James McAtee | On loan at Sheffield United

Yeah. Sancho (until recently) was good enough to start for us, and was only going to get better. If we'd given him a chance he'd have stayed here and developed under Pep. His career could be a disaster now he's signed for United but that wasn't anything to do with how talented he was. The player he was before the United debacle started would get in this team ahead of the current versions of Mahrez, Grealish and Sterling.

Denayer is better than a fair few of the centre-backs we've had over the years, and would have been even better if given time under Pep. He could easily play the role Aké and Garcia have played for us recently, is better than Mangala ended up being and wouldn't have had the £40m price tag of Aké or Mangala.

Brahim no. He's on the up but probably will never be good enough for us. The point with him is that the people who said he was leaving for money were talking out of their arse.

Angeliño probably was never gonna work for us under Pep but the next manager will likely be someone who favours wing-backs (as that's bloody everyone these days) and Angeliño is one of the best in the world at that role.

My point is these people aren't even given a proper chance, then we ship them out and act like they didn't have a perfectly good reason for seeking more gametime.
Great post.only just seen it.but very well said.
Esp. 're Sancho.and Denayer.
Well said.
 
Yeah. Sancho (until recently) was good enough to start for us, and was only going to get better. If we'd given him a chance he'd have stayed here and developed under Pep. His career could be a disaster now he's signed for United but that wasn't anything to do with how talented he was. The player he was before the United debacle started would get in this team ahead of the current versions of Mahrez, Grealish and Sterling.

Denayer is better than a fair few of the centre-backs we've had over the years, and would have been even better if given time under Pep. He could easily play the role Aké and Garcia have played for us recently, is better than Mangala ended up being and wouldn't have had the £40m price tag of Aké or Mangala.

Brahim no. He's on the up but probably will never be good enough for us. The point with him is that the people who said he was leaving for money were talking out of their arse.

Angeliño probably was never gonna work for us under Pep but the next manager will likely be someone who favours wing-backs (as that's bloody everyone these days) and Angeliño is one of the best in the world at that role.

My point is these people aren't even given a proper chance, then we ship them out and act like they didn't have a perfectly good reason for seeking more gametime.
You make some interesting points although I am not sure that I agree with all of them. Sancho did brilliantly at Dortmund and was right to back his talent as, realistically, Foden was always going to be the favoured one out of that trio (including Diaz) due to his ties to the area and club. His demands were a bit rich for such an inexperienced (yet talented) player. I would have been great if he could have had more patience and stayed another season but things worked out well for him and it is too early to judge him at the rags given the chaos there since he arrived.

I find Denayer's career fascinating - he had a great loan at Celtic although maybe playing alongside VVD in that league would make anyone look good (and why did we not monitor his loan, notice how good VVD was and sign him at the time he moved to Southampton? - the dippers would still have been waiting for a title win). The later loans to Sunderland etc. were poor. He has done well to come back at Lyon as you say and could have certainly done a job as a third choice defender. There are indications that he is a bit of a twat though - I remember footage of him kicking someone in a street fight.

Angelinho I did have hopes for but these evaporated when he was so terrible when he arrived back at the club for pre-season. He was very unfit and looked like a pub player. He can be effective as a wing back but cannot see him in a Pep system unfortunately.

The common thread seems to be that all the players mentioned have attitudes that conflict in some ways with the club's (or really Pep's) opinions or expectations whereas the likes of Foden are more compliant.

I hope McAtee can display patience, work diligently and grab his chances when they arrive as I think he has the tools necessary to establish himself in the first team. The opportunity to develop under Pep for a couple of years is something he should value as he has time on his side. Hopefully he will put pen to paper soon.
 
I find Denayer's career fascinating - he had a great loan at Celtic although maybe playing alongside VVD in that league would make anyone look good (and why did we not monitor his loan, notice how good VVD was and sign him at the time he moved to Southampton? - the dippers would still have been waiting for a title win). The later loans to Sunderland etc. were poor. He has done well to come back at Lyon as you say and could have certainly done a job as a third choice defender. There are indications that he is a bit of a twat though - I remember footage of him kicking someone in a street fight.
Living in Scotland I saw a lot of this partnership and Denayer looked the better footballer albeit both were very good. Denayer was IMO an opportunity missed.
 
Living in Scotland I saw a lot of this partnership and Denayer looked the better footballer albeit both were very good. Denayer was IMO an opportunity missed.
Interesting - could potentially have been our first choice partnership in an alternate universe and saved us a few pennies in the process. We would have been competing with the dippers for the Net Spend trophy!
 
It will depend very much on what is being channelled into McAtee's ear - he could slip into a good number of good teams, but his development to the highest level would depend more on the type of coaching and coach he's listening to. I hope he values the opportunity to have his undoubted skills honed to perfection under Pep.
 
I said play in a similar position not that they're neccesarily a similar player. Not sure I'd agree with that but doesn't really matter where you think they will end up eventually, they're not getting a sniff in those areas anytime soon, they'll be fighting with each other for the same minutes it's upfront or perhaps the wing from the bench for all of them if they are going to get minutes.
that is true that is why it would be wise to send some on a loan until some on our mid slow down due to age
 

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