Those "Barca legends" were very happy to move their player Laporte, to City to develop under Pep, (ditto Garcia and Bernarbe?). He's now one of the best CBs in Europe. Agreed Barca was a mess, but they won't always be so, and we won't always have Pep as our manager, unfortunately.The same 'Barca legends' that got Eric Garcia far away from La Masia and to City as soon as they could?
Barca is a mess, there is no chance he is going.
Looks like Umtiti and Koulibaly could be open to moves; we really should be all over at least one of these. Either would be an improvement on Otamendi and free up Fernandinho to go back in midfield.
People need to accept that Fernandinho is now a CB. Pep's said it many times now and, bar an injury crisis, he's unlikely to be playing as a DM.
He isnt going back to midfield centre back injuries or notOnly because we're short at the back. He's a much better DM than he is at centre back.
I like himI wonder if Andreas Christensen could/should be an option in the summer? Lampard ruled out selling him in January after some links to Milan, but he's clearly not as untouchable as he was a few years back. Pep was a huge fan of his not that long ago.
And I'd bet you Fern would like nothing better than to be back at CDM.Only because we're short at the back. He's a much better DM than he is at centre back.
He's a John Stones regen that's 4th choice at Chelsea. Isn't even homegrown. I'd look for someone more athletic and aggressive with decent feet. I think we can find some gems in the bundesliga.I wonder if Andreas Christensen could/should be an option in the summer? Lampard ruled out selling him in January after some links to Milan, but he's clearly not as untouchable as he was a few years back. Pep was a huge fan of his not that long ago.
As quoted above reports that Umtiti is going to be sold? (he's not played much this season).Barca already have two left-footed French center halves. They don't need to go sniffing around another.
Got absolutely dummied by Firmino on the goal though. Great performance otherwise, he's rated very highly by Mourinho
We ended up getting Laporte when we couldn’t get VVD. Not a bad “second choice”. I wouldn’t argue he’s better than VVD, but for the way we play, it’s definitely arguable he’s better for us.All these different defenders that are a mix of good, bad and average.
It's like when a restaurant has sold out of its last steak that you'd been looking forward to, and you're frantically looking at the menu to see what's second best. That was us not getting van dijk.
Maybe we'd be better just sticking with Stones and Laporte. Are there any central defenders out there that are fast with great strength, heading ability and positioning that don't dive in and have good leadership qualities? If not, why waste £60m plus on someone who won't really improve us?
We ended up getting Laporte when we couldn’t get VVD. Not a bad “second choice”. I wouldn’t argue he’s better than VVD, but for the way we play, it’s definitely arguable he’s better for us.
Hypothetical but if we had signed VVD , do you think he would have fitted into our setup ?
Of course, he would have been ideal, the only thing that put off management was the £75m it was shown on Amazon prime ;-)Hypothetical but if we had signed VVD , do you think he would have fitted into our setup ?
Of course, he would have been ideal, the only thing that put off management was the £75m it was shown on Amazon prime ;-)
Apologies, I didn't realise that you only wanted replies from @shaelumstach, the Amazon prime documentary showed behind the scenes conversations about the transfer and decision making. I would certainly recommend it. With hindsight it would have been money well spent, particularly as Liverpool would have been denied their best player, who has transformed their side. I genuinely don't think they would have won the CL or had such success in the PL without him.We don't have a midfield 3 in front of him to offer the same protection - so there is a difference in set ups between us and the dippers .And my question was actually directed to the poster @shaelumstach.
I haven't seen the Amazon prime feature, and if the management didn't want to pay £75m then as I said initially , the question is academic.