Kalidou Koulibaly

[ctid1894]

“From now on” suggests that there’s a point in time when fitness becomes a concern. Kompany had injuries throughout his time with us and Richards is 32 now and also had injuries throughout his 20’s.

As for breaking defensive teams down, we haven’t had a problem in the last 3 seasons so don’t see a left footed centre back as integral to our attacking.
And anyway, we’d have the choice of Laporte or Koulibaly against every “smaller” team.

That can be different for everyone but generally when multiple muscular injuries start it's more difficult to regain full fitness for a player of his, Vinny's or Micah's size and stature at any age simply because of the additional strain on their bodies. Koulibaly has had multiple niggly injuries recently and at his age, it's only going to get progressively worse in my opinion.

I'd say we've struggle this season without Laporte, both defensively and offensively. Pep has said multiple times he prefers balance in his CB pairing because it speeds up build-up play and enables us to transition the ball from one side to the other quicker. It's not absolutely necessary admittedly but it certainly helps.

 

[Akpowell]

Can't see us signing him,
some other club will jump in and sign him up

 

[JimmyGrimble10]

The priority(Big Money) Signings:
Centre-Back
Attacking Midfielder
Defensive Midfielder

heard any names regarding these mate?

 

[Ederson's smiley tattoo]

I disagree with this for two reasons. Firstly is his recent injury record (he's a very big, very heavy man so his resilience to injury at his age is always going to be susceptible from now on given his style of play e.g. Kompany, Richards). Secondly the benefits of a left footed centre back enabling quicker build up play down our left hand side, crucial to breaking teams down who defend in numbers.

Van dijk is both taller and heavier and plays with the same athelticism. He almost never gets injured. Same goes for Koulibaly. Almost never injured except that he pulled his hamstring this season. His injury record for his age is nothing short of excellent.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/kalidou-koulibaly/verletzungen/spieler/93128

Koulibaly is also pretty much two footed and regularly pings it with precision across the pitch with his left foot. So i don't see how it would be a problem with distribution on the left if he were to play there. A natural RCB, his ability with both feet is probably why he plays LCB together with a right footed partner

 

[ctid1894]

Van dijk is both taller and heavier and plays with the same athelticism. He almost never gets injured. Same goes for Koulibaly. Almost never injured except that he pulled his hamstring this season. His injury record for his age is nothing short of excellent.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/kalidou-koulibaly/verletzungen/spieler/93128

Koulibaly is also pretty much two footed and regularly pings it with precision across the pitch with his left foot. So i don't see how it would be a problem with distribution on the left if he were to play there. A natural RCB, his ability with both feet is probably why he plays LCB together with a right footed partner

I've already said it hits different players at different times/ages, some not at all. However two significant muscle injuries since December have to be a concern, especially given his age, size and the anticipated cost.

He is good, very good on his left but it's still not his natural foot. When rushed and under pressure with our style of playing out from the back, natural instinct kicks in. It's impossible to deny that, I'm not denying the odd exception (Clichy) but it's undeniably rare.

 

[richards30]

sergios mate jose has just said on twatter that Koulibaly is the chosen one!

 

[City_Sean]

 

[domalino]

sergios mate jose has just said on twatter that Koulibaly is the chosen one!

I don't think players are that clued up with transfers. No one wants the players on their way out to know for a fact that they're getting replaced in 6 weeks time.

I remember Ferdinand once saying that the United players used to gossip about incoming transfers like school children. "My agent said...; I player with someone at Club X who said player Y is on the way; I read in Newspaper Z..." type stuff. No one at the club was ever going to tell them until it was a done deal.

 

[yarny101]

He was the first to know about Laporte joining if I recall?

 

[Ezzy]

the Clue about our true target is in the tweet.