender.
What people seem to forget is that we played with Delph as LB that season. Fernandinho was great, but while we were in the final 3rd, Delph would invert and sit next to Fernendinho as another holding midfielder. There was less space in midfield for opponents to play through, but the space was over the top to our left. Also let us not forget that although we were defensively solid in the 17/18 season we escaped with a lot of last minute winners. Both games against Southampton, Huddersfield, West Ham to name a few. Some of those results could have easily been draws.I think we need a proper decent central midfielder as much as we do a centre half and more than we do a left back or striker.
Three years ago our midfield was: Fernandinho, DSilva and de Bruyne. It was the best midfield in the world! While we still have de Bruyne, the quality of our midfield is miles behind what it was in 2017-18. Fucking miles behind.
Rodri is okay, decent enough but slow, and that’s not good enough. Gundogan was brilliant in 2018-19 but was so far off the pace last season it was painful. Foden will be inconsistent at 20, which is expected but won’t be good enough to win the league with players that aren’t of standard behind him...
I agree with the rest of the post but I never ever understand this argument. If we hadn't scored any goals at all we could have easily drawn or lost all of our games. We won them because we never lost faith in each other or Pep s system. You don't get extra points for scoring early.What people seem to forget is that we played with Delph as LB that season. Fernandinho was great, but while we were in the final 3rd, Delph would invert and sit next to Fernendinho as another holding midfielder. There was less space in midfield for opponents to play through, but the space was over the top to our left. Also let us not forget that although we were defensively solid in the 17/18 season we escaped with a lot of last minute winners. Both games against Southampton, Huddersfield, West Ham to name a few. Some of those results could have easily been draws.
When we played with Mendy this past season he had to stay high and wide to provide width which was hugely different to what Delph did. Rodri had to shift over, but he had too much space to cover. That's why at times would play both Rodri and Gundogan, but it did make us more porous in the midfield when the ball was lost.
I'm hoping this season Aké will do what Delph did and sit next to Rodri. Aké has the pace and can defend better than Delph or Zinchenko against counters. However, this would mean the forward players would need to create more by themselves instead of having an attacking LB like Mendy. But I do think with possibly Torres on the LW and Phil or Bernardo in the middle we can create enough chances and still be better against counters.